The dynamic between people of color and the LGBTQ community is problematic in a lot of ways, and lately, the posts at Queerty have really been getting to me. I’m not exactly a Sherri Shepherd fan, but they rip on her constantly, and it’s not always because she’s saying something blatantly homophobic (as in this video), but partially because the white gay men who think they can speak for our entire community are completely blind to the way race plays into this debate.
In this video, I actually think she brings up some pretty relevant points. While I agree that wives of cheating men run the risk of unknowingly contracting HIV regardless of whether they’re being cheated in with men or women, that’s not necessarily relevant to the reasons why black men are living on the downlow. The fact is, queer people of color (particularly black men, in this discussion) face many obstacles that white members of our community do not, both because of racism within our community and because of anti-LGBTQ prejudices within the black community. In this video, and especially in the second half of the video, it’s clear to me that while Shepherd doesn’t always have the most progressive views in terms of LGBTQ rights, part of the problem is that Thomas Roberts — the gay, white, former CNN anchor in this video — is not willing to recognize his own white privilege. In no part of this video does Shepherd deny the fact that black women can contract HIV through drug usage or unsafe sex with straight men; she simply points out the problematic reality of men on the downlow. And she’s heavily criticized for that simplistic explanation of HIV amongst black women, though Queerty’s justification for this criticism is just as (if not more) ignorant and simplistic. Why? They seem to overlook the simple fact that SHE IS BLACK, and probably has more knowledge of the black community than white gay men do. Call her “uneducated” all you want, but she doesn’t need to know statistics in order to understand the reality of black women who have been affected by the downlow.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve heard HIV+ black women speak in anger over the fact that their husbands cheated on them with men. I’ve even heard them say blatantly homophobic things about those men, and essentially blame the entire gay population for their disease. Those comments are in no way justified, but blaming a black woman’s “stupidity” on this “lazy explanation” isn’t, either. It also overlooks a lot of the important, relevant points made in this video with respect to the downlow. Do I agree with Sherri Shepherd’s religious, conservative, and sometimes homophobic views on various issues? Of course not. Do I think she sometimes makes ignorant claims about issues she’s not fully informed of? Absolutely. But I also think Queerty (and others) find it far too easy to push her aside as a black woman, arguing that she’s homophobic when in reality, they’re guilty of their own prejudices as well.
