In today's NYT op-ed columnist Charles M Blow writes a piece entitled
Gay Marriage and a Moral Minority in which he explores the issue of Prop 8 and the black vote in CA.
We now know that blacks probably didn’t tip the balance for Proposition 8. Myth busted.
He cites a New Yorker article (in a link only) Eight Is Enough which refutes much of the hype and concern over the "blame the blacks" theme:
Some conservative commentators, who didn’t have much else to gloat about, dwelt lingeringly on what they evidently regarded as the upside of the huge, Obama-sparked African-American turnout. "It was the black vote that voted down gay marriage," Bill O’Reilly, of Fox News, insisted triumphantly—and, it turns out, wrongly. If exit polling is to be believed, seventy per cent of California’s African-American voters did indeed vote yes on Prop. 8, as did upward of eighty per cent of Republicans, conservatives, white evangelicals, and weekly churchgoers. But the initiative would have passed, barely, even if not a single African-American had shown up at the polls.
But Blow then goes on to explore what he feels are the reasons behind the black vote that did not support the overturn of 8:
However, the fact remains that a strikingly high percentage of blacks said they voted to ban same-sex marriage in California. Why?
He then proceeds to use the questionable CNN exit poll data which points a finger at black women, and advances theories about why black women voted to support Prop 8:
(1) Blacks are much more likely than whites to attend church, according to a Gallup report, and black women are much more likely to attend church than black men. Anyone who has ever been to a black church can attest to the disparity in the pews. And black women’s church attendance may be increasing.
(2) This high rate of church attendance by blacks informs a very conservative moral view. While blacks vote overwhelmingly Democratic, an analysis of three years of national data from Gallup polls reveals that their views on moral issues are virtually indistinguishable from those of Republicans. Let’s just call them Afropublicrats.
(3) Marriage can be a sore subject for black women in general. According to 2007 Census Bureau data, black women are the least likely of all women to be married and the most likely to be divorced. Women who can’t find a man to marry might not be thrilled about the idea of men marrying each other.
He completely ignores the fact that there are black women who are lesbian and bi-sexual who wish to marry.
But what I have a major problems with with is his conclusion:
More specifically, blacks overwhelmingly say that homosexuality isn’t morally acceptable. So many black men hide their sexual orientations and engage in risky behavior. This has resulted in large part in black women’s becoming the fastest-growing group of people with H.I.V. In a 2003 study of H.I.V.-infected people, 34 percent of infected black men said they had sex with both men and women, while only 6 percent of infected black women thought their partners were bisexual. Tragic. (In contrast, only 13 percent of the white men in the study said they had sex with both men and women, while 14 percent of the white women said that they knew their partners were bisexual.)
So pitch it as a health issue. The more open blacks are to the idea of homosexuality, the more likely black men would be to discuss their sexual orientations and sexual histories. The more open they are, the less likely black women would be to put themselves at risk unwittingly. And, the more open blacks are to homosexuality over all, the more open they are likely to be to gay marriage. This way, everyone wins.
He is suggesting that activists use the theories promoted in "On The Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of "Straight" Black Men Who Sleep with Men" by J.L. King, and Karen Hunter. This book excited a huge buzz on the black book network (a la Oprah) when it was released in 2004 and in the afro-sphere and on black talk-radio.
The "DL" theory of hidden black male sexuality was introduced to the general public by a major NYT article, Double Lives On The Down Low published back in 2003
Johari Jabir, in a review of the King book, entitled Up From The Down Low at SeeingBlack.com, discussed the shockwave created by the Times article:
The African American community's failure to respond positively to the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a direct result of Black religious homophobia: a homophobia created and supported by Black religious institutions that coincides with a narrow-minded popular notion of Black masculinity. Over a recent period of three years, we've witnessed a surge of interest, particularly in the media, with respect to African American men who have sex with men. Normally, these men would be thought of as being gay. Not so. The recent series of articles published in Essence, Vibe, and The Washington Post have attempted to expose a secret sexual cultural phenomenon called "The Down Low." Although the previous articles caused somewhat of a stir, none were as troubling as one that appeared on Sunday, August 3, 2003.
The Sunday New York Times Magazine cover page article entitled, "Double Lives On The Down Low," written by journalist Benoit Lewis, sent a shock wave through the African American community as the article aired some very dirty laundry. While the previous articles were in Black publications written and read by Black people, Benoit's piece was splayed on the cover of Sunday's New York Times Magazine, for the entire world to see. Among the story's many shocking insights, the article reveals that after 25 years in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, not only are the rates of HIV infection at a steady climb for African American women in particular, but the article exposes the way Black religious institutions in particular create and support homophobia within Black communities. The result of such homophobia is the birth of a subculture of dishonesty and denial with respect to Black masculinity, desire, and sexuality. Unfortunately, this subculture has sabotaged any attempts at HIV prevention and/or treatment.
Jabir went on at great length (see the review) and concluded:
Intellectuals and academics will dismiss J.L. King's "On The Down Low" is being too intellectually thin to bother with. Others, probably Black women, will undoubtedly read it and believe they have learned something new. Caught in the center of these opposites is an opportunity to engage some difficult and abstract questions about Black masculinity, desire, and sexuality. Moreover, while it might be easy to dismiss the "simpleness" of King's book, the crisis of HIV/AIDS in African American communities is a symptom of an older disease in our community: homophobia. Unfortunately, King's testimony helps to fulfill a need to preserve an unhealthy kind of Black masculinity and demonization of sexuality in that the book preferences one kind of Black life over another. The book's failure to acknowledge the suffering of Black gay men in the AIDS epidemic reinforces a kind of homophobia that disregards the lives of Black gay men in the name of rescuing Black women. For while the increased rates of HIV for African American women is certainly cause for alarm, keep in mind that the down low is a creation and function of homophobia — a homophobia supported by Black religious conservatism, social and cultural constraints, and unhealthy popular notions of Black masculinity. As J.L. King makes his way up from the down low, perhaps he will eventually reconcile his masculinity, desire, and sexuality in a way that doesn't demonize one kind of man in order to celebrate another.
