Buttigieg Creates A Media Moment as Far Left Whines That He's White and Male

Left to their own devices, part of me suspects that the far left of the Democrat Party would never pull of wining a general election.  Pragmatism is an unknown concept, identity politics and division run rampant, and policy minutia are a wet dream to this crowd.  At least, that is my read of things. As 2020 approaches, the number one task is finding a candidate that can win moderates and at the same time press progressive approaches that will address real needs of real people.  Then there is also the need to get behind a candidate who can adeptly use the media in a way to counter Donald Trump's media sucking narcissism and constant turmoil.   I am not say that ultimately Pete Buttigieg is the one who can meet these requirements, but he surely highlights the inability of other would be Democrat nominees to manage the media as will be needed during the 2020 general election campaign.  Former Republican and "Never Trumper" Jennifer Rubin looks at Buttigieg's tour de force on Fox News in a column in the Washington Post.  Here are column excerpts:

Pundits arguing that South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg simply cannot be president because his only civilian public service has been at the local level, or that he is heavy on values and persona but lighter on policy, seem not to have learned anything from 2016. President Trump won the Republican primary by stringing together media moments, dominating the airwaves and intensifying his audience’s emotions (anger, resentment, etc.). Buttigieg is testing the proposition that Democrats desperate to take back the White House may admire Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s policy parade but what they long for is someone who can beat Trump and reflect their longing to reassert their values (respect for intellect, empathy, tolerance).

Buttigieg, in appearing on Fox News Sunday night, helped his cause tremendously. Projecting the same calm, incisiveness and wit that have impressed other audiences, he won enthusiastic applause and a standing ovation. He created some viral moments that will echo around the mainstream media for days.

Buttigieg accomplished several things.  First, he showed how to defend progressive positions and dismantle the right-wing frame for discussing them. On abortion, he had this answer to recent abortion bans: I believe that the right of a woman to make her own decisions about her reproductive health and about her body is a national right. I believe it is an American freedom that should be enjoyed by women in every state. The next president needs to be ready to protect those rights.

The ability to defend Democrats’ values and views effectively, to avoid being cornered by right-wing talking points impresses — and delights — Democratic voters.

Second, going on Fox News, in contrast to Warren (D-Mass.) and others (who had perfectly acceptable moral reasons for shunning the propaganda machine,) reinforced the notion that his political instincts are superior to hers and other competitors. Instead of refusing to appear to denounce hate, Buttigieg used the airtime on Fox to denounce its hateful hosts.

Third, by going on Fox News and winning plaudits, he implicitly made the argument for his own electability. Hey, he can win those people over. Part of his argument is that a religious mayor from the heartland knows the secret sauce for breaking through to working- and middle-class voters in the Midwest. His appearance on Fox News will convince some Democrats that he can.

Fourth, Buttigieg recognized that, in a field of 23 Democratic candidates, holding the media’s attention for a sustained time is nearly impossible for those challenging front-runner Joe Biden. . . . Buttigieg’s answer: Use earned media to create viral moments. These cement in the public’s mind the image of a feisty, witty, super-smart candidate with a Zen-like ability to turn Trump’s anger back against him, making the president look small and childish.

Finally, Buttigieg debunks the notion that Democratic viewers want an angry candidate. They are angry at and about Trump. They pine for someone who can slice and dice him in a way Hillary Clinton never could.

Buttigieg, to be certain, has real challenges. Most importantly, he needs to find support among African American voters who are a critical part of the Democratic primary electorate. He’ll need to show he has some policy plans to avoid looking like a lightweight when he goes up against Warren, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and others who’ve presented (whether you like them or not) bold policy ideas. That said, he showed Sunday night just how formidable are his communication skills and political antenna.

Others can help you construct policy proposals, but that “it” factor (which Harris certainly has) is either there or it’s not. And, yes, Buttigieg has it.

Despite Buttigieg's triumph on Fox, the usual suspects are hard at work dividing the party and arguing that only someone with the right skin color or level a far left fervor can represent the Democrat Party and lead it to victory over Trump.  A piece in Politico looked at this all too predictable circular firing squad - the same one that allowed many Virginia Democrats to be played for fools by far right operatives in early February.  The piece also looks at the reality gays face daily: blacks expect gays to support and protect their civil rights, but blacks all too often do not reciprocate in kind much less in acceptance. Here in Virginia, time and time again white supremacist groups like The Family Foundation use religion to rally black pastors to oppose LGBT rights, playing them for fools in the process. Here are article highlights:

Joe Darby, a prominent pastor in Charleston, S.C., was discussing the Democratic presidential field with fellow clergymen when Pete Buttigieg’s name came up. A fellow pastor quickly interjected.

“Isn’t that the dude who kissed his husband on TV?” the person asked skeptically, according to Darby.

The exchange highlights a major obstacle for Buttigieg, who’s vaulted into the top tier of Democratic candidates without gaining traction among African Americans, according to recent surveys of national and South Carolina Democrats. But as the mayor of South Bend, Ind., devotes more effort to campaigning for black votes in the South and elsewhere, he will have to break down some resistance over his sexual orientation, particularly among older voters, according to interviews with more than a dozen African American activists, political strategists and clergy, as well as a review of public polling.

