Reply #75: Not totally sold on the idea that "most religious homophobia"... [View All]

... has come from white churches.

Even if it's true (which I'm not buying just yet), regardless of where the total homophobia in general comes from, most black gay men in this country can't escape the influence of the black church while still maintaining ties with a huge swath of the African American community. The black church's influence is far and wide and permeates just about every sector of the black community in this country far more than the white churches do the country at large. There are a good number of places in the country where non-black (or non-Muslim or non-Latino for that matter, among other religious and ethnic groups, since I don't feel like researching them all just now) LGBT people can generally distance themselves from anti-gay religious fundamentalism. Gay African American men (and to an extent, black lesbians, as well) don't always have the same option, unless they voluntarily choose to isolate themselves from other blacks. This makes Obama's role in combatting homophobia in the black church all the more critical. While I personally don't believe he's a homophobe, the McClurkin incident didn't send the best message, and I honestly believe he could have found another gospel singer that could have reached as many people without alienating a large part of the GLBT community.