Dangerous Liaisons: Blacks, Gays, and the Struggle for Equality [Hardcover]

Eric Brandt (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

A groundbreaking study of the intersections of race and sexuality, by an all-star group of writers. From Selma and Stonewall to California's Proposition 209 and the Defense of Marriage Act, blacks and gays continue to face resistance. Conservatives often lump these two groups together by arguing that both are demanding not equal rights, but "special" rights. In fact, gay rights activists have drawn parallels between their own struggles and the civil rights movement. Yet others have balked at any comparison, and conflict between the minorities has recently arisen. In an unprecedented undertaking, Dangerous Liaisons provides a platform for the leading minds of both communities, including those who straddle both worlds, to debate the volatile subject of the relationship between African Americans and homosexuals. In eleven newly commissioned pieces together with five classic essays, Dangerous Liaisons addresses such timely issues as attitudes toward gay marriage versus attitudes toward interracial marriage; the growth of gay and lesbian rights organizations and homophobia in the black church; and conflict among minorities in the arts. Dangerous Liaisons presents well-known historians, political analysts, activists, artists, writers and philosophers on minority relations in the struggle for legal, social, and cultural equality.

Contributors:
Michael Bronski
George Chauncey
Cheryl Clark
Cathy Cohen
Gary Comstock
Samuel Delany
Martin Duberman
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Jewelle Gomez
Pillip Brian Harper
Audre Lorde
Robert Reid-Pharr
Darieck Scott
Barbara Smith
Alisa Solomon
Cornel West

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Many gays and lesbians have suffered from oppression in the United States; so have many African Americans. But their mutual suffering has not necessarily led to sympathy and collaboration: witness the sharp protests among some black leaders when queer activists compare their struggle to the civil rights movement, or the subtle exclusion of gays and lesbians of color from some activist organizations. The essays in Dangerous Liaisons all stem from the premise that this division is counterproductive in combating both racism and homophobia. Contributors include Henry Louis Gates Jr., Audre Lorde, Cornel West, and Samuel Delany. Jewelle Gomez describes the ways in which her acceptance in the black community has often been predicated upon suppressing her lesbianism, while Martin Duberman describes his experiences researching and writing his biography of Paul Robeson. In all these essays runs an undercurrent that Barbara Smith makes explicit: "All of the aspects of who I am are crucial, indivisible, and pose no inherent conflict."

From Publishers Weekly

In 17 new and classic essays, historians, political analysts and artists assess why blacks and gays have such a volatile relationship, despite their shared experiences of discrimination in education and on the job, of police harassment and the devastating impact of AIDS. Author and activist Barbara Smith gets right to the heart of the matter: "the most maddening question anyone can ask me is, 'Which do you put first: being black, a woman or gay?'" The assumption that identities must be "prioritized" may be at the root of persistent conflict among black and gay rights organizations. Rutgers professor and poet Cheryl Clarke's groundbreaking 1983 essay "The Failure to Transform," in which she confronts homophobia within the black left, appears with a contemporary response, "Fighting Homophobia versus Challenging Heterosexism," from Yale professor Cathy Cohen and doctoral candidate Tamara Jones, who believe that the positive "shift in political and academic rhetoric fails to reflect a deep understanding of heterosexism as a normative system." In an interview with Rev. Edwin Sanders of Nashville's Metropolitan Interdenominational Church, Gary David Comstock discusses the role of the black church in facilitating understanding between the two communities, while Jewelle Gomez's analysis of the history of "passing" among blacks reveals black lesbians as the "tragic mulattas" of contemporary society. Overall, this is a stirring collection that doesn't shy away from the prickly questions that vex the relationship between the two communities. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565844556
• ISBN-13: 978-1565844551
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,597,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written and insightful, August 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dangerous Liaisons: Blacks, Gays, and the Struggle for Equality (Hardcover)

With the Christian right actively working to drum up support among black ministers, this book is extremely important. Brandt and his contributors want to bridge the gap between blacks and gays. They also make it obvious that the two groups are not mutually exclusive, that black gays and lesbians have an especially difficult row to hoe in this country.