The New Black

DISCUSSION GUIDE The New Black PBE S.ORG/N W-BLACK Table of Contents 1 Using this Guide 2 From the Filmmaker 3 The Film 4 Selected Individuals from the Film 5 Background Information California’s Proposition 8 LGBT Issues and the Black Church 6 Homophobia in Black Communities 7 Civil Rights and the LGBT Community 8 Same-Sex Marriage Debates Within the LGBT Community Black and LGBT: The Importance of Intersectionality 9 Topics and Issues Relevant to The New Black 9 Thinking More Deeply 10 Suggestions for Action 11 Glossary of Terms 13 Resources 15 Credits Using this Guide Community Cinema is a rare public forum: a space for people to gather who are connected by a love of stories, and a belief in their power to change the world. This discussion guide is designed as a tool to facilitate dialogue, and deepen understanding of the complex issues in the film The New Black. It is also an invitation to not only sit back and enjoy the show — but to step up and take action. This guide is not meant to be a comprehensive primer on a given topic. Rather, it provides important context, and raises thought provoking questions to encourage viewers to think more deeply. We provide suggestions for areas to explore in panel discussions, in the classroom, in communities, and online. We also provide valuable resources, and connections to organizations on the ground that are fighting to make a difference. For information about the program, visit www.communitycinema.org DISCUSSION GUIDE // THE NEW BLACK 1 From the Filmmaker In many ways, The New Black was the result of my inability to square with the notion of civil rights as a zero-sum game proposition and my refusal to see marriage equality and African American civil rights as competing struggles. As a member of both the gay and African American communities, it was a disturbing and disheartening turn of events – a low point in the struggle for civil rights for all. I decided to make a documentary about why these two freedom struggles were continually coming into conflict. For more than three years, I talked to African Americans on both sides of the marriage equality divide to learn how the issue was being debat- ed and understood in the community. It quickly became clear that the historic role of the black church as a safe haven from racism and oppression could not be underestimated, and that understanding and acknowledging the role of right-wing Christian organizations – who were cynically exploiting homophobia in the black church by funneling money into antigay campaigns – was also key. I started thinking about the film in November 2008, on the night of the presidential election. The months leading up to that night were But perhaps most importantly, I realized, the issue of gay rights in the intensely emotional for many Americans, especially African Americans. black community is in many ways a fight over the African American The idea of a black president was one many of us had routinely dis- family, which has been a contested space since the time of slavery. missed as something that would not happen in our lifetimes. At the Marriage is not just about marriage for black people – it’s also about same time, marriage equality was on the ballot in California in the form how blacks have become accepted as legitimate participants in of Proposition 8. As the night progressed it became clear that the right American society. The gay marriage question – which in the African for same-sex couples to marry – which had recently been granted by American community is closely tied to traditions around faith and the California courts – was going to be taken away. family – has instigated a conversation in our churches, our houses, our neighborhoods, and at the ballot box. The euphoria that many felt about Barack Obama’s election was coun- tered by dismay and anger over the loss of marriage equality. Almost At its heart, The New Black is a film about getting beyond scape- immediately, an erroneous CNN exit poll laid the blame for the passage goating and stereotyping. We’re at a historic moment in which LGBT of Proposition 8 squarely at the feet of California’s black voters, and issues are at the forefront of the national debate. On the heels of by extrapolation, the African American community in general. Despite the Supreme Court’s 2013 decisions to defang both the primary studies finding the reported polling numbers were grossly exagger- hindrance to national recognition of gay marriage, the Defense of ated (http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_1_06_09), and Marriage Act (DOMA), and the greatest gain of the African American the fact that black Californians – who made up just 7 percent of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Voting Rights Act, the need state’s voting population – simply lacked the numbers to affect the for a national conversation around the intersection between gay rights bill’s outcome, the stereotype of black homophobia quickly became a and racial justice is more urgent than ever. I hope that The New Black key talking point in the national narrative. will