AngryGayBlackCanadianman

I was talking to my friend on the phone the other day and he was watching You Tube. My friend was laughing at the Sasha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell kiss during an award show. I should point out we are both gay men. My friend urged me to watch the clip. I have to admit I laughed as well. I looked at the audience in the clip there were also laughing. Cohen and Ferrell are rolling around on the ground kissing but it was meant for shock value.

I began to question myself and wonder why is the clip funny? Why was I laughing as well? Am I homophobic too? Was the joke funny because it was just two comedians making a joke or is there a more deeper and subversive issue taking place here? Is society trying to say two men cannot have a loving, passionate, relationship with each other?

After all would the audience laugh if two attractive women were kissing? Would the audience have been so shocked? Was the audience really laughing at the kiss or was the audience laughing in attempt to hide their own fear and prejudices about male homosexuality?

Here is another clip from the gay storyline on the American soap opera As The World Turns. For the past six months Luke and Noah have been in an intense and passionate gay romance. Luke and Noah have only kissed two times in the past six months. The heterosexual couples on As The World Turns get to have sex so why can’t Luke and Noah? Everyone knows Luke and Noah are gay so were is the passion? The kiss between Noah and Luke although very short demonstrates the passion between them. You are not supposed to laugh when Luke and Noah kiss you are supposed to yearn that their relationship works and that their love survives and thrives. Fans of the show As The World Turns are upset at CBS because they believe homophobia is the real reason Luke and Noah haven’t been allowed to kiss more often.

Here is a third clip from the lesbian drama the L Word. The scene is from the first season of the L Word a passionate and erotic kiss between Jenny and Marina. You can tell from their body language that Jenny and Marina are yearning for each other. I know some people don’t like Jenny but I love Jenny! I kind of wish Marina was on the show more often. Marina was such a mysterious and amazing character. I thought the kiss here was very important it was the first time Jenny and Marina acknowledged they are sexually attracted to each other. The L Word is on Showtime in America and that’s a cable station so there is more freedom to explore lesbianism, love, passionate sex, breaking up, making up, and all that jazz.

One topic a lot of gay men don’t want to discuss is the issue around bisexual men entering the gay male social sphere. There is indeed some friction between gay men and bisexual men due to mistrust. Some gays men believe the bisexual men are just in denial about their true sexual orientation. I believe male bisexuality does exist. Even some heterosexual women have a distrust for bisexual men they don’t believe a man can truly be bisexual.

I believe sexuality is fluid and a continuum there is no on or off switch. I am sure there are men that are sexually attracted to both sexes and are not “confused”. Women wonder why some men that have sex with men get married but society is part to blame. Maybe some of these men that marry women truly are bisexual and they want to have children and also form relationships with the opposite sex?

Even in Canada despite the social barriers around male homosexuality breaking down an invisible barrier still exists. The message the mainstream society sends about male homosexuality is that it is still immoral and wrong. Same Sex Marriage may be legal in Canada but for some gay men gay marriage is simply not an option. Even for bisexual men they may not be interested in gay marriage either.

I never jumped on the whole gay marriage bandwagon I have zero interest. I believe the mainstream media always attempted to find the most boring oatmeal gay couples that conformed to compulsory heterosexuality. I recall the news reports about the gay couples that lived in the picturesque houses, windswept streets, with green manicured lawns, antique furniture, and the little miniature toy dog running around the house. The message was a Hallmark card screaming “we are just like everyone else”.

Is this really true though? Are gay people just like heterosexual people? Of course in some aspects gays and straights are similar we are human beings that all want love and compassion.

However, I always felt that society still has a distrust for male homosexuality there is a dirty residue that exists. Maybe I don’t want to be like Bill and Bob and live in downtown Toronto in my huge house and live the oatmeal raisin bread life mimicking heterosexuality. Maybe I want to be the dirty slut and whore that lives life on my own terms that sends a fuck you salute to society.

