Black Queer Activism in South Carolina: Creating Change, Defining and Redefining a Movement

Throughout our nation very few issues have divided our nation as much as the current debate on equality for LGBT individuals, particularly in Black communities. This tension becomes extremely evident in the debate surrounding whether the current LGBT struggle is synonymous with the Civil Rights movement of the mid 1900s. Research suggests that within the Black community, homosexuality is often perceived to be White deviant behavior that infiltrated the Black community (Griffin, 2006; McBride, 2005; Somerville, 2000). This has resulted in an attack against LGBT equality in Black communities whereas the struggle is minimized to one of identity politics. However, many forms of struggles that have resulted in political changes in Black communities have resulted from identity politics. Such essentialist approaches have been a constant critique of Black feminist ideology. The result of essentialism is to reduce the lives of people who experience multiple forms of oppression to addition problems: ‘racism sexism = straight black women’s experience’, or ‘racism sexism homophobia = black lesbian experience’. Thus, in an essentialist world, black women’s experiences will always be forcibly fragmented before being subjected to analysis, as those who are ‘only interested in race’ and those who are ‘only interested in gender’ take their separate slices of our lives (Harris, 1995). This paper seeks to explore how Black queer activists in Columbia, South Carolina are developing a community based approach to organizing and mobilizing queer persons of color. Douglas (2003) argues that Black bodies/sexuality help fuel conservative stances of the Black church in an attempt to distance themsevles from deviant forms of sexual expression (post-slavery), contributing to denial of homosexuals and increase homophobia. Many resarchers have identified the importance of family and church as social institutions within Black communities (Chaney, 2008; Chaney & Patrick, 2011; Douglas, 2003; Griffin, 2006). Recently researchers have also identified the potential political possibility the Black church holds for LGBT individuals (Chaney & Patrick, 2011). Since there has been very little literature documenting the potential political capabilities of the current LGBT movement within Black communities, more research is necessary. To successfully address this gap within the literature, this study is centered upon an epistemological approach that is anchored in the constructivist tradition to generate knowledge, understanding and meaning through human interactions (S.R. Jones, Torres, & Arminio, 2006) as well as inquiry into understanding multiple identities (S.R. Jones & McEwen, 2000). Drawing from (Son & Lin, 2008), this paper will document the findings from in-depth qualitative interviews among Black LGBT activists. The goal of the paper is to highlight how cites of the church and school are providing opportunities for political mobilizing. Furthermore, issues untagnlging the perspective of Black LGBT activists concerning the connectedness, or lack thereof, between current struggles of equality to the Civil Rights movement of the 1900s. Lastly, the findings will also illuminate how these activist are confronting multiple identities and navigating these terrains for strengthening political organizing.