There’s a strange fascination with homophobia in the black community, as you’d know if you’ve ever watched Empire.
But are black people really more homophobic than other races?
A recent piece in HIV Plus Magazine (owned by LPI Media which publishes The Advocate and Out) offered the theory that lack of church and community support leads to high HIV rates for black men:
"Black gay and bisexual men, who already weather the socioeconomic hardships of racism and mass incarceration, are particularly vulnerable to the stigma of homophobia. Many are left to battle discrimination and homophobia without traditional support networks like church, family, and community, and the result, experts say, is the perfect storm for a health crisis."
Because you know, black gay men get HIV because of homophobia and Jesus.
The LA Times dismissed this "church" argument succinctly.
"A key reason for this is that black homosexual men tend to have sex with other black men — a fairly small, much more tightly knit pool than, say, white homosexual men on the Westside."
This is simple math. If one person sleeps with a pool of 10 people, as opposed to one person with a pool of 100 people, the former will have a higher risk.
It's not church-fostered homophobia that's causing black men to get HIV. It’s arithmetic.
And at The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates highlighted the fact that black people were far from the reason Prop 8 initially passed, despite popular myths:
"Black people almost certainly did not account for 10 percent of the voters on Prop 8, they accounted for seven percent."