This post is in relation to the Gender and Domination course in OOPS.
In 1986, civil rights hero and activist, Bayard Rustin, gave a speech called “The New Niggers Are Gays”. In this speech Rustin stated that the barometer of social change is no longer related to African-Americans since African-Americans have policies to protect them from discrimination. Establishing equality and recognition for homosexuals was the next phase in social transformation. While his speech may have been music to the ears of the LGBT community, many individuals of the African-American community took issue with his statements. Paul Goodman in “The Politics of Being Queer” state that “Huey Newton of the Black Panthers has welcomed homosexuals to the revolution, as being equally oppressed”[1]. It is unclear how many members of the Black Panther Party shared the same sentiments as Newton but equivocating LGBT oppression with black oppression has a history that goes back to at least the late 1960’s and still persist today with many blacks taking issue with the equivocation.
Statements such as “gay is the new black” or “[my] homosexual needs have made me a nigger[2], would be upsetting for many black individuals for a litany of reasons. The main and the most consistent reason that I have heard is that the history of African-American oppression cannot be compared to the issue homosexuals face and doing so would only undermine the oppression that blacks have faced since the transatlantic slave trade. Being a black individual comes with a long history and identity that is not available to anyone.
It is debatable that the above quotes are out of line, but they also reveal an unfortunate circumstance. What Paul Goodman and Bayard Rustin were trying to show is that the same issues that blacks have faced (i.e. not having an identity/fighting for an identity, being marginalized, etc) also applies to gays, even if the context and history of their oppression is different. Intersectionality is important because it allows one to understand that the issues minorities, women, the LGBT community and any other members of oppressed groups face aren’t mutually exclusive. If the capitalist, white, patriarchal culture is the nexus of oppression, the best thing to do is stand and fight together instead of creating a divide amongst each other and undermining the oppression that others face. Taking care of one of these issues will, by its very nature, help take care of the rest.
[1] Paul Goodman: “The politics of being queer (1969)”, in Graham, R. (ed) Anarchism. A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Montreal, Black Rose, pg. 487.
[2] Ibid pg. 487.
