Who has love for the black, butch stud?

By Anare V. Holmes
This is the question my good friend Rachelle Johnson-Maiga asked me as we discussed the state of black gay and straight relations in America.
Rachelle is originally from Detroit and has since become a woman’s health and reproductive specialist in Puerto Rico. We met in 1998 when her maiden name ended only in Johnson while she pursued graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We crossed paths after we both landed part-time gigs as general assignment reporters for the Madison Times Weekly Newspaper.
Our passion for writing and telling great stories evolved into a friendship spanning more than 10 years. In that time, Rachelle has followed her passions to live in Puerto Rico, Guatemala and West Africa’s Mali, where she married Bamako native Seydou Ingar Maiga.
During our gab-fest, I told her about a recent interview I recently conducted with BET NEWS. The highly criticized cable network that brings us “106 & Park,” “College Hill” and “Dr. Bobby Jones Gospel” is developing a television special that will look at Homophobia in the black community.

I told Rachelle that while I had no control over the tone and implementation of BET’s take on the issue, I recommended the special’s producers move beyond presenting this surface myth that the black community is more homophobic than the white community.
No scientific research has proven that widely held perception. In fact how we as Black people deal with sexuality is very much colored through the lens of the racism, classism and heterosexism that is embedded into the fabric of America.
While many heterosexual Black folks are uncomfortable with Black gays and lesbians, how the two groups relate to one another is layered and complex.
Without a doubt there are many black parents who have kicked their children out of the house upon discovering the kids were gay or lesbian, so too have their white counterparts. However, there are also black parents who have been extremely supportive of their children and we cannot keep painting a broad brush when it comes to the Black Experience in America.
We simply are not a monolithic people.
“We as a Black community don’t throw people away,” said Rachelle. “But you are right, it’s complicated. At times it’s almost as if the effeminate, “flaming queen” is celebrated. But who has love for the black, butch, stud?”
“It’s like she’s invisible, we don’t talk about her,” she said.
That question stopped me dead in my tracks.
From Rachelle’s perspective she sees an increase of a Black gay presence in American pop culture, and a greater exposure of their voices is currently heard on urban radio stations and a host of reality shows on television.
“Think about it, there is Miss J on Tyra’s America’s Next Top Model, there is the entertainment reporter and gossip queen on many Black Radio stations, even the stereotypical gay man at the neighborhood salon makes us all laugh with his style, wit and human,” she said. “But folks seem afraid of dealing with the sister who dresses in men’s clothing and who takes on more of a dominant role.”
Rachelle was not familiar with actress Skyler Cooper who played a butch stud character on the Amber Sharp television series “Please, Don’t Go.”
What say you?
Is the Black community more tolerant of an effeminate gay man or a masculine lesbian?
Send your responses to: mystory@pridetv.org