March 7, 2008
Cambridge’s Simmons and Reeves Discover Homophobia in the Black Religious Community
The lesbian mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a gay city councilmember (and former mayor) have had their run-ins with anti-gay school board members and shabby treatment by the local press — but it’s the overt homophobia from the black religious community that’s surprised and dismayed them the most.
From Wicked Local Cambridge:
Simmons, Reeves blast black clergy, media at Harvard talk. . .
Last week, Mayor Denise Simmons and City Councilor Ken Reeves addressed a group of Harvard students on the subject of homophobia in the black community.
Asked to recount their experiences with homophobia, Reeves, America’s first openly gay black mayor, and Simmons, who in January became the nation’s first openly lesbian black mayor, said it wasn’t until they entered politics that they encountered much criticism for their sexual orientation.
. . .
Though Simmons has had her conflicts with School Committee members and Reeves has clashed with the press, by and large, both said most of the homophobic sentiment they’ve incurred as politicians and as people has been at the hands of black clergy and religious leaders. One incident Simmons pointed to as being among her most discouraging as an elected official was a City Council meeting shortly after the 2004 legalization of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts. After numerous attempts to tap the support of the black religious community on education, crime and economic issues relating to the black community, Simmons said she was shocked that one of the only unified communications the council had received from the city’s black churches was a letter denouncing gay marriage.
“Without forewarning, the black clergy got together and wrote us a letter saying that they were against gay marriage,” Simmons said. “The really horrific part is that they never came and talked to us. I’ve never been able to explain it. It was one of the saddest moments for me in my political life, because I expected so much more.”
Reeves, who recently left as a member of St. Paul AME Church, said he too had been let down by the clergy. Reeves said he had loved being a part of the St. Paul family, but the church’s opposition to gay marriage ultimately forced him to find a new parish. …
More at the link.
Filed under: Christianity, Homophobia, Marriage, Massachusetts, Race/Ethnic Issues, Radical Religious Right