Buttigieg and his campaign are well aware of the issue. As he skips from sold-out fundraisers to overflowing rallies around the country, Buttigieg set aside time last week for a smaller gathering of black LGBTQ faith leaders and activists in Houston. Gathered around a glass coffee table, Buttigieg opened up to the group of a dozen about his record with African Americans as mayor in South Bend, Ind. — an area that has generated some criticism — as well as his agenda for black voters and his experience as an openly gay candidate for president, including the challenges he may face.

“He’s white, male and gay, all three of those things are going to create obstacles for various communities — specifically, I think, the white and the gay, for the black community, are definitely going to be obstacles for him,” said Harrison Guy, a Houston-based choreographer and LGBTQ activist who led the discussion with the mayor. “He’s very aware of that.”

American views on LGBTQ rights and issues have moved rapidly in the last decade, and black support for bedrock issues like same-sex marriage has also jumped to a narrow majority in recent polling. But those numbers lag behind the nation: 61 percent of adults (and an even higher share of Democrats) backed same-sex marriage in a recent Pew Research Center poll, compared to 51 percent of African Americans.

“It’s an obstacle in the minds of some. And for others, it’s an opportunity,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist and a 5th-generation member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. “He has opportunity to educate and take the temperature here and chart a pathway forward, because I suspect he will not be the last [openly gay] candidate” to run for president.

“Are there implicit biases that women candidates have to face? Absolutely. Are there biases that a black candidate has to face? Is there implicit baggage that a gay candidate has to face? Absolutely,” Belcher said. “How you inoculate yourself from those biases goes back to how you define yourself and talk about yourself authentically.”

Some of that involves building relationships with individual African American activists and voters to break the ice, which the Buttigieg campaign did in their latest swing through South Carolina, setting up private meetings with black leaders.

Buttigieg’s regular invocation of his marriage and his husband, Chasten, on the campaign trail — usually in the context of his Christianity, “putting his faith on his sleeve” — is also an “excellent way to inoculate himself from that implicit bias about the gay community,” Belcher said.

It’s also a way to connect with those wary voters, and by casting his marriage through the lens of his faith “can bring in those Christians he’s trying to reach,” because “he can say to them, ‘I’m just like you,’ a married person of faith,” said Guy, the Houston activist who met with Buttigieg.

Buttigieg also used a recent speech before LGBTQ activists in Las Vegas to promote empathy between minority groups.

“What every gay person has in common with every excluded person of every kind is knowing what it’s like to see a wall between you and the rest of the world, and wonder what it’s like on the other side,” Buttigieg said at an event for the Human Rights Campaign.

Based on public polling, support for gay rights has grown dramatically in recent years. In 2006, 43 percent of Americans said they would feel enthusiastic or comfortable about a candidate who is gay or lesbian, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. In April, 70 percent said they’d be enthusiastic or comfortable with it, and Buttigieg and his husband appeared on the cover of Time magazine under the headline: “First Family.”

But as a group, black voters still lag compared to the party that gets most of their votes.  In particular, Democratic consultants emphasized that it could be a sticking point for older black voters. In 2017, 69 percent of African Americans aged 18 to 29 backed same-sex marriage, but just 40 percent of African Americans aged 65 and older did, according to a Public Religion Research Institute poll.

Buttigieg “understands there are barriers there, and that it’s something he’s going to have to get over,” Guy said. “He didn’t treat it like a photo-op. It was very much about relationship-building.”

One would hope that black voters would comprehend that ANY DEMOCRAT would be better for their rights and interests than allowing Trump to be re-elected because minority voters fail to go to the polls. Yet, in 2016, many did precisely that and the nation has suffered as a consequence.

NAACP Endorses LGBT Equality Act

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s D.C. bureau.

While in theory they should have been allies for decades given their common enemies, particularly white Christofacsists who by a seeming large majority are also white supremacists, the LGBT and African-American communities have nor always been allies.  One of the main stumbling blocks has been "conservative" black pastors who have allowed themselves year after year to be rallied against LGBT rights by the very same Christofascist who in prior generations advocated for segregation and retention of the Jim Crow laws. Indeed, here in Virginia, The Family Foundation, the state's leading hate group, has played black pastors as fools  for many years.  Now, with the very transparent effort by the Legislative Black Caucus to throw Governor Ralph Northam - the most LGBT governor in Virginia history - under the bus in order to elevate Justin Fairfax to the position of governor,  relations between the some elements of the two communities are very strained (e.g., I will not be voting for my state senator and delegate in November who are members of the Legislative Black Caucus).  A piece in Metro Weekly looks at the NAACP's endorsement of the Equality Act which hopefully may help mend fences.  Here are excerpts:

The Equality Act got a big boost on Friday night after the NAACP, the nation’s oldest African-American civil rights organization, publicly endorsed the LGBTQ rights bill currently making its way through Congress.

“We support what it does — and we support it now,” Hilary Shelton, the director of the NAACP’s D.C. bureau, told NBC News. “It’s important that it gets through.”

