Gay Leaders Seek to Bridge Racial Divide

RICHMOND, Va.

Each year, Equality Virginia director Dyana Mason kicks off the summer with two road trips: One to Washington's Black gay pride celebration in May, and a second to its predominantly White June counterpart, Capital Pride.

Through the fall, similar celebrations will unfold in major cities across the nation, underscoring a racial rift some say splinters gay America when a united front is needed most.

National gay and lesbian groups are responding with marketing campaigns and old-fashioned schmoozing to win over minority gays — who argue White activists want their votes on national issues, but rarely include poverty, racism and other minority concerns on their agendas.

"We have this rainbow of unity — ‘We're all in it together,’" said Earl Fowlkes, president of the International Federation of Black Prides. "Truth be told, it's not that way.''

His group represents over 23 annual Black pride celebrations drawing thousands of Black gays to cities such as New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Such culture-specific celebrations are on the rise as the face of gay America shifts from the White male stereotype.

Roughly 4 million gay or lesbian adults live in the United States, according to the Gay and Lesbian Atlas, compiled by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Among them are large groups of Hispanics and Blacks; in Los Angeles, for example, the atlas found Hispanics lead 32 percent of all same-sex households.

Black gays are primarily in the South, heading more than one quarter of gay households in New Orleans and all of Mississippi, at least statistically.

The numbers say minorities are just as prevalent as Whites. So why then, do their faces number so few at national gay rights events?

In 2000, the Human Rights Campaign set out to answer that question. Officials surveyed leaders in several communities of color across the country. The results were sobering.