in sexuality

World AIDS Day 2007

Every year on December 1, writers, activists, poets and politicians search for new ways to commemorate World AIDS Day. As the epidemic has become more black and brown and poor, it sometimes seems much of the world has moved on and forgotten about the disease. And although it is helpful to use World AIDS Day to recommit ourselves to the struggle, the truth is that one day is not enough.

This year I searched for a simple way to dramatize the epidemic in past, present and future. It came in the form of a poem, written by one of my favorite poets, Essex Hemphill. I met Hemphill only once in my lifetime. As a student at Harvard in 1991, I took the red line subway train to M.I.T. to see Hemphill read from his new book, Brother To Brother. That book became my bible and instruction manual on being a black gay man.

Posted in sexuality on November 30 2007, 12:56PM | Read More | Comments (51)

The One Black Guy Who Voted Anti-Gay

All but one of the 38 members of the Congressional Black Caucus who voted on the Employment Non Discrimination Act on Wednesday support laws outlawing discrimination against gays and lesbians. Of the 43 members of the Caucus, 2 (Eleanor Holmes Norton and Donna Christian-Christensen) are not eligible to vote, 2 (Julia Carson and William Jefferson) did not vote, and 1 (Barack Obama) is a senator, so the issue has not yet come up for a vote in his chamber of the legislature. Two New York members (Yvette Clarke and Edolphus Towns) support ENDA but voted against the bill because it did not include protection for transgendered individuals.

That leaves just one guy, Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama. Davis (shown above) is the only member of the Caucus who has now gone on record to indicate that he does not support a federal law requiring equal treatment for gays and lesbians.

Posted in sexuality on November 8 2007, 2:36PM | Read More | Comments (34)

And Justice For All

Just over a year after 29-year-old Michael Sandy died from injuries sustained in a brutal hate crime attack in New York, the last of the four defendants on trial pleaded guilty yesterday in court. Facing a possible life sentence on murder charges, 21-year-old Ilya Shurov agreed to serve 17-1/2 years in prison after admitting that he chased Michael Sandy onto the Belt Parkway on October 8, 2006. Shurov pleaded guilty to manslaughter and attempted robbery as hate crimes.

Two of Shurov's co-defendants, Anthony Fortunato and John Fox, were convicted in trial and face up to 25 years in prison when sentenced. But Shurov was looking at the possibility of life in prison because he was the only defendant accused of physical violence. Witnesses in the first trial said that Shurov had hidden behind a dune, run out, punched Sandy, chased him into traffic and then rifled his pockets after he was struck by a car.

Posted in sexuality on November 6 2007, 10:47AM | Read More | Comments (9)

What's The "T" on LGBT Rights?

For the past few weeks, there has been a war waging in the LGBT community about just what those initials really mean. As Congress has taken up the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, factions on both sides have dug in their heels over the question of including "gender identity" in the proposed legislation.

Some, like Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), an openly gay member of Congress, believe that ENDA will not pass if gender identity is included in the bill. But others, including virtually all of the mainline LGBT groups, oppose the bill because it would not protect the transgender community, leaving them to fend for themselves in separate future legislation that has no chance of passing. All of this leads to a question: Exactly what is the LGBT community all about?

Posted in sexuality on October 15 2007, 11:20AM | Read More | Comments (44)

A Lesson Before Dying

Just yesterday on this site we discussed the importance and the difficulty of forgiveness. Then we were talking about forgiving a legendary track star who had fallen from grace. But today it's time to talk about a more difficult form of forgiveness.

Denise Sandy, the mother of slain hate crimes victim Michael Sandy, has seen things that most mothers never want to see. Last year she sat by the bedside of her only son and watched him die. And this year, Mrs. Sandy has stood vigil in the courthouse where the suspects accused of murdering her son have been on trial. But despite all that she has witnessed in the past year, Denise Sandy is able to offer something that many people would think unimaginable: forgiveness.

Posted in sexuality on October 10 2007, 2:06AM | Read More | Comments (80)

Mixed Verdict In Sandy Case

John Fox, a defendant in the Michael Sandy murder trial, was convicted of manslaughter and attempted robbery as hate crimes, but acquitted of the more serious charge of felony murder. The jury verdict was announced late Friday, as a separate jury deliberating the same charges against Fox’s co-defendant, Anthony Fortunato, 21, retired for the long holiday weekend without reaching a verdict.

The jury of seven men and five women reached a verdict rather quickly, indicating to some observers that they did not understand the complexity of the law and the charges. The jurors began deliberating early in the afternoon on October 4 and at 4:12 pm on October 5 they told the judge in the case that they had reached a verdict. Sandy's parents (shown above) said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the verdict. “Things like this shouldn’t happen,” said the victim's father, Ezekial Sandy. “Hopefully something greater will come out of it.”

Posted in sexuality on October 6 2007, 12:30PM | Read More | Comments (13)

Black, Gay and OK

Indianapolis -- We spend a lot of time on this web site talking about the various challenges that face black people, gay people and black gay people. Goodness knows, there are plenty of stories out there everyday that we could talk about to fill that void. In the past few weeks we've been monitoring the New York City trial of the men accused of murdering a black gay man named Michael Sandy last year. And just today, police in Washington, D.C. reported that six white students and one black student attacked another black student at a high school for the deaf and scrawled "KKK" and swastikas on him. Unfortunately, bad news is easy to come by in this business.

But today there's a new report out that bucks the trend. According to a study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, black gays and lesbians have fewer mental disorders than their white counterparts. Researchers expected that black lesbians, gays, and bisexuals would have more disorders than whites because blacks face prejudice related to both racism and homophobia. But the results seem to show that many black gays are finding useful and productive ways to cope.

Posted in sexuality on October 4 2007, 10:56AM | Read More | Comments (66)