Shelton added that the group had previously endorsed the bill in meetings with its two main sponsors, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.).

The organization’s support for the bill, which would add protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of characteristics protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is considered a significant victory for LGBTQ rights groups, who had been criticized for failing to obtain the support of prominent African-American organizations before introducing the act earlier this month.

By endorsing the act, the NAACP effectively shuts down one of the arguments — albeit specious — used to justify opposition to the legislation.

“We believe the same protections that we have worked for so hard over the 110 years of the NAACP should be extended to all Americans, particularly members of the LGBTQ community,” Shelton told NBC.

He also noted that the NAACP previously supported other pieces of legislation granting the LGBTQ community expanded protections, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, insurance nondiscrimination protections contained in the Affordable Care Act, and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

The organization also expressed support for marriage equality in the run-up to 2012, and prior to the 2013 and 2015 Supreme Court decisions that, respectively, overturned Section 3 of DOMA and legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.

Trump and Pence to Address Anti-LGBT Christian Evangelical Group

While a significant number of LGBT Virginians foolishly, in my view, denounce Ralph Northam and Mark Herring, the two strongest allies they have ever had and risk that an anti-gay, anti-black Republican could be governor, Donald Trump and Mike Pence are reminding us who are real enemies are: Republicans and evangelical Christian extremists.  The idiocy of these elements in the LGBT community is mirrored by the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and black pastors who are being cynically manipulated by The Family Foundation, a hate group with antecedents in the white supremacists behind Massive Resistance, likewise seem blind to what a governor Cox would mean for black Virginians. 

The Democrat quest for lifetime unblemished purity where no infraction will ever be forgiven will be the death of progress on LGBT and minority rights in Virginia. The GOP could not win the 2017 statewide elections, but are now on the verge of having Democrats rescind their victories. The political blindness to the GOP long game is mind numbing.  

But back to Trump/Pence who will be addressing the "National Prayer Breakfast" sponsored by the secretive fundamentalist, anti-LGBT organization is known as "The Family" or "The Fellowship Foundation"  that will embrace representatives of anti-gay hate groups and evangelical Christian extremists.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at the up coming gathering of covens of anti-gay hate. Here are excerpts: 

Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will address attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast once again, early Thursday morning. The annual event attended by many presidents is hosted by a secretive Christian evangelical organization, allegedly with ties to Ugandan politicians who worked to enact the "Kill the Gays" bill. That secretive fundamentalist anti-LGBT organization is known as "The Family" or "The Fellowship Foundation." More than three thousand are expected to attend, including representatives of anti-gay hate groups and evangelical Christian extremists.

In December it was revealed admitted Russian agent Maria Butina used the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast as a networking opportunity to get prominent Russians to meet top members of the Trump administration. Butina has since pleaded guilty to felony charges and is cooperating with federal prosecutors. Her NRA-tied boyfriend was indicted on 11 felony and fraud charges Wednesday.

Bloomberg News reported in December that Butina chose 10 influential Russians to attend the 2017 National Prayer breakfast.

On Wednesday The Washington Post reported Trump will speak at the Breakfast and "is likely to play on white evangelicals' fears."

14 Year Old Killed by Father for Being Gay

As a parent, I cannot comprehend disowning one of my children much less killing them, yet reports coming out of Las Vegas indicate that 14 year old Giovanni Melton  was murdered by his father because his father, Wendell Melton would not tolerate the fact that his son was gay.  Reportedly, the father said he would rather have a dead son that one who was gay.  Where does such ugliness come from?  In my view, three elements are involved.  The first, of course, is fundamentalist/evangelical religion that continues to denigrate and malign LGBT individuals while spreading the lie that sexual orientation is a "choice." Some of the most homophobic pastors are in black churches who allow themselves to be cynically manipulated by those who in my opinion are anti-gay white supremacists such as those at The Family Foundation here in Virginia.  

A second factor is the anti-gay agenda of the Republican Party.  Indeed, at this moment the U.S. Justice Department is arguing before the Supreme Court that anti-gay discrimination is perfectly fine and legal as long as it is wrapped in the smoke screen of "religious belief."  This bigotry provides yet another layer of legitimacy to anti-gay hatred.   The third factor, in my view, is self-centered parents who care more about "what will people think" about them rather than the happiness and well-being of their children. Some accuse me of being anti-religion and, frankly, when I see this kind of ugliness, yes, I am. A young life ended for no reason other than bigotry and apparent self-absorption.  Here are highlights from Channel 3 News in Las Vegas:

Friends and family are remembering a 14-year-old son who Henderson police say was shot and killed by his own father. People close to the murder victim say part of the argument leading to the shooting was about the teen's sexual orientation.

Friends of Giovanni Melton remember an energetic teenager bringing smiles to everyone he met.

On Thursday afternoon, Henderson police say 53-year-old Wendell Melton shot his teenage son in the apartment where family members say Giovanni stayed by himself.

"Giovanni was abused physically and mentally and spiritually for many, many years," said Sonja Jones, Giovanni's former foster mom.

