It ain't necessarily
so
It ain't necessarily so
The things that you're liable
To read in the Bible,
It ain't necessarily so.
It ain't necessarily so
The things that you're liable
To read in the Bible,
It ain't necessarily so.
—“It Ain’t Necessarily So,” by George and Ira Gershwin, from
Porgy and Bess,1935
Equality never hurt
anyone. —Irene Huskens
While stylistically the film breaks no new ground, featuring
the typical talking heads documentary format, the film does a surprisingly good
job in providing intelligent, in-depth comments from both sides of the issue as
it tackles the subject of homophobia in the black community, and in particular
a same-sex ballot referendum, Maryland Question 6, that was put to Maryland
voters in 2012. We quickly learn that
all previous initatives voted on by the public have failed, where democracy has
been a tough pathway for advocates of gay and lesbian rights. Perhaps the most memorable setback was the California Proposition 8 (2008),
which historically added a ban on gay marriage to the state Constitution at the
same time the first black President in history was elected in the United
States. It’s interesting how progress
was euphoric in one instance, but heartbreaking in the other, often testing the
views of the exact same voters. Blacks
came under particular pressure as they were largely blamed for the referendum’s
success, passing 52% to 48%, even though blacks only comprise 7% of the state,
yet the perception was blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama but not for gay
rights. The proposition was ultimately
ruled unconstitutional by a federal court in 2010, and sustained June 26, 2013
through the appeal process to the Supreme Court, thereby granting federal
benefits to same sex couples who are married under state law. Unfortunately, this process is required to
take place state by state, election by election, appeal after appeal, as there
is no uniform federal same sex marriage policy.
This lengthy process unleashes hundreds of millions of dollars in
campaigns both for and against, but ultimately it comes down to each individual
voter. This film is an attempt to get
inside the minds of a large section of black society, including gay rights
activists, public figures, black organizers, families, and religious leaders on
both sides of the issue, as a thread of social conservatism runs through black
churches, often seen as the guidepost for local communities, as they lead the
way on moral issues. The strategy of
right wing white Christian groups was to drive a wedge between black gays and
lesbians and the traditional moral center of the black church.
Perhaps most interesting are the historical implications of
slavery, where black families came under siege by a white plantation system
that often outlawed marriage, that notoriously separated family members, where
marriage ceremonies were often performed in the secrecy of barns. Since the black church was the only
institution to show any sympathy for the plight of protecting slave families,
this network of churches was often the only way separated families could locate
one another. Coming from such a hostile
environment, the black church assumed the mantle of moral leadership during
trying times, a position that it retains today, where one of the byproducts of
segregation in American society has been the cohesiveness of the black church,
serving as a strategic meeting ground and oratory platform during the Civil
Rights campaigns of the 50’s and 60’s. Perhaps
because of this personal identification with the Civil Rights Movement, many
blacks don’t share a similar identification with gays and lesbians, as they
weren’t recognized as activists or even participants during the struggle. Obviously gays and lesbians were part of the movement,
but almost no one acknowledged their sexual orientation in those times, with
the exception of Bayard Rustin and prominent American novelist James Baldwin,
who became an exile writer in Paris.
Perhaps because of the close association with slavery, sex was never
mentioned in black churches, which were seen as sacred places and houses of
God. This issue has caused a fundamental
split within black churches, where activist Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Executive
Director and CEO of the National
Black Justice Coalition |, the nation’s leading black LGBT civil rights
organization, is heard proclaiming, “This is the unfinished business of black
people being free.” It’s interesting to
then see Ms. Lettman-Hicks take us into her home where she’s throwing a party
celebrating her husband’s 25th year in the American military, where family and
friends gather around discussing gay marriage, where not everyone’s on board,
some need special prodding, and a few are simply not yet ready to acknowledge
that one is born gay, as they’ve been taught that God didn’t create gays and
lesbians, maintaining their belief that this is a conscious choice one makes,
like a lifestyle choice, as if anyone would rationally choose to be hated and
discriminated against.
This focus on the family is an interesting idea, adding a
poignant intimacy, as if you remove such a divisive subject matter and simply listen
to the various points of view, what distinguishes this film is the elevated
level of discussion about being black in America, where this is a fascinating
dialogue on race, spoken with eloquence and personal conviction. The director offers a bit of a soulful
swagger in the way the material is presented, where some of the musical choices
offer their own commentary, where especially effective was jamie cullum - ain't
necessarily so - YouTube (4:29), yet we’re listening to aunts and
grandmothers and foster mothers right alongside the views of more celebrated
black leaders and preachers, where the political becomes personal. Karess Taylor-Hughes was a student at the
University of Maryland and one of the organizers in the campaign, seen going
door to door, also keeping the troops in line on election day, but she also
brings us into the home of her foster mother and reveals the emotional turmoil
involved by announcing she’s a lesbian, where her foster mother is struggling
to understand, but clearly she doesn’t, where this exact same moment is
multiplied by the multitude of gays and lesbians that are faced with the same
family rejection. Many of the black
churches led the registration campaign to place same-sex marriage on the
ballot, believing that is the quickest and best way to defeat it, where this
issue is raised by gay advocates in a strategy session leading up to the vote,
as those are all potential voters, but the consensus seemed to be to take the
high road and not attack those religious conservatives that hold fast to their
Biblical beliefs, as they’re simply too well integrated into the fabric of
black America. Instead the appeal was
generated by holding a broad-based public discussion, led by President Obama’s
own evolving view on the matter, finally coming around as a supporter of
same-sex marriage, so his image was plastered on all the political
leaflets. Unlike California, blacks
comprise 30% of the voters in Maryland, and despite a coalition of black
churches that were adamantly against same-sex marriage, there was also a
coalition of black preachers that endorsed the idea, believing God loves
everyone, and that the church is “a place of inclusion, not exclusion.” In the black community, this appears to be an
evolving issue, where not only President Obama, but legendary Civil Rights hero
Reverand Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham, one of the
founding members of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference in 1957, condemned gay marriage when it came before voters in
Ohio in 2004 when the state approved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex
marriage by a whopping 62%. But in
Maryland in 2012, the referendum to support same-sex marriage ultimately
prevailed by a 52% to 48% margin, becoming another chapter in the long and epic
struggle to achieve equality.
