Exploring Racial Diversity In The Gay Community

Patrick Merla, Editor
New York Native
249 West Broadway
New York, NY 10013
June 15, 1984

Dear Patrick:

In August 1983 the Native published a supplement called "Harlem Rising." I contributed two pieces to it. It would be a good idea to bring the supplement back, possibly in August. However, this time I would like to be the guest editor. And instead of calling it "Harlem Rising," it should be called "Hue: Black Gay and Lesbian Supplement." The new name would underscore the fact that blacks range in color from very fair to very dark.

The supplement would contain five or six articles, covering a wide range of areas: politics, the arts, religion, etc. One article that I would try to include in the supplement is an address delivered by James Baldwin two years ago at the BWMT [Black and White Men Together] meeting that dealt with being black and gay (BWMT has the tape). There would also be photos and artwork.

I would like to discuss this with you either on the phone or in person because I think it is important for the Native to continue to deal with issues and events of concern to the black gay and lesbian community. I appreciate the Native's willingness to publish black-oriented articles. It shows that the paper realizes that not everyone in the gay and lesbian community is white and middle class. I am looking forward to a long association with the Native.

I hope the answer will be affirmative. I think this supplement will be better than the last one.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

Note: The Native published the supplement under my guest editorship. It was called "Celebrating Ourselves," a title novelist and poet Melvin Dixon (and supplement contributor) suggested to me. The supplement was published in October 1984. It did not include the James Baldwin address that I suggested. This was the first and only time that the Native published a poetry centerfold that was part of the supplement.