Over the phone, Jones spoke of the teen she loved as one of her own.  Jones says she was told by another family member that part of the argument that led to the deadly shooting was over Giovanni's sexual orientation. Jones says Wendell Melton had problems with it.

"He hated the fact that his son was gay," said Jones. "I'm sure that inside of his mind, he would rather have a dead son than a gay son."  Jones says Wendell threatened his son before.

"I'm hearing his dad had caught him with his boyfriend before and pulled out a gun on him," said Jones.  Giovanni was a student at Coronado High School. Jones says a beautiful life was taken away because of ignorance. "I hope they throw the book at him.

Why Are Black Pastors Water Carriers For Republicans Who Hate Them?

The very white GOP convention

Driving home from having dinner with friends I had on live coverage of the GOP convention on satellite radio and what do I hear?  Yet another black pastor carrying water for the Republican Party - I believe it was Pastor Darrell Scott of the New Spirit Revival Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  The same party that has an national agenda of (i) enacting voter ID laws and other restrictions aimed at disenfranchising minority voter, (ii) opposing unions that might bring better pay to minority workers, (iii) cutting social safety net programs that aid countless minority voters, (iv) waveringly support police who kill black citizens, and (v) rolling back civil rights protections.  WTF is wrong with these black pastors?  We see a similar phenomenon here in Virginia where The Family Foundation, a hate group in all but formal designation with strong ties to white supremacists, manipulates black pastors as if they were trained circus dogs.  Do these pastors know nothing of the histories and agendas of those they are serving?  Does it take merely some short term flattery to get them to to betray the others members of their race?  Or is the promise of money what turns them into modern day Judas's?  I do not understand it.   They act akin to German Jews in 1930's Germany who would have support Adolph Hitler.  Are they really that stupid?  A piece in the New York Times looks at the reality of the GOP's lily white, anti-black convention.  Here are excerpts:

Mike Hill, a black Republican state representative in Florida, grew steadily more disheartened as he watched television clips of his party’s overwhelmingly white national convention lecturing African-Americans about the police and race relations.

There was Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, nearly shouting Monday night that the police only wanted to help people, regardless of race. A sea of white convention delegates, cheering wildly as two black speakers ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement and unconditionally praised law enforcement officers. And a series of speakers pushing Donald J. Trump’s law-and-order message and arguing, as he has, that the United States had lost its way.

“When a lot of white Republicans get together and bring up race, even telling black people how they should see police and the world, it evokes the worst kind of emotion,” said Mr. Hill, who supports Mr. Trump but decided to skip the convention.

For many black Republicans, the party’s convention has veered unexpectedly and unhappily toward lecturing and moralizing on issues of race, an off-putting posture at a time when Mr. Trump is staggeringly unpopular with minority voters. He drew support from zero percent of African-Americans in recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and he is struggling badly with Hispanics, partly because of his harsh language about Mexicans and immigrants.

In Cleveland, however, Mr. Trump and Republican Party leaders are focused on appealing to white voters, particularly white men who are critical to their electoral strategy in the Midwest and the South.

Black Republicans said they understood the thinking behind this, but argued that it was based on politics more than on helping people or strengthening the country.

And those who did speak from the podium seemed focused more on castigating black protesters, scolding other blacks for their behavior and exalting Mr. Trump than on trying to help Republicans make inroads with undecided or skeptical black voters.

This convention has fewer black delegates and speakers than any in two decades, according to several African-American Republicans who are regulars at party gatherings. The Republican National Committee could not provide definitive counts of delegates by race; one party official estimated that there were 80 black delegates, but that was based on an informal crowd count that might have included people on the convention floor who were not delegates. There are 2,472 delegates in all.

Some Republicans said privately that they were uncomfortable that convention planners had tapped black speakers to chastise black protesters in front of a mostly white crowd, which seemed to lap it up.

Other than the possible motivations noted above, the only other on I can think of is appeals to religion.  By definition, the deeply religious reject facts and objective reality in favor of belief in myths and legends. Perhaps these pastors are suckered by this ploy.  A last possibility is that the black pastors and Trump share a common trait- they are all con-artists who prey on the ignorant and gullible.  Perhaps they feel that Trump is a kindred spirit. 

Is Black Homophobia a Myth?

In the Hampton Roads area some of the most reliable minions of the anti-gay efforts of The Family Foundation ("TFF"), arguably Virginia's most powerful hate group which the Southern Poverty Law Center has yet to formally certify as  a hate group, are the leaders of black churches.   Seemingly oblivious to the white supremacist roots of TFF, these religious leaders are lead around like trained circus dogs by Victoria Cobb and her, in my view, evil compatriots who want a white Christian theocracy.  Bearing out this reality is a black friend who remains terrified of coming out to his church going parents who has said to me time and time again (we have a discussion about his need to bite the bullet and come out every few months) that I don't grasp how anti-gay the black community is in this area. Despite such concrete examples of black homophobia, a piece in Think Progress written by a blogger friend attempts to make the case that black homophobia is a myth.  I am not sure where the cited survey was conducted, but the support for same sex marriage and non-discrimination laws among black respondents is lower than the general support levels in Virginia. My take away is that the LGBT community still has a great deal of work to do with the black community. Here are article excerpts (I'd love to know what readers think):

For many years, there has been a myth that African Americans are more likely to be homophobic and thus more likely to oppose advances for LGBT equality. Conservatives have even tried to leverage this supposed wedge to slow the progress of equality. A new survey, however, not only debunks the myth, but suggests that the black community is one of the LGBT community’s strongest allies.

