All of Your Favs are Black and Bi. All of Them cont.
The Black communities’ quest for another MLK or another cisgender heterosexual leader erases the work done by other activists who do not meet these qualifications. Black gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, asexuals, other queer people and transgender people are on the front lines fighting for not only their rights but for the rights of Black people as a whole. They’ve been next to the MLKs hand in hand, side by side, screaming just as loudly to end racism. It’s just that their voices have been covered up by the sick prejudice that plagues the Black community.
And it’s not just Malcolm X who’s had part of his legacy erased. Famous Black LGBT+ people frequently have either their sexualities, work or history eradicated. People like Billie Holiday, James Baldwin, Luther Vandross, Bessie Smith, Langston Hughes, Johnny Mathis, Alice Walker, Ma Rainey, Josephine Baker, and Angela Davis have all had some part of their legacy ignored or not fully recognized.
Now, I’m not saying that Malcolm’s sexuality was one of the most important aspects of him; he certainly served the Civil Rights movement with his revolutionary knowledge. All I’m asking is that Black LGBT+ people not have their history, identities or work ignored.
It is easy for straight people to say that sexuality doesn’t really matter when for them their sexualities really don’t matter since they are the default and not negatively affected by it. However for queer people our sexualities do matter and we must make them matter otherwise we’ll find ourselves erased. Our visibility is one of the most potent things we can do to combat heteronormativity.
Black LGBT+ pride and visibility is one the most effective ways we can fight and ultimately abolish heterosexism and heteronormativity, in not only our own communities, but society as a whole. This visibility and pride however starts with recognizing that one of our great Civil Rights leaders was not only here but also queer.
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