Gay marriage in Canada has of course provided benefits for gay couples and more equilibrium between heterosexuals and homosexual couples in Canada. The reasons gay people want to get married are indeed legitimate for financial and also ethical concerns. The issue of spousal benefits, wills, even visiting a partner in the hospital are important to gay couples. There is also the social affirmation that a gay marriage and relationship is not inferior, abhorrent, or deleterious it is based on real love. I do believe if gay couples want to marry they deserve the right to. However, the whole hysteria around gay marriage never interested me at all. Perhaps it is due to my age? I don’t know? I do know that a marriage is a contract it isn’t just about “love”.

I honestly can’t say if I am ever going to get married or not. I don’t know if I would want to marry another man anyway.  Isn’t love enough? I believe Same Sex marriage has become too political and the love aspect has been diminished. A marriage shouldn’t be about politics. I haven’t met anyone yet that I truly believe I would want to marry anyway. I’ve had a few relationships that never became anything serious. The last guy I went out with a few years ago he was twice my age that’s a long story. I’m not getting into today. Anyway, Marriage is not just a piece of paper it is an agreement to honor your partner with love and devotion.

A few days ago I was on the internet and I noticed a lot of ads on a gay male website posted by married men. The interesting issue about married men is some of these guys believe declaring that they are married is a badge of honor. The married label is a way for these men to state they aren’t really “gay”. My opinion is if I know a man is married I don’t want to meet or talk to him. I always ask the men I am interested in if they are married or not. I always ask because I want to know this is my personal choice. It isn’t about being noble or anything it is just a way for me to figure out what my options are. I am just not interested in all that drama and baggage. Why should I deal with a man that wants his cake and eat it to?

However, for some gay men they appear to get a rush a real sexual charge knowing a man is “married”. I think for some gay men have the ideology they can “pleasure” a married man better then his wife can. Some gay men have the fantasy that they are better lovers then the heterosexual spouse and eventually the married man will leave his wife for his gay lover. However, it rarely happens because most married men never leave their wives. Who wants to be the other lover? Why would anyone want to be the other man on the side? An alternative argument is that the married men on the gay websites are being honest to a certain extent because they are letting gay men know they are indeed not single.

I think it is a false sense of sincerity though. I squirm when I watch television and I see these married men attempt to rationalize why they cruise on gay websites. Why lie to a gay man and claim you aren’t married when you really are? Why marry a woman and lie to her? Why waste a woman’s time? I can understand why women are angry and pissed when they find out their husbands are cruising online on gay websites. All the wife needs to do is check the history section on the computer and she can easily find out exactly where her husband has been surfing the internet anyway. I honestly believe if a woman thinks her man is gay chances are he probably is. If you have that gut instinct that feeling that your man isn’t tell you the truth you just know. Also, a confrontation is necessary and check to see if the guy becomes visibly nervous.

A seventeen year old black gay teenager Simmie Williams Jr was brutally murdered in Fort Lauderdale Florida on February 23nd 2008 at 12:45 am. Williams was minding his own business walking down the street and was gunned down. Williams was shot to death while wearing a dress. Williams mother knew her son was gay and loved her son. Williams was planning to obtain his GED and apply to culinary school.

This is such a tragic and disgusting act of violence against a young gay person. Where is the outrage? There have been rumours that Williams may have been a male prostitute. Witnesses say they heard Williams in a heated argument with two men and homophobic slurs were hurled at him. However, there is absolutely no concrete evidence to prove Williams was a prostitute.

The LGBT Democratic Caucus plan a vigil and rally today at 4:30pm at 1000 Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale to call attention to violence against gays and lesbians in Florida. Williams death underscores the dangers that black gay teens encounter in a world that is heterosexist, homophobic, racist, and also against people that don’t conform to society’s rigid gender roles. Black gay teens encounter a quandary due to their age, race, and sexual orientation that heterosexual teenagers do not. Straight teens can meet at school, at the local library, at the mall, in the public sphere. Black gay youth also encounter homophobia from heterosexual blacks and racism from a hostile mainstream white gay community. Where do gay black teens turn when the gay community rejects them?