After California passed Proposition 8, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, The Advocate magazine asked on its cover, “Gay Is The New Black?” Following the lead set by Dan Savage in his “Black Homophobia” post the day after the 2008 election, the cover story relied on exit polls from the election that seemed to suggest that even though black voters largely supported Barack Obama for president, they also largely supported Prop 8.

This mythical divide between the two communities has persisted in the years since, despite the fact that the Prop 8 numbers were later debunked. Just last year, for example, writer Michael Arceneaux called out Lee Daniels for his claim that his television show Empire would “blow the lid off homophobia” in the black community, when it actually seemed to be reinforcing the myth. “Blacks are not the X-Men of anti-gay bigotry,” he wrote. “We don’t have some superior level of homophobia compared to other groups.”

Opponents of LGBT equality have, in turn, tried to capitalize on the supposed black/gay divide. A 2009 National Organization for Marriage (NOM) strategy memo revealed a blatant attempt to “drive a wedge between gays and blacks” by convincing black people not to see same-sex marriage as a civil right.

PRRI’s massive survey focused on three general questions: support for marriage equality, support for LGBT nondiscrimination protections, and support for “religious refusal” exemptions — allowing businesses to refuse service to LGBT people based on their religious beliefs.

Support for marriage equality was a bit low among Black Protestants, with only 38 percent supporting and 54 percent opposing. But on the other two measures, Black Protestants overwhelmingly supported LGBT equality. They favored nondiscrimination laws 64-31, and on the question of religious refusals, black respondents actually opposed exemptions at higher rates than any other racial group, including white respondents.

As it turns out, marriage equality and nondiscrimination protections are simply two very different questions for black respondents. For example, among black Protestants who oppose same-sex marriage, a 51 percent majority still favor LGBT nondiscrimination protections — albeit not quite as strongly.

Dr. Robert Jones, CEO of PRRI, told Think Progress that even on the question of marriage equality, black Protestants are more ambivalent than white evangelical Protestants, who oppose same-sex marriage at much higher rates. On LGBT nondiscrimination protections and religious refusals, their support flips. “I think that’s about really their own experience with discrimination,” he explained.

“The thing that African Americans and evangelicals have in common is a very strong connection to religion and particularly religion that has a fairly literal view of the Bible. They have high levels of religious attendance and fairly traditional religious beliefs, and I think that leads to some ambivalence on the issue of marriage equality.”

But on nondiscrimination, there’s a real “parting of the ways,” he said, “where an experience as a racial minority is informing and influencing their views on these issues that it just doesn’t among white evangelicals.”

The Supreme Court established marriage equality nationwide, but 28 states still offer no statewide nondiscrimination protections.

Wilson agreed, pointing out that the work that needs to be done is the same across the board. “The state of homophobia within the black community is only a reflection of the broader American culture, which finds itself in a continuous evolution in favor of the demands that define the LGBTQ equality movement.” He hopes that increased visibility of LGBT people will continue to advance acceptance and inclusion.

Saying that blacks are less extreme in their views of gays than white evangelicals doesn't, in my view, magically make the black community an ally of the LGBT community. Until the embrace of ignorance and bigotry that goes hand in hand with more fundamentalist forms of Christianity prevalent in the black community is defeated, black homophobia will not be a myth.  Yes, things ate better, but there still is a long way to go. 

CDC: Half of Gay Black Men Will Get HIV; Where Are the Black Churches?

click image to enlarge

One of the subjects of my frequent venting episodes is the crisis going on in the black community with HIV infection and the fact that - at least in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia - the black churches and pastors are an obstacle to remedying the tragic situation.  Now, a recently released study by the Center for Disease Control ("CDC") that helps to quantify just how bad the crisis is in fact. As the image above shows, black men who have sex with other men have a 1 in 2 chance of contracting HIV/AIDS.    White gay men in contrast have a 1 in 11 chance of contracting HIV/AIDS.  But the problem is not limited to black men.  The same study found that black women have a 1 in 48 chance of contracting HIV/AIDS while among white women, the chance is 1 in 880.  Why the huge disparity?  In my view, it is simple.  The black community overall - and black churches and pastors in particular - remains extremely homophobic.  The result is men "on the down low" who secretly have sex with other men, often without engaging in safe sex practices, and those who should be tested failing to do so because of their fear of being discovered and the stigma that attaches in that community.  The other find?  That the risk of HIV/AIDS contraction is highest in the Bible Belt states.   Here are some study summary highlights:

A CDC study released in February 2016 provides the first-ever comprehensive national estimates of the lifetime risk of an HIV diagnosis for several key populations at risk and in every state. Overall, the likelihood that an American will be diagnosed with HIV at any point during his or her life is now 1 in 99, an improvement from a previous study using 2004-2005 data that reported lifetime risk at 1 in 78. Despite overall progress, this study reveals stark disparities by race, risk group and geography.

