FOR THE BROTHAS: AN INTRODUCTION

It must have been about 20 years ago when I first began thinking about creating a "Cultural Salon" as a reaction to the mundane social circles In Washington D.C. The richness of intellectual and artistic interchange had died, college friends had moved, the internet had not yet become the phenomenon it now is... I romanticised about the Salons of the mid to late 1800's in Paris, London and Berlin and the cultural dynamo of the Harlem Rennaisance. I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman, an artist who lived and traveled with James Baldwin... Jimmy he affectionately called him, and he spoke often of their small cottage in southern France and of the many Artists, Poets and Luminaries that dropped in to chat and relax. Well, the impressionists, cubists, modernists, etc. all hung out together famously in those days and shared their ideas with one another creating a creative greenhouse in a world that was rapidly changing. I longed to have lived in those times, to have met Cassat, Rodin, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Baker, Balwin, well I did finally meet Baldwin and others purely for the joy of intellection upon the arts. This was in the late 1980's and by the mid 2000's I happened to run into a friend of mine from Hampton University who had been living in New York since he graduated in the early 90s. Well, I was surprised to hear him comment that in all of the wonder that is New York he never met anyone who ever really had anything interesting to say about art, literature, architecture, science, fashion or anything... I was so surprised to hear this since it had also been my experience. Well here I am in 2011 attempting the Virtual Salon...

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

WHAT CHALLENGES FACE THE GAY COMMUNITY AS IT ASSIMILATES INTO MAINSTREAM AMERICAN CULTURE?


In the not so very remote past a Gay Man in These United States could rarely live his life openly unless he lived in one of the few bastions of civilization such as New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Washington, D.C. or Philadelphia to name the few.  Socioeconomics also played a huge role in this scenario as men who were more financially independent were able to express themselves without fear of losing their source of income and these men could more easily adjust to the loss of support from friends and family based on their sexual orientation largely because of their financial independence.  Being openly gay anywhere else would almost certainly have been met with swift and often violent retribution by what city-folks often call, “The Other America” borrowed from JFK, and retrofitted here to include an America that sees things only in terms of "Heterosexuality"!  In the past and certainly at the opening of the 21st Century this is why many openly gay men have either moved to or never left those cosmopolitan cities...  The awesome thing about America is that surely as this is true so are there many unexpected pockets of “Civilized Life” in places citified folk would never expect them… they remain the wild-cards of our culture… rare, isolated… but very real…
The popular gay culture of the 1970’s exposed the world to the gay lifestyle through the mediums of Disco, House Music and good old fashioned American protest.   A decade later the Aids Epidemic beginning in the early 1980’s threatened to push back years of social progress as attitudes about this unrelenting plague came to focus blame on what it felt were the “Sexual Excesses” of the Gay lifestyle.  Overnight Aids became a “Gay” disease principally because the first known cases in the United States were comprised primarily of gay men.  Fortunately through educational campaigns and the massive humanitarian efforts of common peoples and celebrities the negative stigma branded upon gay men suffering from Aids was transformed into a universal effort to truly move history forward; this massive movement ultimately worked to bring a greater degree of knowledge and acceptance of Gays and their lifestyles into the forefront of late 20th century and early 21st century popular culture.  Today, America is experiencing a renaissance of Gay culture.  Same- sex marriage now legal in many states has generated as much controversy as it has acceptance of “The Gay Way”!

When The Civil Rights Era achieved desegregation the stubborn barriers of racism began to disappear, immediately forcing Americans to sort it all out.  Black families moved into white neighborhoods.  Black employees were hired by companies who had never had Black staff.  America slowly began to assimilate.   What once would have been a source of intense controversy became mundane and things that had never been possible before came to  be...

Many civil rights leaders initially resented the comparison of Gay rights to Civil rights.  That these freedom fighters would fail to comprehend and affirm the critical relationship between the two movements is almost certainly related to the age old stigma attached to homosexuality.  The two fronts, Gay and Civil rights, went their own respective ways and within the realm of Gay rights there was and remains marked segregation between whites and blacks and other ethnicities of color.  But the two struggles, Gay and Civil rights are really brothers and women’s rights are their sister, they are all siblings of the same Family...  inheriting the tradition of common struggle for equality and dignity…
As usual I find myself looking back over the long history of this common struggle and asking myself,  “Where are we now”?  I see it as a very complex matter… over simplification troubles me because of its inherent tendency to overlook vital dynamics in order to appear to make a clean statement.  The cleaner the statement is the greater it tends to marginalize and repel others who cannot visualize themselves within its diluted and anesthetized purview.  My answer to this question is that I see America in the middle of a massive cultural evolution that has firmly placed gays on the map and having found them in nearly every boardroom, Pro-Sports Team, political party, religious community and zip code of this country Americans are now attempting to make the much needed modifications to properly document the power and normalcy of their presence!

