The LGBT community shouldn't be quick to dismiss liberation theology when its own religious institutions embrace it.
The recent public airing of statements made by presidential candidate Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, opened a dormant Pandora's box surrounding the underlying racial tensions that still exist between the Black and white communities in the 21st century, as well as the continued existence of institutional racism.
With Sen. Obama's campaign bid to become the first African-American to hold our nation's highest elected office against New York Sen.Hillary Clinton, whom the mainstream gay community seems to adore, even their eyebrows were raised following a snippet of a Wright sermon that declared 'God damn America,' followed by 'Hillary Clinton ain't never been called a nigger.'
My first thought mirrored that of millions of Black Americans as it relates to our perception of how our white compatriots process the lingering effects of racism and its effects on the black community: they just don't get it. When I look at LGBT community, a microcosm of society at-large, it appears to me they take delight in what mainstream media has been successful in accomplishing: painting Rev. Wright as a racist and a bigot.
Without the backdrop of this election, which has provided a glimpse into the historical and current issues the Democratic Party has with it black constituents ( widely acknowledged as the party's base ) , the LGBT should be cautious about getting into this political fray since it is also an oppressed community seeking social and legal parity. While the struggles of racial and sexual equality are indeed different there is some commonality, and a measure of respect by the LGBT community should be extended to ministers like Rev. Wright who practice liberation theology.
Despite his sometimes thought-provoking sermons, Rev. Wright is respected in white and Black religious circles. Trinity United Church of Christ has diverse outreach ministries that are often duplicated by both white and black churches that seek to affirm all people as 'God's children.'
Trinity's outreach efforts also extend to the LGBT community and include active engagement in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with education and direct support services at a time when other mainstream Black denominations and churches were and are still unwilling to do so.
Donnie McClurkin, who is the pastor of a large congregation and a popular gospel singer, has seen his star rise in the Black gospel community with his testimony and profession of being delivered from his seemingly innate homosexuality through God, which strongly resonates in the mainstream Black religious community. Sen. Obama's inclusion of McClurkin in a campaign event before the South Carolina primary proved problematic for the LGBT community. This was based on the assessment that Obama showed poor judgment and insensitivity to the gay community, despite McClurkin's popularity with the African-American community.
For the record, leaders like myself in the Black same-gender-loving community, religious or not, do not support McClurkin's supposed 'conversion.' We prefer to side with the sentiment that he has been unable to reconcile his traumatic childhood experiences of sexual assault and rape with his authentic, spiritual self. Because his experience is similar to that of many LGBT members in our community who would rather hide within the Black church than acknowledge their sexual reality, we sympathize with him but simply don't agree with his position.
Black liberation theology, infused with acknowledgment of our healthy, sexual, God-given self, is how we choose to express who we are in a society that would rather oppress us, first, because we are black, and second, because we are proud, unapologetically LGBT!
This stance should come as no surprise to the white LGBT community because its own religious institutions also embody and practice the spirit of liberation theology in response to the oppression of the LGBT community and the rights and privileges we seek. The same holds for the Latin and feminist community, whose religious leaders have espoused the merits of liberation theology as necessary for the integration of their respective constituencies into society.
LGBT works of nonfiction have been dedicated to the study and application of liberation theology, including 'Gay/Lesbian Liberation: a biblical perspective' by George R. Edwards; 'A Place to Start: Toward an Unapologetic Gay Liberation Theology' by Micheal J. Clark; 'Know My Name: A Gay Liberation Theology' by Richard Cleaver; and 'Defying the Darkness: Gay Theology in the Shadows' by Michael J. Clark.
When I came out in 1994, I was and still am a member of United Methodist Church in Dallas whose predominately black congregation embraces black liberation theology. I intently started attending Cathedral of Hope, the world's largest LGBT church also in Dallas during that same period in an effort to affirm and merge who I was as a black gay man. The experience was wonderful, and at one point I contemplated changing my membership to Cathedral, now a member church of the United Church of Christ conference. In the end, I remained at my home church because it affirmed who I was as both a black and gay man.
So before the white LGBT community decides to join in the political fray of how racially insensitive Rev. Wright may seem in his acceptance of a theological pedagogy that affirms the history and current existence of black Americans, perhaps we need to look no further than how the religious LGBT community also seeks to validate it's own existence and place in society through the same medium.
Linus Spiller is a gay-rights activist who resides in Dallas, Texas.