By Race/Ethnicity, African Americans Are at Greatest Risk: While studies have shown that African Americans do not engage in riskier sexual behavior compared to Americans of other races/ethnicities, African American men overall are almost 7 times more likely than white men to be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes. The disparity among women is even greater: 1 in 48 African American women will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes, compared with 1 in 227 Hispanic women and 1 in 880 white women. Reasons for this higher lifetime risk include higher prevalence within the community, which poses an increased risk of infection with each sexual encounter; lack of access to healthcare; poverty; and stigma.

Lifetime Risk Is Higher for People in the Southern United States: People living in the South are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV over the course of their life than people in other parts of the country. States where risk is greatest include Maryland (1 in 49), Georgia (1 in 51), Florida (1 in 54), and Louisiana (1 in 56).

Bigotry and the embrace of religious based ignorance imposes a real harm on the lives of American citizens.  Sadly, the far right Christofascists care little or nothing about black citizens and, as some recent posts have indicated, many of them are racists who long for the days of Segregation and the Jim Crow laws. 

Kerry Washington Calls Out Black Homophobes - and Others

Charley Gallay/Getty Images for GLAAD

One thing that has continued to strike me since coming out is how blacks - a demographic that has faced horrific discrimination simply because of who they were - are all too likely to be homophobic.  Worse yet, at least here in Virginia, they allow them selves to be duped and used as water carriers for whites who would prefer to see a return to the Jim Crow era and the disenfranchisement of blacks.  An example?  The black pastors who continually allow themselves to be manipulated by The Family Foundation which is viciously anti-gay and which supports all the the Virginia GOP's voter ID laws and other efforts to disenfranchise blacks and whose officials are routinely caught telling racist "jokes."  Are these black pastors total cretins?  This past Saturday, as she accepted the Vangrard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards, Scandal star Kerry Washington let loose on black homophobes and others who remain anti-gay and who, in my view have a moral sickness that allows them to feel good about them selves only when denigrating and marginalizing others.  Here are highlights of Washington's remarks via The Daily Beast:

Scandal star Kerry Washington announced that she was going to use the occasion, in this case the GLAAD Media Awards and her acceptance of The Vanguard award Saturday night, to address issues that were both pertinent to the award and dear to her heart. The actress, who’s played LGBT characters in films such as She Hate Me and Life Is Hot In Cracktown, spoke about the ongoing marginalization of the LGBT community and others in Hollywood that sit outside of the standard white, straight, Christian, male narrative. “Women, poor people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, intersex people…have been pitted against each other and made to feel like there are limited seats at the table for those of us who fall into the category of other,” the Emmy-nominated star stated, to rounds of applause.

But she also spoke directly to her own community, specifically. Washington addressed the hypocrisy she sees in black people who don’t support marriage equality. “So when black people today tell me that they don't believe in gay marriage… So, the first thing that I say is, ‘Please don't let anybody try to get you to vote against your own best interest by feeding you messages of hate.’ And then I say, ‘You know people used to stay that stuff about you and your love and if we let the government start to legislate love in our lifetime, who do you think is next?’”

Washington’s words seem to echo sentiments expressed by Lee Daniels, Oscar-nominated director and creator of FOX’s hit series Empire. . . . “Homophobia is rampant in the African American community, and men are on the DL,” he said. “They don’t come out, because your priest says, your pastor says, mama says, your next-door neighbor says, your homie says, your brother says, your boss says [that homosexuality is wrong]. And they are killing African American women. They are killing our women. So I wanted to blow the lid off more on homophobia in my community.”

Black homophobia is real and has to be rooted out if we are going to move forward as a society and as a people. We can’t champion the rights of only straight black people as if they are all that matter or are the only voice that should be given a platform. Either all of us are free or none of us are free. But in addressing that homophobia, those who consider themselves opponents of homophobia and racism should be mindful of how easily one can be used to galvanize the other, and it’s not in the best interest of progress to allow a room full of entitled white liberals to believe that the only bigots are the ones who don’t look like them.  Ignorance and hate are not black-exclusive.

"Empire" Creator Wants To "Blow The Lid Off" of Black Homophobia

The Hampton Roads region has a sizable black community and that community is among the most homophobic.  Fanning that homophobia are black pastors who act like trained circus dogs for the racists at The Family Foundation, Virginia's largest hate group, who are the successors to the white supremacists and advocates of Massive Resistance of the past.  The result is that black males "on the down low" are plentiful and HIV/AIDS has been transmitted to the larger black community, especially among women who are married to or in relationships with these men on the down low, of DL as they call it.  The situation is at a crisis level.  Even many black men who are "out" to their friends are closeted to their families and some who have come out find rejection because of the religious based poison that is so prevalent.  As The Wrap reports, "Empire" creator, Lee Daniels, wants to blow the lid off of the homophobia and hypocrisy that is so widespread in the black community.  I wish him luck.  Here are article excerpts:

Lee Daniels didn’t mince words during the panel for the freshman Fox drama “Empire” during the Television Critics Association press tour on Saturday, offering his frank thoughts on homophobia in the African American community, which he said is “killing African American women.”

