Just two years before the new millennium, forty years after the beginning of the civil rights movement, and nearly thirty years after Stonewall, there is still no black lesbian and gay community. To be sure, there are black lesbian and gay people. Some estimate the African American lesbian and gay population at 2 to 3 million. But population and community are two different things. A community is more than just a group of people with a shared interest.
Community involves institutions, symbols, culture, and ritual that unite and define that group.
Unfortunately, when it comes to black lesbians and gays, we have no community of which to speak. Unlike the white lesbian and gay community, we have few viable institutions and organizations. Our national organizations are faltering and our local organizations are often underequipped, understaffed, overworked, or unprepared. Unlike white gays and lesbians, we have no independent identity, no self-identified name, and no flag or symbol that represents us. I know of no black gay neighborhoods, although every major city in America has a gay neighborhood or a black neighborhood.