Julian Bond,
former Georgia state representative and ex-head of the
NAACP, says fighting homophobia is key to progress in the
struggle against HIV/AIDS among blacks.
What are you doing to address homophobia among the black population?
I look at the women’s movement, the
movement of lesbians and gays, the Hispanic movement,
the Native American movement—all these movements say
they took their cues from the African-American civil rights
movement. But in this case, the African-American
movement against AIDS is taking its cues from the gay
movement, hoping to adapt some of the militancy, some
of the tactics, demonstrations, and protests.
How big a role does homophobia play in the spread of AIDS
among black people?
They definitely go hand in hand. I live in
Washington, D.C., and over the past six months or so,
two very prominent black ministers here have issued
the most appalling [antigay] statements. The good news is
that they were quickly and loudly denounced. The bad
news is that they made these statements at all.
Homophobia is one of the major obstacles to black
Americans coming to grips with this disease in the ways that
we should. It is awfully disturbing. It’s a
refutation of what the movement for civil rights stood
for. It’s disgraceful.
Is that changing at all?
It is more possible to have rational and decent
discussions about the issue and to talk about
prescriptions for change. But at the same time it
really is a barrier. People who have these kinds of
prejudices tend to dismiss the whole [AIDS] phenomenon
and put it down to a matter of
“behavior.” It is a phenomenon that strikes
everyone, and we have to get to the point where we can
put these evil bigotries behind us so we can focus on
the spread of AIDS, the availability of treatment, the
teaching of preventive measures, the use of condoms.
Is it a matter of more gay black men needing to come out?
I can’t help but think that if more
closeted gay people would come out of the closet and
take claim of who they are and their identity, this
situation would be immeasurably eased. At the same time
those who are out need to take a more active role in
organizations like the NAACP and let members see they
are ordinary people. Having someone say, “Here I am,
look at me, pay attention to me,” makes a great
difference. The NAACP board is quite
large—there are 64 of us. One of my members has AIDS.
I don’t doubt that others are gay or lesbian.
Their situation would be immeasurably helped if those
folks said, “Here I am.”
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