Asked about the unapologetic homophobia displayed by central character Lucious Lyon (portrayed by Terrence Howard), “Empire” co-creator Daniels let loose, explaining that the seeds of Lucious’ homophobia were planted when Daniels was researching his 2009 film “Precious.”

“When I did ‘Precious’ I had to do research on AIDS in the ’80s so I went to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center in New York City, and I expected to see gay men, and there were nothing but African American women and babies with HIV. And that blew me away,” Daniels recalled.

Daniels laid the blame squarely on what he referred to as the “rampant” homophobia in the black community — specifically, the phenomenon of men secretly engaging in gay sex because of the stigma.

“Homophobia is rampant in the African American community, and men are on the DL. They don’t come out, because your priest says, your pastor says, mama says, your next-door neighbor says, your homie says, your brother says, your boss says [that homosexuality is wrong],” Daniels said. “And they are killing African American women. They are killing our women. So I wanted to blow the lid off more on homophobia in my community.”

It is far past time that someone calls out those who are keeping homophobia and ignorance alive in the black community.  Kudos to Daniels.

Segregation, Not Abortion Formed the Religious Right

Jerry Falwell got his start fighting for segregation - Getty Images

I often note that most of the anti-gay "family values" organizations also have a strong undercurrent of racism, with many of the self-anointed leaders descended from active segregationists.  Indeed, Tony Perkins at Family Research Council has documented dealings with the KKK and has spoken at white supremacist gatherings.   These people only care about minorities, especially blacks, when it comes to suckering them into doing the bidding of the lily white family vales crowd.  Here in Virginia, one sees The Family Foundation play black pastors as if they were trained circus dogs.  A piece in Slate makes the case that what really caused the coalescent of the Religious Right wasn't a reaction to Roe v. Wade, but instead support for segregation and the Jim Crow laws. In Virginia during "Massive Resistance", many of the schools that whites fled to were so-called Christian academies, many of which still flourish today.  Here are excerpts from the Slate article:

The modern religious right formed, practically overnight, as a rapid response to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade. Or, at least, that's how the story goes. The reality, Randall Balmer, a Dartmouth professor writing for Politico Magazine, says, is actually a little less savory to 21^st century Americans: The religious right, who liked to call themselves the "moral majority" at the time, actually organized around fighting to protect Christian schools from being desegregated. It wasn't Roe v. Wade that woke the sleeping dragon of the evangelical vote. It was Green v. Kennedy, a 1970 decision stripping tax-exempt status from "segregation academies"—private Christian schools that were set up in response to Brown v. Board of Education, where the practice of barring black students continued.

Desegregation, however, was a different issue altogether. Anger about forced desegregation of private schools galvanized conservative Christians. Bob Jones University stalled and resisted admitting black students, forcing the IRS to strip its tax exempt status in 1976, an event that spurred evangelical leaders to action. Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich, two conservative activists who had been seeking a way to marshal evangelicals into a Republican voting bloc, pounced. Balmer writes:

Weyrich saw that he had the beginnings of a conservative political movement, which is why, several years into President Jimmy Carter’s term, he and other leaders of the nascent religious right blamed the Democratic president for the IRS actions against segregated schools—even though the policy was mandated by Nixon, and Bob Jones University had lost its tax exemption a year and a day before Carter was inaugurated as president. Falwell, Weyrich and others were undeterred by the niceties of facts. In their determination to elect a conservative, they would do anything to deny a Democrat, even a fellow evangelical like Carter, another term in the White House.

The argument they used to defend school segregation will sound familiar to anyone following the lawsuits against mandatory contraception coverage in health insurance plans or the battles over whether businesses have a right to refuse gay customers: "religious freedom."

How did abortion eclipse pro-segregation as the rallying cause of the evangelical right? Balmer argues that Weyrich, in particular, was a sharp enough political thinker to realize that pro-segregation sentiment was enough to get the ball rolling, "but they needed a different issue if they wanted to mobilize evangelical voters on a large scale." They took their new coalition of evangelicals and pointed them in the direction of fighting abortion. The strategy worked.

[T]here was one other shift in the public consciousness going on at the time. The "Stop ERA" campaign, headed up by Christian right leader Phyllis Schlafly to kill the Equal Rights Amendment banning sex discrimination, got moving in 1972. By the time male Christian conservative leaders like Weyrich and Falwell decided to make abortion a centerpiece issue, Schlafly had done the yeoman's work of convincing huge numbers of evangelical Christians that feminists were a threat to the very fabric of society. With hostility to women's equality rising, making the anti-abortion pitch was probably much, much easier. 

Balmer notes at the top of his piece that it's common for anti-choicers to compare themselves to abolitionists. Once you know the pro-segregationist history of the religious right, however, it becomes clear that this comparison is not only obnoxious, but offensive. 

The bottom line?  Your Christian conservatives are not the nice people they pretend to be.  The truth is something quite different.