bring many new audiences to the issue of achieving civil rights for all, give much-needed visibility to African American LGBT people, and In the days following the vote, I heard some “mainstream” gay com- drive conversation and build bridges across diverse audiences and mentators and activists declare that the black community was notori- communities – from the black, to the gay, to the faith-based, and the ously homophobic and now that civil rights had been achieved for general public as well. us, we wanted to take away other people’s rights. There were also reports of racist epithets being hurled at black participants in gay rights rallies that took place after the election. On the other side, –Yoruba Richen, Director of The New Black some African Americans dismissed or ignored homophobia that was indeed real in our community, while others took offense at attempts to equate the black civil rights movement and the gay rights movement. DISCUSSION GUIDE // THE NEW BLACK 2 The Film The New Black tells the story of how African American communi- and that many families are grappling with the fact that some of ties are grappling with LGBT rights issues in light of the recent their loved ones are gay. same-sex marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The topic of sexuality has traditionally been taboo in African The film documents activists, families, and clergy on both sides American culture, not unlike American culture more gener- of the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage and examines ally — despite the hypersexuality that saturates the public sphere. homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar — the Perhaps because issues of sexuality are so easily used to black church. It also reveals the strategy of some Christian activ- shame women, and because African American women have ist groups of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue a been particularly targeted throughout U.S. history, black women political agenda that opposes LGBT rights. often acknowledge that sexuality needs to be discussed in a Threaded throughout the film is the story of the historic fight to healthy, constructive manner. Black women’s prominence in legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland — Question 6 on the The New Black honors their initiative in encouraging more com- ballot in the 2012 election. Representing the pro-same-sex- plex conversations that benefit the entire community. Contributing marriage side are organizations such as the National Black Justice to these ongoing discussions, The New Black takes a broad Coalition (NBJC) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), look — from church pews to the kitchen table — at sexual orien- along with several black church leaders who support the legaliza- tation, homophobia, and same-sex marriage among African tion of same-sex marriage. Working to defeat the question are Americans and explores the many ways attitudes are shifting the Maryland Marriage Alliance (with support from the National and evolving. Organization for Marriage), which had spearheaded a petition drive to put the question on the ballot, and a group of black pastors. In the Maryland election, the LGBT community labors under the shadow of the passage of California’s Proposition 8, denying same-sex marriage rights in that state. Although the role of black voters in the passage of Proposition 8 has been debunked, some LGBT rights advocates nevertheless have learned to reach out to black communities, whose members don’t necessarily see LGBT rights as a civil rights issue. A family party at the home of NBJC leader Sharon Lettman-Hicks illustrates the split among African Americans on LGBT rights, as family members express their strongly held beliefs about homosexuality. Commentary from clergy provides the church’s perspective on both sides of this divisive issue and puts it into the historical context of slavery and its degrading effects on the black family. While the black church and the larger black community are typically regarded as homophobic, a look behind the scenes reveals that LGBT members play significant roles in the church DISCUSSION GUIDE // THE NEW BLACK 3 Selected Individiuals from the Film Sharon Lettman-Hicks Karess Taylor-Hughes Pastor Derek McCoy Rev. Delman Coates Executive Director and CEO, Field organizer, President, the Maryland Family Pastor, Mount Ennon Baptist the National Black Justice Equality Maryland and the Alliance and the Maryland Church, Clinton, Maryland Coalition Human Rights Campaign Family Council Anthony Charles Williams II Samantha Master Bishop Yvette Flunder Former gospel singer known Student activist Founder and senior pastor, as Tonéx; Currently a singer, City of Refuge United Church songwriter, actor, multi- of Christ instrumentalist, rapper, dancer, and producer DISCUSSION GUIDE // THE NEW BLACK 4 Background Information California’s Proposition 8 LGBT Issues and the Proposition 8 was a measure on the California state ballot in the Black Church November 2008 election.

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