Since homophobia and racism is so entrenched in North America black gay teens encounter more barriers that haven’t broken down fast enough. Black gay teens often have a difficult time negotiating between the public and private sphere. High schools across the United States have developed gay and straight alliances to help alleviate this dilemma.

However the quandary is some homophobic people utilize religion as a weapon. Gays and lesbians have to fight in court against heterosexist organizations in order to have safe spaces available for gay teens. Gay and straight alliances are imperative because most gay social spaces in North America are reserved for adults. The gay bars, clubs, and bathhouses in America bar anyone under the age of consent. Gay teens don’t have access to the gay epicenter.

Williams death highlights another issue did he have access to counseling or social network programs? Some cities and towns in North America do not have gay and lesbian youth centers or programs for gay youth. Fort Lauderdale is considered a gay tourist city. However, were specific programs available for black gay youth? The question remains where do gay teens turn to when when they may feel isolated, alienated, confused, depressed, or seeking attention and want to make friends?

The internet is a new tool on the information superhighway for gay teens to connect with each other. However, the internet can also be a dangerous place for teenagers since sadistic pedophiles surf the net looking for impressionable youth . Transgendered youth encounter even more barriers including transphobia from the gay community and heterosexual society.

One argument is that Williams could of been more cautious walking around in public in a dress. However, Williams was only seventeen years old and unlike heterosexual teenagers gay teens encounter the crushing force of homophobia from a hostile society. Another point to consider is perhaps Williams was comfortable enough with himself that he had the courage to wear a dress in the public sphere. Also, the United States is a democracy and people should have the freedom to dress anyway they want without judgment, prejudice, or the threat of potential violence.

The ABC television movie “A Raisin In The Sun” will be broadcast on February 25th 2008 at 8:00pm. The television film fulfills the black quota for “black history month”. Pop star Sean Combs is the protagonist Walter Lee Younger. The title of the movie refers to black gay poet Langston Hughes poem “Harlem”.

African American lesbian playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s legendary play once again will be brought back to television to reach a new generation next week. Hansberry was the first black lesbian playwright to have a play produced on Broadway in 1959. “A Raisin In the Sun” was a huge success for Hansberry and launched her career.

The general public of course does not know that Lorraine Hansberry was a lesbian due to homophobia. Why is black lesbianism considered “private” yet “heterosexuality” is a part of the public domain? Although Hansberry married a white Jewish man Robert Nemiroff in 1953 the couple separated in 1957 and divorced in 1964.Hansberry was conscious of her lesbian identity and she negotiated between the public and private spheres. Black lesbians encountered racism from the mainstream, white gay culture, and also persecution from heterosexual blacks.

Lorraine Hansberry’s lesbian identity emerges from the articles she wrote for the lesbian publication “The Ladder” in the late 1950s. Hansberry did not use her full name when she wrote articles for “The Ladder” she used her initials L.H. instead. In the 1950s in America gays and lesbians lived in fear due to witch hunts against homosexuals. Black lesbian women encountered a triple form of oppression in relation to their race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Can you imagine the difficulties black lesbians endured in the 1950s? Homosexuality was still considered a mental illness that can be cured. The topic of human sexuality was still taboo in the 1950s. America was sexually repressed due to heterosexual male domination and male supremacy. The racial and sexual apartheid existed in the United States and black lesbians lived in constant danger due to racism, sexism and homophobia. The civil rights and gay movements did not gather strength until the 1960s.

Black lesbians encountered racism from white lesbians and were barred from entering white lesbian bars and establishments during the 1950s. Black lesbians also endured gender discrimination due to being women and unwanted sexual advances of dangerous, violent, and hostile heterosexual men.

