When Love's Flame Burns Out

Going through some old newspapers, I came across an article by Steven  G. Fullwood, a black gay man, called "Love, Interrupted," (New York Blade News, March 1, 2002).

Fullwood details the night, two days after Christmas, when his then 23-year-old boyfriend decided to break off their relationship in the most public of places, Times Square. Fullwood, an archivist at the Schomburg Library in Harlem, was age 35 at the time.

After reading the piece, it made me wonder if Fullwood's ex-boyfriend, now in his 30s, met a similar fate doled out by a much younger lover.

Voices In The Wilderness?

Bob Law, the host of the National Black Network's "Night Talk" (heard in the New York area on WWRL-AM) announced near the end of a broadcast in mid-April that Rev. Calvin Butts, the pastor of Harlem's famous Abyssinian Baptist Church, had spoken out against the persecution of gays and lesbians. The statement was made, said Law, at a rally held at Canaan Baptist Church, also in Harlem.

Law, who was present at the meeting, told his radio audience that Butts "thought  that everybody had a right to determine their own destiny and that God be the final judge, which is consistent with his Bible that says, 'Judge not that ye not be judged.'" The talk show host,  who has a black nationalist philosophy, went on to say that Butts's position is not a popular one in the African-American community and that it "is definitely not popular in the Baptist church." (I've been told that a considerable number of gays attend Canaan.)

Knowing that "he was standing by himself," continued Law, he made the statement anyhow, because he was "follow[ing] a course of action based on what he believes is in principle correct," and that this belief had nothing "to do with how many people stand with him, how much money is in it for him, what kind of guarantees there are further down the line. That's the kind of leadership we [blacks] need and that's the kind of leadership we should support."

Before you start gloating that Butts and Law advocate homosexuality, check out Law's reply to a statement of concern expressed by a homophobic female listener, who sees homosexuality as "very bad" for the black community.

According to Law, Butts "didn't say he thought they should be encouraged or that he supported it or that he was not frowning on it. If there was going to be a discussion between him and a homosexual, he might try to convince the homosexual not to be homosexual."

How does one do that? I think we should send Bob Law a correspondence course in Homosexuality 101. I agree with much of Law's philosophy on achieving political and economic strength in the black community, but when it comes to gay and lesbian issues, he could use some consciousness-raising.

This article ws originally published in the New York Native (August 11-25, 1985). It was an item in a "Media Watch" column I wrote for the paper.

Another Black Gay Supplement Proposal

Patrick Merla, Editor
New York Native
28 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10010
December 17, 1987

Dear Patrick:

I have received the following articles for the Black Gay Supplement to be published in February 1988:

1. An article by Reginald T. Jackson about gay men and their importance to the black church.

2. An article by David Frechette about racism within the gay community.

I have enclosed with this letter two three samples of Baltimore photographer David Weems's work. A portfolio of his work--maybe three or four photos--might be used for a full-page pictorial essay.

I think that issue of the Native should have as its cover photo a photo of a black gay man. (The last two supplements were mentioned on the cover in a little box in the upper left right hand corner.)  Since a number of black men I've spoken with say they would buy the paper if they saw such a photo on the cover, it makes good financial sense to draw attention to the supplement in that way.

A small notice should be published in the time we have remaining announcing the upcoming supplement and the need for submissions.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

Note: This proposed supplement never came to fruition. I don't recall the reason.

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.

Racism Should Not Be A Part Of Gay Pride

Letters to the Editor
The Village Voice
842 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
June 28, 1984

Dear Editor:

James Baldwin, in his interview with Richard Goldstein [Voice, June 26], hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that "the gay world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society."

Racism, as Baldwin knows, is very much a fact of life within the gay community. It is evident in the discriminatory admission policies of gay bars and discos across the country and in the near total exclusion of blacks and other third world gays in gay magazines and newspapers. The "invisibility" of black gays and lesbians is what prompted me to write articles in the gay press pointing up the fact that blacks are a vocal and active part of the gay community. The white, middle-class male image being projected in these publications (and subsequently carried by the straight media) helps to foster the homophobic view in the black community that homosexuality as well as AIDS is a "white disease."

Until the white gay community is willing and able to accept black gays and lesbians as full and equal partners in the struggle against heterosexist oppression, they have no right to complain about homophobia. They too have become oppressors. That's not my idea of Gay Pride.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

This letter was not published.