For gays, the price of inclusion may be to ultimately disappear into the melting pot of America! Gay icons that personify protest and struggle may one day become noble hallmarks of yet another group of peoples who proudly call themselves American.  Isn't that the nature of struggle? That once it has reached its end, once the race is won the need for protest is over?  Then everyone can go home, relax, going about business as usual.  Although this poetic summary belies the reality of civil rights, a struggle that never dies, it does establish hope at a point of final resolution.  The ultimate reality may be that “Inclusion is another form of anonymity"!  And as for the activists of the cause of gay rights, when the hard work is done will they find another cause to champion or will they just lay back and let the "Good Times Roll”?

The struggle for gay rights has hardly reached a point that we can safely label as, “The Good Times”, but gentlemen… times are much better now than they ever have been.  Today Americans can watch substantive media include that cater to an enlightened and self-actualized gay audience.  It has made a tremendous difference for young and old people simply to see other gay men and women portrayed in positive roles knowing that they are accepted as a viable part of society.  The fairly recent proliferation of positive gay media and groundbreaking policy has effectively eliminated many of the factors that have allowed Gays to rationalize living in a marginalized reality sometimes referred to as the “D.L.”.  It is a new day Brothas!

This leaves us with two very different Schools of Thought espoused by two very different cultures within the gay community and ironically within the straight community.  The “Old School” more profoundly recognizes both the importance and the history of social struggle having navigated from a much more restrictive to a far less restrictive world.  The “New School” has grown up in an environment of inclusion and tolerance where diversity of sexual orientation is honestly viewed as normal, natural and subordinate to the overriding cause of harmonious human existence.  The New School is already programmed for inclusion, without the benefit of understanding of the history of struggle they take it for granted. 

For what it is worth, many New Schooler’s feel that Old School Gays were a lot more “Extra” because they felt they had a point to make.  Old Schooler’s used to the campiness of the gay lifestyle wonder where the new generations of gays are?  They wonder why the new gays are not acting gay!  Within the past 10 to 16 years there has been a coherent movement within the community of gay men to blend more with their heterosexual counterparts.  The universal struggle for gay men to masculinize themselves in order to assimilate into American culture has reached almost herculean proportions in the 21st Century.  When I first came out in the mid 1970’s it was considered common for a masculine gay man to take a lover who was more feminine.  Today the situation has all but reversed itself.  Gay men are now looking to play down the feminine stereotype and are looking to connect with other men who are just as masculine as themselves.  The whole ordeal has created a rift in the culture of the gay community especially within the black community which has become divided along a broad line delineating the realm of feminine gay men as distinctly separate from that of masculine gay men.  Masculine gay black men will not frequent gay clubs and establishments repulsed by men whom they deem to be feminine and unmanly.  Feminine young men of the New School are inspired by a new era of gay media such as “Americas Next Top Model”, and including cinema such as, “Noah’s Ark” that appear to focus more upon and celebrate the image of the effeminate gay male and this has given them a new self-awareness and pride. 

Fliers for parties and events distributed during gay pride and throughout the year bear overt advertisements giving notice that feminine men are not invited and will not be admitted.  At one point beginning in the mid 1990’s large groups of “masculine” gay men began to boycott the gay circuit parties launched during each cities Gay Pride Weekend opting for alternate locations where they felt effeminate men would not be able to find them, and relocated to exotic tropical and international locations to cultivate their vision of a more masculine version of gay pride.  What could be the cause of all this internal strife between men who have so much in common?  It is the result of the assimilation of gay men into mainstream culture.  Why do we not see more masculine gay men coming forth, making themselves known to the world? Where is this silent but active population of gay black men who shun the gay clubs and lifestyle and what is their reason for doing so?  It is my conclusion that the New School of gay man will increasingly choose the more direct route… falling into the traditional male role… assimilating into generic, traditional American culture and the established male image and persona.  As the need for a surrogate culture; once needed to nurture the now acceptable culture of transsexual and transgender males dwindles; these men will also begin to assimilate more seamlessly.  Being able to obtain regular employment living as themselves, the difficult life of many drag queens who have depended on the stage to support themselves, will dwindle.  As the “Specialness” of being gay draws to a close within the context of American culture the camp will begin to close down, its gay patrons now running in the same rat race as their heterosexual counterparts.  As gay men assimilate into the fabric of American culture it will no longer matter that they make any symbolic gesture as to the nature of their sexual orientation nor will there then be any barriers to them doing so if they so wish.  I personally believe that the assimilation of gay men into American culture will bring out the best of both worlds but it could also result in the loss of many unique and beautiful characteristics that have been long standing hallmarks of gay culture. 