Hansberry was indeed a lesbian but this important component of black queer history should not be erased by the homophobic Occidental world. Heterosexual black publications always ignore the important fact Hansberry was a lesbian. I didn’t know Lorraine Hansberry was a lesbian until I read lesbian activist, feminist, poet, and writer Adrienne Rich’s incisive essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”. Rich’s analysis is correct society attempts to erase, diminish, and destroy the contributions of lesbians in many ways. I believe the silence about Lorraine Hansberry’s lesbianism is due to the negative attitude that still exists against homosexuals.

Why is the term lesbianism treated like a scatological word? One argument is some straights believe “it doesn’t matter” and if people discover that Lorraine Hansberry was a black lesbian it might “scare people off” from watching the movie. Why is there this invisible code and this silent barrier? If black lesbian emancipation is to occur why is black lesbianism still a social taboo? Society appears to have a love and hate relationship with lesbianism.

The political, cultural, social, and artistic merits of black lesbians such as Lorraine Hansberry must be celebrated and not treated as some shameful abhorrent secret. It is the year 2008 so why are we still reticent? Why hasn’t this final chasm been shattered and the truth still shrouded in silence? Lorraine Hansberry proves that black gay people care about the black community. Often heterosexual blacks believe black gays and lesbians only focus on sexual orientation and ignore race. Lorraine Hansberry proves through art that she was cognizant of the racial, social and political polemics blacks endured during the civil rights era. “A Raisin In The Sun” is about a fictional family struggling to survive in 1950s Chicago at a time when America’s social and racial apartheid was at full strength.

Virtually all the articles published about “A Raisin In The Sun” always mentions Lorraine Hansberry’s race and her gender but excludes her sexual orientation. The question is why? It appears in the year 2008 homophobia reigns supreme. Lesbianism is more then just a sexual act there is more to lesbianism then just sex. Lesbians are women that are not sexually attracted to men but there is an illogical fear of lesbianism in society that lesbians are anti male.

Lorraine Hansberry lived a double life a life where she constantly was in fear that the heterosexist matrix would discriminate against her since she was a black lesbian. The real Lorraine Hansberry is blurred between the printed lines of “A Raisin In The Sun”. The sentences, paragraphs, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and doubt, lives in Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking play. “A Raisin In The Sun” is about emancipation and personal determination I believe this also relates to the struggles gays and lesbians encounter. Perhaps Hansberry used her play as a metaphor to explore the internal struggles she endured during her own life?

Lorraine Hansberry’s incredible groundbreaking play proves that black gay and lesbian people were cognizant of the struggles blacks endured in the mid 20th century. Hansberry wanted to bring a greater awareness to the incredible racism, sexism, and economic discrimination African Americans experienced in the United States.

Lorraine Hansberry is very important she shattered an artistic and cultural barrier in the performing arts. It is such a disservice to ignore Hansberry was a lesbian. Lorraine Hansberry’s lesbian identity should not be concealed in the shadows and be treated as an afterthought. I believe it is imperative, and crucial that there be a dialogue about how Hansberry’s play relates to her lesbian identity. It is simply disgraceful that the mainstream press to ignore and attempt to erase the importance of lesbianism in Lorraine Hansberry’s life and art.

The articles Lorraine Hansberry wrote for “The Ladder” are very passionate and powerful she wrote about the struggles she endured as a black lesbian woman in the mid 20th century. Legendary African American actors Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier were the stars of the original stage version of the play and the 1961 feature film. Sadly, Lorraine Hansberry died in her prime at the tender age of thirty four in 1965 due to pancreatic cancer. Lorraine Hansberry died at a very young age she was such an incredible talent.

The press have showered the movie with a lot of praise saying the three hour film is a testament of Hansberry’s incredible talent. The cast includes Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Lathan, Audra McDonald, and the omnipotent Sean Combs. I will admit I might take a peek at the movie. However, I am not impressed that Sean Combs or P Diddy or whatever that guy calls himself is the star of the film. I wanted a younger black male actor to be the star of the movie.