The Body covered this response:
Assumption of "Down-Low" Lifestyle Can Distort HIV/AIDS Research; Researchers Should Look at Other Reasons for Disparity, Commentary Says
"Part of what has happened as a result of that initial burst of stories ... is that those stories often tied the down low to high rates of HIV infection among African-American women, which was not supported by epidemiological data," Ford said. According to the commentary, men of all races and ethnic groups secretly have sex with both women and other men. In addition, larger numbers of HIV cases occur among black men and women than other races, though they report fewer riskier behaviors. Ford said that increased attention on the lifestyle could cause men who secretly have sex with other men to further disguise their lifestyle and also become less likely to seek medical treatment. In addition, the high profile on the lifestyle also shifts the discussion away from measures to prevent HIV, such as routine testing, Ford said. She suggested that researchers examine other approaches to explain the higher numbers of HIV cases among blacks (Harding, Reuters Health, 2/28).
Epidemiological researcher Ford and her co-authors have challenged King, and other proponents in
Black Sexuality, Social Construction, and Research Targeting ‘The Down Low’ (‘The DL’) published in the Annals of Epidemiology , Volume 17 , Issue 3, 2007.
Her abstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this commentary is to explain how social constructions of black sexuality are relevant to research targeting black sexual behavior and the ostensibly new and race-specific phenomenon known as "the Down Low" (the DL). The term "the DL" is widely used to refer to black men publicly presenting as heterosexual while secretly having sex with other men and presumably spreading human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) to unsuspecting women.
Methods
We briefly review lay and public health literature from 1998 to 2004 about the DL, describe existing social constructions of black sexuality, discuss two implications for epidemiologic research, and offer recommendations to guide future research.
Results
The lifestyle referenced by the term the DL is neither new nor limited to blacks, and sufficient data linking it to HIV/AIDS disparities currently are lacking. Common perceptions about the DL reflect social constructions of black sexuality as generally excessive, deviant, diseased, and predatory. Research targeting black sexual behavior that ignores these constructions may unwittingly reinforce them.
Conclusions
Unaddressed social constructions of black sexuality have implications for epidemiologic research targeting black sexual behavior. Explicit examination of these concerns is necessary to eliminate fundamental causes of health disparities.
The authors offer this conclusion:
- Conceptualize sexuality as fluid to account for both compositional (e.g., physiological sites of exposure) and contextual (e.g., behavior influenced by the social context in which it occurs) factors.
- Involve members of socially marginalized populations in formulating and directing research that targets their communities to identify and understand salient cultural factors . If it is not possible to do so, involve persons with less social distance from the target populations than interested researchers (e.g., if it is not possible to identify hidden populations of MSM, it may be possible to identify lesbian or gay organizations already aware of these networks).
- Incorporate strategies into study design to systematically assess and proactively address any stigmatization that may result from the research . This is important because research sometimes traumatizes or further stigmatizes communities.
- Examine structural factors (e.g., disproportionate imprisonment of blacks) that may influence both behaviors and risk because they may explain fundamental causes of persistent disparities better than do individual level factors.
- Examine the research process itself to understand how social context (e.g., media representations of black men as sexual predators) influences not only disease occurrence but also research processes through which knowledge about determinants and populations is produced. For instance, how do research hypotheses regarding stigmatized behavior differ by study populations' races/ethnicities? These types of questions are important because "we must also consider that scientific knowledge both reflects and perpetuates social inequalities"
My problem as an AIDS researcher with Blow's article is two-fold. He has completely failed to address IV drug use and unsterile syringe sharing, compounded by high rates of jail and prison drug use as a risk factor and transmission vector for HIV/AIDS in communities of color.
He fails to mention high rates of incarceration for black men overall (as a result of the failed "War on Drugs" polices) which contributes to disproportionate voting for black women, and social inequality (institutionalized racism) in the criminal justice system as a key factor in the disenfranchisement of black men.
He also fails to mention the age factor in the vote, since we know now that older people overall (of all races) tended to vote more conservatively.
The simplistic solution he presents in this piece - that young black women have more abortions, resent black men who marry white women, and that "blacks overwhelmingly say that homosexuality isn’t morally acceptable" does not address at all the discussion of gay marriage as a "civil right" nor does it bring into play the need for a greater separation of church and state in issues affecting all Americans - whether it is about gay marriage, abortion, or prayer in schools.
Is there homophobia in some sectors of the black community? Yes. Is there homophobia in American society over all? Hell yes. Are "the gays" responsible for AIDS - No.
But conflating the rising rates of HIV infection in black women with black MSMs, divorced from a public health discussion of poverty, inadequate access to prevention, the lack of comprehensive sex education in public schools in the lower grades, and the intersections of race and gender with social class in America, does little to advance either the efforts to legalize gay marriage, or to address HIV/AIDS rates in communities of color in the US.
And though he opened his op-ed piece with a link to the New Yorker article deconstructing all the factors that contributed to the failure to block Prop 8, Blow has ultimately re-focused the blame yet again - on black MSMs and on angry black women.