Earlier this week, the NAACP held its first ever town hall meeting on gay issues in the African-American community. The town hall meeting had a panel with included comedian Wanda Sykes and civil rights legend Julian Bond. CNN Don Lemon also served as moderator.
It sounded like a good idea and it was. I am sure that a lot of things were said which needed to be said. And a lot of things were learned.
But as for right now, I don't know what was said nor do I know what was learned because very few entities covered the event.
The black media, of course didn't touch it. And the gay media - and I am highly disappointed by this fact - also didn't touch it.
Oh sure, everyone announced that it was going to happen in highly patronizing tones - "the NAACP is going to have their first town hall meeting" "oh that's awesome" "it's about time."
However when it actually comes to covering the event, so many seemed to have forgotten that it was taking place.
That's not to say that there was no coverage at all.
MSNBC gave it sloppy coverage, centering around the issue of marriage equality and how many African-Americans opposed it. The article didn't talk about anything specifically said at the town hall meeting.
And this was sad because a transgender activist also attended the town hall meeting and she made a very good point about the unfortunate omission of the African-American transgender community.
The omission of members of the transgender community, and the bisexual community for that matter, should have been the most covered angle.
Marriage equality is a very hot issue right now, but to many lgbtqs of color, it's not the prevailing issue in our community. We do worry about other things, such as health, self-esteem, the ability to come out, and how to function with a dual identity in communities which do not address who we are because they are so busy trying to whittle us down to what they want us to be.
Or being made invisible, as in the case of the transgender and bisexual community.
I was hoping that the NAACP's town hall meeting would be a step in a direction which finally saw lgbtqs of color being seen as people not being forced to choose between both identities but embracing both with pride.
But unfortunately, the entire situation revealed that while we are exactly that - people embracing both of our identities with pride - it also demonstrated just how quickly folks want us to be invisible.
Or even worse, tokens.
It sounded like a good idea and it was. I am sure that a lot of things were said which needed to be said. And a lot of things were learned.
But as for right now, I don't know what was said nor do I know what was learned because very few entities covered the event.
The black media, of course didn't touch it. And the gay media - and I am highly disappointed by this fact - also didn't touch it.
Oh sure, everyone announced that it was going to happen in highly patronizing tones - "the NAACP is going to have their first town hall meeting" "oh that's awesome" "it's about time."
However when it actually comes to covering the event, so many seemed to have forgotten that it was taking place.
That's not to say that there was no coverage at all.
MSNBC gave it sloppy coverage, centering around the issue of marriage equality and how many African-Americans opposed it. The article didn't talk about anything specifically said at the town hall meeting.
And this was sad because a transgender activist also attended the town hall meeting and she made a very good point about the unfortunate omission of the African-American transgender community.
The omission of members of the transgender community, and the bisexual community for that matter, should have been the most covered angle.
Marriage equality is a very hot issue right now, but to many lgbtqs of color, it's not the prevailing issue in our community. We do worry about other things, such as health, self-esteem, the ability to come out, and how to function with a dual identity in communities which do not address who we are because they are so busy trying to whittle us down to what they want us to be.
Or being made invisible, as in the case of the transgender and bisexual community.
I was hoping that the NAACP's town hall meeting would be a step in a direction which finally saw lgbtqs of color being seen as people not being forced to choose between both identities but embracing both with pride.
But unfortunately, the entire situation revealed that while we are exactly that - people embracing both of our identities with pride - it also demonstrated just how quickly folks want us to be invisible.
Or even worse, tokens.