The crisis in black Hollywood is the paucity of film roles available for young black actors. I am sure some black actors are seething right now that Sean Combs is the star of the film. In white Hollywood you rarely ever see a “singer” attain a prestigious movie role these days. Can you imagine Jon Bon Jovi as the star in a movie about Elvis? So why is there a double standard for black Hollywood? Why do untalented bottom feeders such as Sean Combs get to the be star of such an important movie?

I really feel for the talented young black male actors that are training hard at various universities, colleges, theater programs, across North America and the world. The only reason Sean Combs was hired is due to greed. The producers and director behind the television film believe Combs can generate huge ratings for ABC television. ABC television will hype this movie to the maximum I just believe a talented and much younger black actor should of chosen for the male lead.

The lead in “A Raisin In The Sun” Walter Lee Younger is a young black man and Sean Combs is thirty eight years old. Since Combs in thirty eight one argument is he can bring “maturity” to the role. However, I believe the feeling of naivety and optimism is diminished for the character Walter Lee Younger due to Combs advanced age.

A younger black male actor possibly someone between the ages of twenty five to perhaps thirty two should of been chosen for the role. Combs is simply not talented enough and too old for the part. Combs is also a rap artist he’s a wannabe actor he is not a serious dramatic actor. I have so much sympathy for the talented black actors that want to become stars in Hollywood but are not given the opportunity.

Why does Hollywood continue to insult the audience and cast these talentless flakes such as Sean Combs in such prestigious roles? The barriers for black actors in Hollywood are incredible there are limited opportunities to advance up the Hollywood star system. Twenty five years ago perhaps an unknown black male actor would of been chosen for the lead role. Hollywood is profit driven and the ideology is since Sean Combs already is successful in various demographics his fans will fans will flock to watch the movie. However, does talent not matter anymore?

Why do young blacks in Hollywood have to always be singers or dancers in order to breakthrough and get the big movie roles? Beyonce just won the lead role in a biopic about the legendary singer Etta James. I cringe because Beyonce is not an actress she needs acting lessons. Beyonce cannot act she requires an acting coach and numerous hours to learning the craft of acting.

Young talented unknown black actors are being disrespected and ignored. A young black male actor with talent would of been electrifying in the role of Walter Lee Younger. A young black actor could of brought pathos, complexity, sensitivity, and range to this very important role. Unfortunately, Hollywood is now all about profit margins, ratings, and the craft of acting is now secondary. The only glimmer of hope is that young people will learn more about Lorraine Hansberry and gain an appreciation for her incredible talent.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know Tracy Chapman is a lesbian. So why is Chapman still reticent after all these years? Chapman has sold millions of albums, is a multiple Grammy award winner, and a black lesbian feminist icon. Its not like Chapman’s audience is oblivious that she’s gay.

Another interesting fact about Tracy Chapman is that her core audience is white and not black. Even though Chapman sings about racism and other forms of discrimination in her work she never was accepted or embraced by the black community.

I think some black people just didn’t “connect” with Tracy Chapman perhaps due to homophobia and sexism. I think most black people already know Tracy is a lesbian and believe lesbianism is not palatable. Another reason the black community doesn’t like Tracy Chapman is due to the fact she is a folk rock singer and not an R&B and soul singer. Some blacks say Tracy Chapman is acting white and that’s such bullshit.

Why can’t a black entertainer breakthrough stereotypes? I applaud Tracy Chapman for having her own vision and being extremely successful. Why should all black singers just sound like Mary J Blige or Beyonce? Isn’t this boring? Musical taste is a personal choice and preference its just interesting that many blacks have shunned Chapman for so many years.

