PACT Cleveland Meets With Other Groups - Race and Sexual Orientation Explored in "Fishbowl" Forum
Cleveland--After California voters passed Proposition 8, repealing gay and lesbian couples' constitutionally-protected right to marry there, facts and figures about the measure’s support in the black and Latino communities flew at a startling pace.
Coming out of that, People of All Colors Together-Cleveland, the Cleveland LGBT Center and the Ase in Our Hands Coalition wanted to know how people in northeast Ohio felt about the interplay between race and sexual orientation, whether the black community was perceived as being homophobic, and what those perceptions meant to people who were part of both communities.
Around 20 people attended a discussion on the issue on January 25 at Archwood United Church of Christ. PACT's cochair Kevin Calhoun and member Bruce Menapace facilitated the discussion, which was held in a "fishbowl" format. The five questions were:
What do you think are the best ways to nurture collaboration between whites and people of color in regards to anti-LGBT discrimination?
To fight for gay rights, do you also have to fight for the rights of people of color?
How important is gay marriage to you?
What are the challenges that Proposition 8 has brought to light?
With much of the black church--which has considerable political power in Cleveland's black community--lukewarm at best towards gays, how does one advance gay rights in Cleveland's black community and create support for black LGBT people?
That final question was especially appropriate given the efforts of a group of local pastors to repeal the city's newly minted domestic partner registry.
In an interview two days after the event, Calhoun was impressed with the level of discourse at the forum.
"I think one of the key things that was brought up was the concept of a trust deficit when it came to relations between the overall LGBT community and communities of color when it came to collaborations," he said. "That was one of the key points that was widely agreed upon by everyone there, and it was actually something surprising."
"When people were coming up with their various opinions and thoughts, issues of multicultural competence came up: How does one interact with another group of people in terms of body language, speaking style, in terms of perceptions of intent," he continued.
He pointed to the perception that "mainstream" LGBT organizations, largely white, will plan an event or a program without building relationships with those who might attend or make use of it. The perception, conversely, is that African American LGBT organizations act more cooperatively.
That perception might also lie behind some of the criticism of the handling of the Prop. 8 opponents' campaign, which did little to reach out to black and Latino LGBT people. "I think they went under the assumption that these groups were with them by default, and that's not the case," Calhoun noted.
"One of the challenges involving the black LGBT community in terms of the registry is the educational piece, getting the information out," he continued, turning the conversation back to a local focus. He also stressed the importance of both black and white LGBT people working together to help "develop the black LGBT leadership, at least being to develop partnerships with the different people, because there are a lot of people that the Center and these other organizations didn't know existed before the registry. I think it's the responsibility of old and new LGBT leaders in the black community to reach out to people in the black community"
"We would actually strengthen not just our positions in the LGBT community, but strengthen our positions in the greater Cleveland community as a whole," he concluded.
This material is copyrighted by the Gay People's Chronicle.
Posted: modified by:Del Korte Modify date:2009-03-23 14:06:55