Homosexuality and the African American Churches - Assignment Example

?Homosexuality and the African American Churches The social issue of homosexuality and the African American Churches is of interest in the contemporary world because these church communities are places where culturally sensitive issues of race, gender, power and sexual orientation come together in way which uses ideology of sin and redemption to both support and stigmatize people. African American people who are homosexuals, or who have liberal and accepting views of homosexuality, are confronted with a traditional antipathy towards same sex relationships. They may suffer prejudice and negative stereotyping, and this causes a number of harmful consequences both for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and for members of these African American Churches who are encouraged to hold homophobic views. This issue fits into the field of sociology as an example of conflict in society caused by the existence of different paradigms which evolve out of community experiences over many centuries. The so-called “Thomas theorem” holds that individuals construct their own reality out of what they believe, which, in turn, means that their beliefs have a strong influence on their actions. In the context of homosexuality and the African American Churches, the dominant teachings of the Church may make it easier for individuals to view homosexual people in a negative light, which in turn causes them to be hostile and negative towards this section of the community. Homosexuals themselves may have feelings of shame or guilt because of these judgemental views, and may not be able to discuss or express themselves in their church context, Ward (2005) traces a connection between “theologically-driven homophobia” and “the anti-homosexual rhetoric of black nationalism” which have arisen together in resistance to larger American structures including racism, patriarchy and capitalism. According to this line of thinking, the pressures of the civil rights struggle contributed to the development of an ideal of “hypermasculinity” in African American communities which includes rejection of homosexuality as a valid or proper way of life. From another perspective, modern sociological approaches, like the social-interaction approach, interpret some of the issues as arising out of the symbolic meaning that people attach to things, rather than their actual attributes. In this instance, homosexuality interpreted as weakness and moral depravity - two features which African American men were desperate to avoid in a racist society which already challenged their masculinity through imposed servitude and discrimination. The legacy of this struggle lives on in a tendency amongst African American males towards an exaggerated distancing from anything with connotations of femininity or weakness. The sociological point here is that homosexual people are not any weaker or necessarily more feminine than non-homosexual people, and in any case femininity can be construed as being just as strong as masculinity. Negative connotations have simply become attached to the stereotypical labels that people use and these negative connotations are hard to eradicate, even when the threat to masculinity has reduced, and social behavior in American society at large has changed. It is well known that hard-line, fundamentalist church groups are anti-homosexual, but the question of how widespread these attitudes are in African American Churches as a whole is less well understood. Sociological inquiry into this would first of all provide updated information on the prevalence of homophobic attitudes in these Churches, and then also explore what the effects of it are, and the trends that are emerging. Possible interventions could be made to lessen areas of conflict, and support African American homosexuals and their Church communities in finding healthy, supportive ways of dealing with different sexual orientations. There is evidence in the media generally and in a small number of academic studies that the amount and scale of active intolerance on the part of heterosexuals in African American churches is concerning. Griffin reports a tendency of African American church leaders to posit themselves as heterosexuals and to direct their attacks against white Christian lesbian/gay groups, thus, making homosexual African Americans invisible (Griffin, 2000, pp. 89-90). Homosexuality within the African American church community has historical connections with a literal interpretation of scripture, white exploitation of black slaves, and a lingering race survival consciousness (Ward, 2005, pp. 494-496). These connections linger in African American communities, even amongst individuals who have given up church membership. They have become a firm part of the collective world view which is perceived as “normal” and this presents great difficulties for people who are cast in the role of “deviant” and thereby condemned to lower status in the community. In a very recent article Cheney and Le’Brian analyze the growing phenomenon of “Black Mega Churches”, defined as Black Churches with at least 2,000 members and what they describe as “the disconnect that exists between the African American LBGT community and the Black Church” (Cheney and Le’Brian, 2011, p. 200). In a qualitative study of Dallas (Texas) based “Potters Church” which is a nondenominational organization with some 30,000 members, the authors identify negative identification labels and language issues as significant issues which curtail LBG and T people’s ability to live their lives in the way that they want to. Significantly, there is a high level of deliberate restriction of overt behavior in this group: “Black LGBT persons have felt the necessity to downplay their sexual identity in order to maintain a level of comfort within the Black Church” (Cheney and Le’Brian, 2011, p. 203). Using grounded theory and an open-coding process, the authors analyzed Potter’s House sermons and interviews with the leading pastor, as well as church educational materials. The results show that this Church displays a somewhat ambivalent attitude to homosexuality, providing valuable medical, financial and counselling support to people suffering from HIV/AIDS through its “Balm Ministry” on the one hand, and refusing to hire gay people on the other. The Church is better at dealing with the physical needs of the LBGT community than their emotional needs, because there is still a reluctance to take a clear stand on the relationships issues, and a “don’t ask don’t tell” attitude to on-going relationships that do not fit the traditional marriage pattern. This study shows that there is potential for change in the African American churches, but there is still some way to go before workable policies and practices can be introduced more widely to the benefit of all concerned. References Chaney, C. & Le’Brian, P. (2011). The Invisibility of LGBT Individuals in Black Mega Churches: Political and Social Implications. Journal of African American Studies 15, pp. 199-217. Griffin, H. (2000). Their Own Received Them Not: African American Lesbians and Gays in Black Churches. Theology and Sexuality 12, pp. 88-100. Ward, E. (2005). Homophobia, hypermasculinity and the US black church. Culture, Health & Sexuality 7 (5), pp. 493-504. Read More