Why has Tracy Chapman been on the cover of Rolling Stone but not Essence, Upscale or Ebony Magazine? Although Tracy doesn’t discuss this its got to hurt that her own race disrespects her this way. Tracy Chapman is a legend it is so horrible that black people have no respect for this legend. Chapman was never really embraced by the black media, black community for a variety of reasons. Another reason I believe Tracy Chapman wasn’t accepted by the black community is due to her androgynous appearance.

Another point to consider is the black media can be very myopic at times. Tracy Chapman was never treated fairly by the press in the black community. Tracy was often ignored on black radio, BET, black magazines and newspapers. Tracy Chapman is an incredible artist a black woman that defied the odds. Chapman is a music superstar she shattered through the pop world and claimed her place and audience. Chapman’s tours are very successful and yet the black race ignored her due to prejudice. Tracy has never denied her blackness she has always been a proud black woman and yet blacks still treat her badly.

Why is the representation of “black music” so limiting? I think there is more to black music then just R&B and hip hop. However, black radio and the people in the black media still promote less talented artists then Tracy Chapman. I think if the black media did make the effort Tracy Chapman could of had a larger black audience. I do wish black radio, black TV was a bit more open about different musical formats. I mean why isn’t Meshell N’Degeocello on BET more often?

Now Tracy Chapman has never denied she is a lesbian but she hasn’t exactly been open about her sexuality either. I understand Tracy has a career and she has a right to a private life. However, given the fact that black gays and lesbians we have so little visibility in the mainstream it would be nice if Tracy was more open.

By now I am sure everyone knows that Alice Walker the famous bisexual author/feminist talked about her former lover Chapman in an interview with the UK newspaper The Guardian. Here is the link: http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1972800,00.html

Luther Vandross situation is similar to Tracy Chapman but Vandross was loved and respected in the black global community. Vandross was gay yet he kept his secret leading all the way to his death. People will say well the black audience didn’t care that Luther was gay we loved him anyway. I disagree. I think the love the black audience had for Luther was not unconditional because if it was he would of come out. I think Luther remained in the closet not just because he feared about losing revenue by coming out but he also feared losing his place within the black community.

Vandross was cognizant that he needed the black heterosexual audience to buy his CDs, concert tickets, DVDs. Vandross also was aware of the fact the white gay community certainly was not a market he could rely on to keep the revenue flowing. Luther had a “don’t ask don’t tell policy” with the black community. I think its so sad that Luther’s life was a tragedy he wasn’t able to really be himself in the public sphere. The black media did ask Luther numerous times in interviews about his sexual orientation and he always either ignored the question or just denied that he was gay. I wonder though would the black community really turn on him? Everyone knew Luther was the “eternal bachelor.” It was the “fear” I think that held Luther back the unknown. In some ways Luther was a sex symbol for some black women he sang songs about heterosexual love. Vandross was the “classy” R&B singer he didn’t sing the bump and grind such as R Kelly and his clones.

Yet when a black entertainer does have the courage to come out the black community and the mainstream white gay community either ignores or disrespects the openly gay/bisexual black artist. Bisexual singer Meshell N’Degeocello has been out for several years although she has never attained the success or respect she so richly deserved. I still believe there was a resistance to her work because she was so brash, bold, and outspoken. Meshell never denied or hid the fact she is bisexual.

When I was coming out as a teenager in the mid 1990s it really helped me a lot to accept my sexuality when I watched Meshell talk about her sexuality and life on Much Music. People that are not black and gay don’t understand what it feels like to be a double or even triple minority.

When K.D. Lang and Melissa Etheridge came out in the 1990s that didn’t register with me because they are white. I just couldn’t relate to them. Yet when I saw this courageous young black woman Meshell N’Degeocello on Much Music talking about her second album the amazing “Peace Beyond Passion” and the song “Leviticus Faggot” it really resonated with me. It meant so much to me to see someone that looked like me on TV that was black and gay. It takes a lot of guts what Meshell did it really does.

