By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) Across the city last week, two events seemed to go unnoticed: a discussion among African-Americans on California's Proposition 8 with a viewing of Debra Wilson's film Jumpin the Broom, and an informational discussion of three bills coming up before the state's Assembly and Senate in the 2009 legislative session.



 

At the first event, held on Thursday, Dec 18 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center (LGBT), and hosted by Queer Black Cinema (QBC), after looking at the movie, there was a panel discussion on the failure of the Black gay community to support same-sex marriage in California. The second event on Friday, Dec 19 was held at the Queens Pride House in Jackson Heights and was hosted by the state's gay organization, Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA). As part of their community outreach, ESPA was targeting Queens to provide information and discuss the Marriage and Same-Sex Couples in New York Act, Dignity for All Students Act, and the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.
Debra Wilson
At the LGBT Center, close to 30 people gathered in Room 410 to watch Wilson's film which presented interviews with Black gay men and women in same-sex relationships, the state of those relationships and especially the challenges they experienced. Organized by Angel Brown, executive producer and programmer, QBC; and Kawana Bullock, QBC co-founder, the two panelists, Kenyon Farrow and D.J. Baker discussed with the audience what happened to Proposition 8 in California Farrow, an organizer, communications strategist, and writer on HIV/AIDS issues, prisons, and homophobia, in his opening remarks explained what Proposition 8 and it's ramifications for Black LBGT in New York. He said that while he didn't want to talk about the people who supported Prop 8, he said that after the elections an examination of the exit polls showed that 70 percent of Californians voted in favor of the bill, but that later reports revealed that the number of people who supported the bill, about 50 percent, was more in line with those in other states.
"I was in California a week later at a conference and became aware of the ground work with focus groups, especially targeting sub-urban white women who voted for Proposition 8," he said. One of the issues that rose to the surface once again, Farrow said, was that the white gay community wanted to blame the Black community, since it is known that there is a greater degree of homophobia among Blacks. This blame, he added, extends to a sense of repayment owed because the white community voted for Barack Obama, a Black man, then the Black community should have voted and supported a white cause.
Recalling the protests in New York over Prop 8, Baker, a HIV/AIDS activist and host of the DO DIRTY SHOW, said that he attended one of the big rallies and was surprised that with the exception of Whoopie Goldberg, Black gay leaders were visibly absent. "I'm talking about gay marriage as a priority in the Black gay community. Since the rise of Prop 8, a large number of African-Americans went to the polls and switched their opinions. They were confused about voting "yes" or "no"," said Baker. In addition to insufficient campaigning for Prop 8, Baker said, there is a big divide between the African-American and the white LGBT community and that while as an issue it does not seem to directly affect Black gay New Yorkers, it is coming here sooner rather than later in the form of legislation addressing civil unions.
Referring to advances in same-sex legislation passed in states surrounding New York, one fundamental issue, Baker said is that they are already ahead in the fight; a fight that would be lost if everyone refuse to come together - where each ethnic group realizes that everyone shares the same concerns. "I hear many Black people saying that gay marriage is not as important as is HIV and AIDS. Black people do not see as many positive examples of Black gay couples as they see white couples. I'm in a relationship now, if my lover is hospitalized, I have no power with regard to any of his medical decisions because I would be shut out by the law. Being with someone with whom I'm sharing my life and being shut out is not what I want. We need to get the rights that come with marriage, not just the word," he said. Addressing the issue of marriage rights, ESPA's Matthew Brunner, NYC program coordinator, speaking at the informational and discussion forum at QPH, outlined the three bills that were passed in the state's Assembly's 2008 session, not passed in the state Senate, and are due to be reintroduced in both houses in the 2009 legislative session, with a promise from Gov. David Patterson to sign them into law. But during the forum discussion ensued about a deal allegedly made between state Senate Majority leader hopeful, Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) and a caucus of three Democrats, Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx), Ruben Diaz Sr. (D-Bronx), and Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn). The three Democrats agreed to back Smith for the Senate leadership if he did not support or reintroduce the three bills that had passed the state Assembly in the last legislative session, in the 2009 session.
ESPA's executive director, Alan Van Capelle, in a Dec 4 press release declared that the allegation was a rumor.
"Civil rights should never be a bargaining chip in any political leadership battle, and we would be outraged if the issue of marriage equality was even part of the discussions," said Van Capelle. But according to Brunner, one of the organization's biggest accomplishments in the last general elections was the ouster of two anti-gay Republican senators. While the state Assembly voted 85-61 in favor of marriage equality for same-sex couples in July 2007, it is still up in the air when it would come up for a vote in 2009. New York's Court declared in 2008 that same-sex marriages in other states are to be recognized here, which follows an executive directive from Gov. Patterson to all state agencies. But, in the state legislature, there needs to be at least 32 Senators voting in favor to pass a bill in New York.
"We need to educate our communities about how to talk about marriage equality," he said. ESPA, Brunner said, has been trying for years to engage the African-American, Latino and Asian LGBT communities, and particularly with the Black communities of faith. He said that ESPA has had success with organizations in Manhattan, but needed to work harder in the other boroughs. To date, said Brunner, ESPA has also been able to engage over 900 religious leaders statewide from all denominations who support LGBT issues, and on Jan 22, ESPA would host a "Pride in the Pulpit" forum at the Forest Hills Temple in Forest Hills, Queens. -END-