Black Gay Men in Atlanta: an Exploration of Community Tobias L

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Georgia State University Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses Studies Winter 12-10-2010 Paradise Found? Black Gay Men in Atlanta: An Exploration of Community Tobias L. Spears Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/wsi_theses Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Spears, Tobias L., "Paradise Found? Black Gay Men in Atlanta: An Exploration of Community." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2010. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/wsi_theses/20 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Institute for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PARADISE FOUND? BLACK GAY MEN IN ATLANTA: An Exploration of Community by TOBIAS L. SPEARS Under the Direction of Layli Phillips Maparyan ABSTRACT This study examines the ways in which Black gay men in Atlanta create and experience community and culture every day, notwithstanding those discursive sources that situate life for Black gay men as particularly troubled. Drawing on ethnographic methods, including participant observation and interviewing, I attempt to show the complexity of Black gay men by exploring their world in Atlanta, Georgia, a city that has increasingly become known as a Black Gay Mecca. Qualitative research examining the ways Black gay men create and experience community has the potential to broaden academic discourses that have increasingly medicalized the Black gay male experience, and complicate popular social sentiment which (when recognizing the existence of Black gay men) often posits their life as one dimensional or dimensionless. INDEX WORDS: Black, Gay, Community, Atlanta, Men, Culture, Black Gay Mecca PARADISE FOUND? BLACK GAY MEN IN ATLANTA: An Exploration of Community by TOBIAS L. SPEARS A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2010 Copyright by Tobias L. Spears 2010 PARADISE FOUND? BLACK GAY MEN IN ATLANTA: An Exploration of Community by TOBIAS L. SPEARS Committee Chair: Layli Phillips Maparyan Committee: Megan Sinnott Sarita Davis Jonathan Gayles Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2010 iv DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to the men of Atlanta who took part in this study, the always curious youth at Youth Pride community center in Atlanta, and the students I work with at Tech, who have shaped me in ways words cannot describe. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I sit in front of this computer with a million names running through my mind. But, I must start out by saying thanks to God. It is because of God that I sit here with the privilege of having so many people to be thankful for; I am truly humble. During this project, God also sat me down, cleared my mind, and allowed me to focus. God said to me “read, re-read, write, and re-write, then trust.” To my Mom, there is simply no where to start, as you have been there with me each and every moment; what a lucky man I am! When you read this work, you will soon find out what I’ve been up to! You are my everything! Dad, it is from you that I have learned to be patient and humble. Dad, it is from you that I have learned to be myself! Gramma, you are the love of my life; you never fail me, it is because of you that I know these acknowledgements are only the beginning-- PhD LETS GO! To my brothers Terrell and Mikey, and my sister Alyshia, I love you all. Look what you made me! To my other brother, Cristian, can you believe I am finished with this thesis? I used to have you on the phone all night reading my work to you, you listened, you laughed, and you remembered—uttering questions like “umm, what does that mean?” People talk about best friends, I do not have to, I have a brother. To my NY family, I love you all! My networks of support: Sheree, you are the epitome of a student, a teacher, and a friend. You have also given me the space to be a student; to you I will always have respect. Kwame, my partner in crime; Kaleitha, my other love, thanks for being the female version of me! Mario, Greg, and Toni, you all are my shining stars and the best friends anyone could ask for. Little Josiah, my nephew, you are the best! Malika, thanks for being my backbone, couldn’t have done it without you. Michael Lowe (Butter), Steven Jubert, Marlon Gibson, Victoria Martin, Mike Fulford, Dan Morrison, Kristina Clement, LaRonda Brewer, David Malebranche, Joi Scales, Katrina White-Johnson, Tim’m West, JoAnne Ofoli (computer wiz), Jillian Ford, Yolo Akili, Terence McPhaul, Monique Charles, Jahsun Williams, Sherry Grace, Chris Ruiz--- I bow to you all! Last but certainly not least, to my committee of scholars: Layli, you have shown me resilience, love, rigor, and commitment; you will always be my mentor. Sarita Davis, the methodologist that does not play, you are great. Megan, you showed me that my work can be rigorous and reflective! To Dr. Gayles, you always have those tough questions; you keep me on my toes— Thanks to you all! vi Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ v Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: SURVEY OF LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK . 5 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 39 Chapter 4: INTERVIEW FINDINGS ........................................................................... 46 Chapter 5: WORDS TO OUR NOW (a Thomas Glave Motif) .................................. 70 Chapter 6: DISCUSSION .............................................................................................. 77 WORKS CITED.............................................................................................................. 88 Appendix A: PARTICIPANT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ....................................... 93 Appendix B: INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS ............................ 95 Appendix C: RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND EMERGING THEMES .................. 96 Appendix D: CONSENT FORM ................................................................................... 97 1 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION While some scholars have centered research on Black gay men and their experiences with HIV/AIDS, the “down low,” pervasive mental health issues, sexual racism, and homophobia, only a few have offered analysis of the ways Black gay men as a whole create and experience culture and community every day, despite those discursive sources that cast life for Black gay men as a tangled web of pathologies. This thesis seeks to add to qualitative research, drawing on ethnographic methods to consider the question “How do Black gay men experience community in Atlanta, a so-called Black gay Mecca?” A close examination of the ways in which Black gay men create and experience community has the potential to broaden academic discourses that have increasingly medicalized the Black gay male experience, and complicate popular social sentiment which (when recognizing the existence of Black gay men) often posits their life as one dimensional or dimensionless. Although this study focuses on Black gay male subjectivity to elicit group sentiment, I do not mean to diminish the reality of subjective experience or trivialize the lives of Black gay men living with HIV/AIDS, as one diagnosis affects us all. Instead, this research serves to illuminate the culture of Black gay men by showing the complexity of the group and its members. Significance of the Problem In a cursory review of academic themed search engines, designed to be used by scholars and students alike, a search of the term “Black gay men” yields some not surprising, but very interesting results. In the interdisciplinary search engine JSTOR, the anthropologist’s online research tool Anthropologyplus, the sociological collection at EBSCOhost, the psychology search engine Web of Science, and even Women’s Studies International also at EBSCOhost, all 2 return query results that seemingly reduce academic work about Black gay men to the following categories: public health studies, usually about HIV/AIDS; articles around down-low sexuality; studies on hyper-sexuality; the effects of homophobia; and narratives describing Black gay men as having warped perceptions of self due to lacking the ability to integrate queer sexuality with Black skin.1 Articles returned in this search speak also to the climate outside the academy, as popular culture often portrays limiting ideas of Black gay men. Cultural media rely on the overbearing caricature of the effeminate Black man who in an attempt to gain acceptance becomes the cunning comedian and site of comedy; or the self-loathing Black gay male caricature who is hyper-masculine, down-low, confused, and at any moment returning to “straight” (Nero, 2005; Robinson, 2009). That some Black gay men have even begun to internalize these limiting character tropes and invent additional

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