Jeffrey Winbush jeff@columbuspost.com

Jeff Winbush is the managing editor of the Columbus Post (Ohio). He is an award winning journalist who frequently writes on issues of Black homophobia, HIV/AIDS and gender bias. He describes himself as “a recovering homophobe” who has resolved to stress tolerance and respect for others as the only way humans will ever reach Y3K.

See Also
The Blacklist

On July 23, 1899, Ruth C. Ellis was born. This year she will mark her 101st birthday at the senior citizen center she lives at in Detroit. Many young men and women who are not related to Ruth will join her on that day to celebrate. For them, Ruth C. Ellis represents more than a long lived life. At 101 years, Ruth is America’s oldest Black lesbian.

Angela Davis; activist, Howard Rollins; actor in the film “Ragtime” and TV show “In the Heat of the Night”, Alice Walker; novelist, Billy Strayhorn; wrote “Take the ‘A’ Train” with Duke Ellington, Max Robinson; first Black anchor on a national news program, Samuel Delaney; science fiction writer, Nona Hendryx; former member of Labelle, Alvin Ailey; dancer, Paris Barclay; Emmy award winning director of “NYPD Blue”, Josephine Baker; entertainer, Langston Hughes; poet, Barbra Jordan; congresswoman, Lorraine Hansberry; playwright and author of “Raisin In the Sun” are among the many who have made contributions to Black History Month and all of them are as bisexual, gay or lesbian as Ruth C. Ellis.

It’s the part of Black History that tends to get lost in the celebration. Martin Luther King Jr. cemented his place in history with the “I Have A Dream” speech, but if not for the handling of the logistics and pulling together of the million details it required to conduct the March On Washington by his colleague, Bayard Rustin, it never would have happened. Rustin was a gay man and his homosexuality was hardly a secret--especially to enemies of the movement such as Senator Strom Thurmond and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

For Black lesbians, gays and bisexuals, Black History Month must be somewhat bittersweet. They’re invited to join in the celebration of Black achievement and accomplishment, but only if they keep a discreet silence of their role in it. Strange isn’t it, how this is a month where every library pushes it’s authors of color to the front window exhibits, but works by James Baldwin or Audre Lorde go missing. It’s a good month to read Terry McMillian and Toni Morrison, but not so for Sapphire, E. Lynn Harris or Essex Hemphill.

Black History Month (I refuse to call it African American History Month or worse-- Diversity Month) is kind of funny in the way it seems to self-censor what parts of our history should be told and what should be glossed over. Eight years ago I wrote a story about famous Black gays and it surprised me that the names of George Washington Carver, Benjamin Banneker and Rev. James Cleveland were being claimed as being “in the life.”

But then I realized that I was closing my eyes and saying, “I don’t believe” rather than opening them to say, "I don't understand."

There are gay Black people in the diaspora of this so-called Black “community” and the longer it takes those of us who know it and refuse to face the truth, the harder it becomes for us to truly know ourselves and accept ourselves for the diverse group of individuals that collectively make up our race.

It would be taking a giant step into tolerance if we would begin to include and embrace all facets of Black history and not just the ones we feel comfortable with. Are the awesome oratorical powers of Barbra Jordan diminished by discovering she was a lesbian? Do the sweet melodies of “Take the ‘A’ Train” suddenly become harsh and displeasing to the ear knowing that Duke Ellington's collaborator was a gay man?

It makes no sense to me that Black people can shut out a portion of ourselves because we disapprove of how they live their private lives. Today, there exists both prominent persons of color and those who might become prominent, if their lives were not under constant scrutiny for traces of lavender within their Blackness. How can we as Black people, experts in the stupidity of bigotry, turn around and afflict the poison of homophobia upon ourselves? It’s straight-up madness.

If we start with merely being more tolerant of the differences between ourselves and others, then later on we can move on to the thornier issues of acceptance. Maybe then, Black History Month can truly become a celebration where all the voices of its participants ring equally loud and clear.