Prejudice
Four years ago a small band of local black gays and lesbians fought to march in the parade and finally got in after threatening to sue under the city’s human rights ordinance. Staring out the train window, I wondered if I’d encounter animosity. How would I react to being called a faggot? What if someone threw a beer can or a bottle at me? Would I keep marching while blood dripped down my face?
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But as I turned the corner on Oakwood, my heart stopped. There were only a handful of people on the steps of Holy Angels Church. For some reason I’d expected the turnout to be much larger. I’d pictured a couple hundred of us, a group the size of one of those baton-twirling crews. I ambled awkwardly over to the marchers and introduced myself. I recognized some of their names, including Steve Wakefield of the Night Ministry and Michael O’Connor of the Committee, a black gay and lesbian political action group. I met Robert Schultz of BLACKlines newspaper, Michael Harrington of Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays, and Vernita Gray, who works for the state’s attorney’s office.
Hutt says that contrary to the opinion of many white gays the black community has often been open to the struggles of gays and lesbians. At the very least, she says, it’s no more homophobic than any other group. “If the black community is so much more homophobic than others, then why do white gays leave Schaumburg and Naperville or Indiana or wherever to come here and create Boystown?” she asked. “Why don’t they stay in their own white communities? Why do they leave those neighborhoods? Those are the questions that need to be posed. The black congressional caucus in Washington has the most consistent record in voting for gay rights.”
We chanted, “We are family / The black gay family / South-side family / North-side family / West-side family / The black gay family.”
A marcher behind me couldn’t let the remark pass. “I’ve got children,” she said, “and I’m a proud mother and a proud lesbian.”
“You with them, sugah?” a woman questioned the cop at my side.
