The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities [Paperback]

Delroy Constantine-Simms (Author), Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Twenty-eight powerful, provocative essays from academics and writers of all ethnic heritages, genders, and sexuality, including bell hooks, Eric Garber, Seth Clarke Silberman, Gregory Conerly, and Dr. Gloria Wekker-running from 19th-century slave quarters to postapartheid South Africa, from RuPaul to the Wu Tang Clan, from 1920s Harlem to 1995's Million Man March on Washington-provide a clear-eyed societal, cultural, political, and historical view of both the transformation and continued repression of black lesbians and gay men.

A journalist and lecturer living in London, Delroy Constantine-Simms is a sociology graduate of the University of Hull and a psychology graduate of the University of East London. He is the author of The Role of Black Educators in Educational Research and (with V. Showunmi) Teachers of the Future.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A journalist and lecturer living in London, Delroy Constantine-Simms is a sociology graduate of the University of Hull and a psychology graduate of the University of East London. He is currently conducting research in diversity and equality issues at the University of Essex. He is a member of the U.K. National Union of Journalists and the Black Psychology Association. He is the chief reporter of The Post News Paper and the online editor of Blacknet U.K. He is the author of The Role of Black Educators in Educational Research and (with V. Showunmi) Teachers of the Future, both published by Stoke: Trentham.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The House the Kids Built: The Gay Black Imprint on American Dance Music Anthony Thomas

America's critical establishment has yet to acknowledge the contributions made by gay Afro-Americans. Yet black (and often white) society continues to adopt cultural and social patterns from the gay black subculture. In terms of language, turns of phrase that were once used exclusively by gay Afro-Americans have crept into the vocabulary of the larger black society: singer Gladys Knight preaches about unrequited love to her "girlfriend" in the hit "Love Overboard"; and college rivals toss around "Miss Thing" in Spike Lee's film "School Daze". What's also continued to emerge from the underground is the dance music of gay black America. More energetic and polyrhythmic than the sensibility of straight African-Americans, and simply more African than the sensibility of white gays, the musical sensibility of today's "house" music - like that of disco and club music before it - has spread beyond the gay black subculture to influence broader musical tastes. What exactly is house music? At a recording session for DJ International, a leading label of house music, British journalist Sheryl Garratt posed that question to the assembled artists. A veritable barrage of answers followed: "I couldn't begin to tell you what house is. You have to go to the clubs and see how people react when they hear it. It's more like a feeling that runs through, like old time religion in the way that people jus' get happy and screamin'.... It's happening! ... it's Chicago's own sound.... It's rock till you drop.... You might go and seek religion afterwards! It's gonna be hot, it's gonna be sweaty, and it's gonna be great. It's hones-to-goodness, get down, low down gutsy, grabbin' type music" (Garrat 1986) Like the blues and gospel, house is very Chicago. Like rap out of New York and go-go out of D.C., house is evidence of the regionalization of black American music. Like its predecessors, disco and club, house is a scene as well as a music, black as well as gay. But as house music goes pop, so slams the closet door that keeps the facts about its roots from public view. House, disco, and club are not the only black music that gays have been involved in producing, nor is everyone involved in this music gay. Still, the sound, the beat, and the rhythm have risen up from the dancing sensibilities of urban gay Afro-Americans. The music, in turn, has provided one of the underpinnings of the gay black subculture. Dance clubs are the only popular institution of the gay black community that are separate and distinct from the institutions of the straight black majority. Unlike their white counterparts, gay black Americans, for the most part, have not redefined themselves - politically or culturally - apart from their majority community. Although political and cultural organizations of gay Afro-Americans have formed in recent years, membership in these groups remains very small and represents only a tiny minority of the gay black population. Lesbian and gay Afro-Americans still attend black churches, join black fraternities and sororities, and belong to the NAACP. Gay black dance clubs, like New York's Paradise Garage and Chicago's Warehouse (the birthplace of house music), have staked out a social space where gay black men don't have to deal with the racist door policies at predominantly white gay clubs or the homophobia of black straight clubs. Over the last twenty years the soundtrack to this dancing revolution has been provided by disco, club, and now - house music.

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555835643
• ISBN-13: 978-1555835644
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Questions Answered!, May 18, 2001

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (Paperback)

Does Homosexuality remain the greatest taboo in black culture? Is homosexuality a European cultural imposition on Africans? Are you black first or queer? These are the important questions that Delroy Constantine-Simms, the editior of The Greatest Taboo, sets about to answer by compiling twenty-eight essays from such heralded authors as Bell Hooks, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Seth Clark Silberman, Gregory Conerly, and Gloria Wekker.

The interesting thing about this collection, other than the fact that it is long overdue, is that it examines homosexuality in both men and women are far back as slavery times. If one is a fan of non-fiction, thought-provoking reading, then The Greatest Taboo is definitely one for the collection. There has long been a stigma surrounding homosexuality, mostly from those who fear something they cannot understand. I think this is an important book for everyone to read and I highly recommend it.

Zane, RAW Reviewer

6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 of A Kind beats a Straight, June 14, 2001

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (Paperback)

I chose this book because I thought it was a chronicle of stories. Stories of black gay and lesbians, not an analytical outlook on the community. Delroy Constantine-Simms mentions in the introduction that this book was supposed to be an "anthology of Black perspective that was either sympathetic to or antagonistic toward the subject of homosexuality". I wish it was, instead the reader gets several essays that read like textbook stuff.

If you're looking to read thought provoking essays then this is the book to read. You won't, however find comments from those who have a hostile point of view regarding the homosexual community.

Reviewed by Missy