Suggesting An Idea To A Black Gay Magazine

Stephen Johnson, Editor/Publisher
Whazzup! Magazine
2501 Ivy Drive, Suite 19
Oakland, CA 94606
February 12, 1997

Dear Stephen:

The now-defunct New York Native, a gay newspaper I wrote for from 1983 to 1988, had a regular feature called "Carbon Copy" in which the paper published letters that readers sent to government agencies, organizations, news media, etc. regarding some gay-related issue. I think Whazzup! should publish something similar.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

Reporting A Celebrity Arrest

Gregory Victorianne, Editor & Publisher
Buti Voxx Magazine
5120 South Harper Avenue, Apt. #A-7
Chicago, IL 60615-4160
May 22, 2000

Dear Gregory:

Thanks for continuing to send me issues of Buti Voxx. I have included them in my "Homosexuality--African-American" file.

One other thing, in Issue 37 there is an item that states that " R&B [singer]Teven Campbell brings da Summa of 99 two A close w/Some Smoke & Solisticin' [sic] A Black Cop 4 Some Dick...." I went to the library to see if I could find a newspaper or magazine article about the aforementioned on the computer. I could find no mention of it. I would appreciate it if you could direct me to a printed source. I would like to put that also in my file. If you have a copy of an article about Tevin Campbell soliciting a police officer,please send me a photocopy.

Again, thanks for sending me Buti Voxx.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

This letter received no response.

Something In The Milk Ain't Clean

To The Editor [of the New York Native]:

In Vera Hill's letter published in Issue 102 of the Native [ regarding "Celebrating Ourselves,"* a black gay supplement I guest edited in 1984]  she states that this newspaper is guilty of changing everything she wrote in her article for the black gay and lesbian supplement without obtaining her consent. As the editor of the supplement, I want to set the record straight. Anyone who carefully reads the edited manuscript against the published piece will clearly see that about 90 percent of what Hill wrote remained intact. And that whatever changes or omissions were made were done for clarity and conciseness. Any mention of Dennis Serrette [African American] and Nancy Ross [white] as running mates in the presidential election was omitted because I felt that Hill was trying to propagate the [radical left-wing] New Alliance Party's endorsement of that ticket.

The supplement's reason for being was to deal with as many different aspects of black gay and lesbian life , from as many different voices as we had space for. Although I did not object to political views being expressed, I did not want anyone using the limited amount of space we had as a political campaign tool. I would have been derelict in my duties as the editor if I were to allow that to happen in this section. In the National Alliance, NAP's newspaper, it was reported (by Jackie Salit, the paper's executive editor) that I told Hill that Patrick Merla, the Native's editor, had ordered the cuts. I never made any such statement.

I should point out that during the whole editing process, I never dealt with Hill directly but through a NAP go-between, Tammy Weinstein. So it is an example of false reporting on the part of the National Alliance to say that Hill accepted some revisions I offered. I never really knew what she thought because Weinstein was the one who kept calling me. When I asked where Hill was so I could get direct feedback, Weinstein would say that Hill was too busy organizing in the street to review the manuscript over the phone. Hill's piece was the only one I edited without the direct input of the writer.

In any future supplement, I will insist on working with the one who is the writer of a piece, not a stand-in. This rule will be applied without exception.

Hill, in her letter, tells Native readers that Serrette and Ross are "progressive, pro-gay candidates," and that Serrette was the only presidential candidate to take part in the gay pride march this year. To them I say, Bravo! But to say, as Hill does that the omission of Serrette's name from her copy is an attack on Serrette and "all Blacks and gays--who are on the front lines targeted for extermination by the right wing" is not only hyperbole but also paranoia. Whatever Dennis Serrette is, he is certainly not the straight black Messiah of black gay men and lesbians. And Hill and her ilk should stop trying to present him in that role.

Hill in our half hour telephone conversation called the Native a newspaper that was "fascist" and "right-wing." If that's the case, why bother to submit the article to such a paper, and, more importantly, why accept the enemy's money? Don't Hill and her colleagues at NAP worry that a "fascist right-wing" paper's money will contaminate  their "politically correct" organization?

I certainly have no argument with them about wanting campaign coverage of Serrette, but why, if I may be so bold to ask, did NAP not kick up a storm long before now?And why are they describing an editorial disagreement as "a fight that is currently underway in the gay community"? A "fight" that most of the gay community may not even want to participate in. Who are the combatants supposed to be anyway? And another thing, why is NAP so "eager"--that's their word--in their open letter to other gay papers to bring this "fight" to their attention? To quote Hill from her Native article, "Something in the milk ain't clean."

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

The New York Native published this letter in 1984.

*The essay contributors included Joseph Beam, Craig Harris, and David Frechette. The poetry centerfold included Melvin Dixon, Essex Hemphill, and Salih Michael Fisher.

I give credit to Melvin Dixon for suggesting that I call the supplement "Celebrating Ourselves."