If sexual orientation will no longer be an issue in American culture gay men will experience a barrier free climate in which they can freely live their lives.  Men who are attracted to their feminine side will be able to express themselves without fear and their stylishness and mannerisms will lose much of their shock value.  Masculine men will be able to enjoy being men unchallenged and virtually unchanged!  They will be able to abandon elaborate smoke screens and deceptions cultivated to falsify an image of heterosexuality.  Men who are gay will no longer need to deceive women when they really want to be with a man, at least in theory…  Like it or not, the old gay ways will eventually melt into the cultural soup of  popular and mainstream culture leaving many of its legendary and stereotypical characteristics behind in the process this transformation can have both positive and negative dimensions. 

As gay blend into mainstream culture many dysfunctional aspects of gay culture cultivated out of the necessity to “Hide” will gradually fall out of practise or in some cases they may actually intensify since there is no longer any stigma placed upon them.  Likewise many amazing facets that have always made gay culture so distinctive and festive will also begin to lose relevance and popularity.  Without doubt, there will be periods of romantic revivalism scattered throughout the period of transition and beyond. Assimilation can be a wonderful thing when it represents a symbiotic fusion of two very different worlds.  It is a strong indication that a civilization is healthy, happy and still in the process of improving and reinventing itself. 

But gays must carefully think out their assimilation into mainstream culture to make sure that they preserve the hallmarks of their world for future generations.  This means that they must continue to encourage and patronize all of the colorful and historic traditions that comprise the diverse gay culture.  They must also get on the bandwagon and leave behind old prejudices and bitterness toward heterosexuals.  Like Blacks, gays have had to carve out a world of their own that catered specifically to their own needs and afforded them the respect and dignity they were denied by mainstream American culture.  The new generations of gay men are more at home with mainstream culture and do not feel such a strong sense of separation.  This is a place where the Old School and New School of gay men can truly come together to move the history of their unique culture forward, preserving the grand old traditions and forging new ones that intimately weave them into the mainstream of American culture a culture that sees gay and straight culture as one. 

There remain areas of profound strife within the gay community as a whole.  Racial, ethnic, health and economic issues continue to rend the world of gays asunder.  The great struggle for gays to assimilate into mainstream American culture has caused tension between gays who view themselves as true masculine men and gays who view themselves as effeminate; both sides wanting respect in their respective struggles for self-determination.   

3 comments:

  1. I have been discussing the issue of gay men and culture going mainstream and the ultimate effect of the assimilation of gay culture into mainstream American culture for many years now. Until very recently when states began to legalize gay marriage it seemed nothing more than a visionary intellectual construct but now in lieu of the cultural phenomenon of gay media and groundbreaking policy it seems appropriate to develop realistic projections of what this cultural movement really means. I find the topic fascinating… it is like starting all over with the civil rights movement. This is the biggest thing since ERA in the 1970’s to hit popular American culture.

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  2. Great article however, I'm still not convinced that for Black Gay men that the Kuumbyah (sp) feeling has yet to descend on us. Sure there have been great gains by a few see Black Enterprise (Black Gays in Corporate America)July 2011. But for the majority of us just being Black gets the welcome mat rolled up. I think this is partly why there is this separation between those who identify as masculine and less masculine. Society appreciates and is accepting of males who are "men" in the hetero stereotypical definition of man. A Black Gay man would be ill advised to behave in a manner short of this less he risk being marginalized and disregarded more than usual. I think this is also why many brothas remain closeted and all that goes on with living that life. I think if there were affirmative characters in the media as well as in real life, role models who were/are Black Gay males and voiced positive messages this separation would cease. The mainstreaming you mentioned would no longer need to exist while the love from within as well as from outside of our community would truly begin to flow and foster solidarity. There are plenty of white gay males Celebs to affirm white gay males (yeah!)A new one pops out like a pimple every 46mins proclaiming he's "Out and Proud" But where my brutha's at!? Most you hear nothing about until they die of AIDS related illnesses or were murdered by some hate group/indiviual. Thank you Don Lemon for not dying before "YOU" came out. I don't know, from reading your discussion I would argue that as a Black Gay man I'm not sure I would be so eager to melt or blend into that cultural soup pot...I think I would like to insted be in the communal salad bowl... where each ingredient is separate and distinct while adding it's own flavor to the goodness of the whole. 1 Luv

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  3. Chef Greg... thank you for your insigtful response... My first response is that location plays a great part in this whole scenario... as I mentioned in the article the climate is different in Columbia S.C. for instance than it is here in Washington, D.C. and in New York for that matter... but coming out is an inevitable process that Black gay men are going to have to complete. It is more dangerous for a Black man to remain closeted and face the risk of being outed or threatened by an unscrupulous party than to confront the issue head on and forgo the risk of social disgrace...

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