Meshell never looked like the typical female black singer she has a shaved head, her music was not just soul it was also rock, funk, pop, maybe even some folk too. Meshell was not a puppet controlled by the record company either. Although Meshell is slim she wasn’t a size two, she didn’t wear the designer clothes but she has a lot of natural talent and is a true multi instrumentalist musician. Meshell was radical in the sense she was proud of her sexual orientation and her blackness.

Meshell has spoken honestly about the pernicious racism, hypocrisy, and bigotry of the mainstream white gay community. When Meshell came out she didn’t receive that much press in the white gay media either. There was an indifference and ambivalence the white gay press had for her because she is black. Meshell let it be known that just because she is bisexual does not mean she didn’t care about black issues or the black community. And some heterosexual black people still believe this fallacy that just because a black person is gay that means we don’t care about black issues and that’s false.

I know for a fact that although there is homophobia in the black community the racism in the mainstream white gay community is so rampant and so obvious. It’s the reason why I couldn’t be bothered with the gay pride events in Toronto, I don’t read the gay newspapers because they never write about issues or things I am interested in. I don’t go to the gay bars in Toronto either.

Some people say Meshell’s music was too ”preachy” meaning too “black” but I loved it! Meshell should of sold millions of albums she should of become a bigger star. Meshell can play several instruments and she also is a very good singer/songwriter. Meshell basically started the “Neo Soul” movement all by herself in 1993 with her first album”Plantation Lullabies.” Yet black heterosexual singers Erykah Badu, Maxwell, and Jill Scott get all the credit. Meshell released five albums on the Maverick label yet not one album went gold or platinum. Meshell never even won a Grammy award. How could such a talented artist be so disrespected? I think part of the reason Meshell wasn’t more successful was because she was honest about her sexual orientation.

I remember when I was sixteen back in the year 1993 and I had the biggest crush on Tevin Campbell I absolutely adored him. A lot of people I talk to these days say they always knew Tevin was gay. I recall rushing home from school and tape recording Tevin’s hit songs “I’m Ready”, “Always in my heart”, “Can we talk” and playing the videos over and over and over again. I just loved him! I still believe Tevin’s second album “I’m Ready” is one of the best R&B albums of the 1990s. Tevin as everyone knows got caught a few years back trying to solicit gay sex with an undercover police officer. Tevin has never officially come out of the closet but its well known he’s gay. Tevin is trying to make a comeback he’s in the musical “Hairspray” and he’s working on a new album. So is Tevin going to be singing about loving a woman when everyone knows he prefers men? I understand the music business is after all a business but shouldn’t music be made from the heart? Why do so many closeted black gay and lesbian singers sing about the opposite sex when everyone knows they are gay?

There are a few black rappers that everybody knows are lesbians yet they will continue saying in the press that they aren’t gay. I mean people aren’t stupid people can put it together. I am not going to mention the names of these black lesbian rappers because anyone that’s paid attention to hip hop music can figure it out.

There are also some black entertainers everyone knows are bisexual or gay yet its another one of those “don’t ask don’t tell” policies. I can understand if the black gay actor was a leading man it could perhaps shatter the mystique the female audience has with this entertainer. I think that could be a reason some of the black gay male actors in Hollywood remain in the closet. Also, there is the issue of being typecast.

I wonder if we will ever be honest with each other? Anyone that’s been to the black church knows there is always the ubiquitous choir director, gay piano player, or gay pastor. Everybody knows somebody that’s gay whether its a realtive or a friend.

The easiest way fans can figure out if an artist is indeed gay is not by what they say but by what the entertainer doesn’t say. Actions speak louder then words. Whenever you read an interview about your favourite black star think to yourself why does this black celebrity never talk about his or her’s love life? Why is the topic off limits during the interview?

Whether people want to admit it or not the public wants a connection with stars. It is the human connection that not only attracts people to the star but also gets people to go see their movies, buy their CDs, DVDs, or got to their concerts. If society is so accepting of homosexuality these days why is there an imbalance in the type of stars coming out and those that remain in the closet?