"Godly Bigots" Threaten Recall Effort in Houston Over Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Houston skyline

The same mindset I mentioned in the last post that continues to hold back truly addressing the worldwide HIV/AIDS crisis is alive and well in Houston, Texas, and true to form we see angry white conservatives and their trained circus dogs, black pastors, railing against a proposed city ordinance that would give LGBT individuals non-discrimination protections.  The evil of religion just never seems to cease.  Think Progress looks at the spittle flecked opponents on non-discrimination and the simpering cretins within the black pastor crowd who are once again allowing themselves to be manipulated by those who, if allowed, would rescind non-discrimination protections based on race.  Here are excerpts:

Houston’s city council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on an ordinance to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. But anti-gay activist and Houston Community College Board of Trustees member Dave Wilson (R) is threatening to recall openly lesbian Mayor Annise Parker (D) and any city council members who support the non-discrimination policy.

According to KHOU 11 News, Wilson said he and other opponents of LGBT equality might collect signatures to recall anyone who backs the proposal under the city charter’s recall provision to allow removal of officials in cases of “incompetence, misconduct, malfeasance or unfitness for office.” Wilson told the station, “we consider them to be incompetent,” as he believes passage of the law would violate state law.

Though the threat could scare off some support — just 2,500 signatures would be required to mandate a recall election for a city council member — recall expert Joshua Spivak noted on his Recall Elections Blog Saturday that the claim that this vote shows incompetence would “probably will be extremely difficult to hold up in court.” Indeed Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio all have already passed LGBT non-discrimination ordinances without incident.

This is the latest in a long series of attacks of Parker launched by Wilson. In 2011, he got just 11.73 percent of the vote against Parker for Mayor of Houston. In that campaign, he mailed a flier to 35,000 voters featuring a picture of Parker standing by her same-sex partner and the caption “IS THIS THE IMAGE HOUSTON WANTS TO PORTRAY?” and made robo-calls to warn voters of Parker’s “alternative lifestyle.”

[T]wo years later Wilson narrowly won election to the Houston Community College Board of Trustees after misleading voters into believing that he is African American. In an overwhelmingly African American-dominated district, Wilson filled mailers with photos of African American people he admittedly pull off of websites, along with captions such as “Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson.”

KHOU TV has this as well:

Parker’s proposal has stirred up an unlikely coalition of conservative whites who never cared much for the mayor anyway and African-American ministers offended by the notion that sexual orientation is a civil right. Church leaders have rallied outside City Hall in opposition to the ordinance, focusing largely on the idea that it would allow transgendered people to decide whether to use men’s or women’s restrooms.

Equality Virginia Holds "Productiv"' Meeting with Richmond Mayor

I've made it clear that Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones (pictured above) should not be Democratic Party of Virginia chair if he cannot separate his personal beliefs as a Baptist pastor from the civil laws issues concerning marriage, particularly same sex marriage.   Elected officials are sworn to uphold the Constitution, not the Bible and, if Jones, cannot do that, then not only should he not be DPVA chair, but he also needs to resign as mayor of Richmond. The issue of ones' lack of support for marriage equality has created an unneeded controversy as Democrats head into an important mid-term election cycle.  In close elections, the LGBT vote can and does determine who wins.  Equality Virginia met with Jones and purports that the meeting was "productive."  Here are highlights from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s pick for chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, met Monday afternoon with Equality Virginia.

A spokeswoman for Equality Virginia said the meeting was “very productive.”

The meeting — five days before the party elects its new leader — comes amid concerns in some quarters about Jones because he has not endorsed same-sex marriage.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Jones said that his position on the issue has changed over the years, and continues to “evolve.”

“I reiterated my position that I believe our laws should not be discriminatory. I also had the opportunity to share about my own personal evolution on issues that concern the LGBT community; an evolution that anchors many of the actions I’ve already taken in support of equal treatment. My position continues to evolve,” Jones said.

"However given the recent media attention for his nomination for party chair, it was important today to hear Mayor Jones reiterate his commitment to leading the Democratic Party in seeking the full equality all Virginians deserve. The freedom to marry is a fundamental right and EV Advocates looks forward to working with both parties to ensure that all Virginians can soon marry the person they love in the place they call home. "

LGBT Democrats of Virginia has urged the party to pick a chairman who supports marriage equality. At least five of the party’s Northern Virginia congressional hopefuls have expressed concern about Jones’ candidacy.

State party leaders have rallied behind Jones, including McAuliffe, Attorney General Mark R. Herring — who refused to defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage — and Democratic leaders in the state Senate and House of Delegates.

Tammy Hawley, Jones’ spokeswoman, said last week the mayor has “always made it clear that he will stand up for all laws that protect constitutional rights” and that he does not believe that Virginia’s laws should be discriminatory. “What he believes in is equal protection under the law for all persons,” Hawley said.

If Jones truly believes in equal protection under the law for all persons, he should support civil law marriage equality.  If he refuses to do so, then he is merely talking out of both sides of his mouth.  Civil law marriage in no way forces his congregation to let go of their backwardness and bigotry within the congregation.   Jones does NOT get to have it both ways.