Black church has gay blood on its hands
By Anthony Galloway
Guest Columnist
Looking at the bigger picture of the issues raised in Minister Allen Wicks’ book Homosexuals and the Music Ministry, the debate is really about the hate perpetuated by some of our ministers within the community.
The article in the American about Wicks’ book was quite disturbing, but not surprising. It comes as no surprise to me because of the divide between black gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders (GLBT) and our stance with the black church. Many of us still attend these churches due to our longstanding ties with them; the church is our root. Unfortunately, the black church does not see its role in an ailing black community because of its hate toward people who identify as GLBT.
In the HIV/AIDS crisis, the black church has ignored and continues to ignore the disease because of its stigma, since this institution sees it as a gay disease and the righteous punishment of gay men. Due to its distancing itself early on in the epidemic, the black church has not taken into account the countless women who are becoming infected. So, now we are looking at an entire community that is at risk. The church played a huge role in this misfortune. Above all, this is really what’s “repulsive” and a “lost soul” mentality.
Too many ministers and bishops stood from their pulpits and murdered hundreds of thousands of people with their silence and judgment. The church judged and whispered about the man who had contracted HIV instead of embracing him. As a result, blacks make up less than 15 percent of the population but account for over half of new HIV cases every year.
Guess what? Our judgmental and hateful messages are not working. They’re only pushing people into closets and casting people into shame and having a permanent affect on our community.
Many of us depend on ministers, like Allen Wicks and Dr. Levi King, to preach love and tolerance above all else. Shame on you for preaching hate from the pulpits, shame on you for not being tolerant, and shame on you for betraying people who were with us from the very beginning.
It saddens me that these ministers are siding with evangelical white Christians, who not more than 50 years ago used the Bible to argue that blacks should not have the same equal rights as whites. GLBT rights is a civil rights issue.
God made us all different, and He did not make any mistakes. We as a community will continue to suffer until we love everyone and stop depending on the church as our soul source of information. Just like we have politicians with agendas, we have ministers with agendas as well. It becomes a sad day when we start casting stones in glass houses, especially those who squeak the loudest from the pulpits. Is Matthew 7:1 or Luke 6:37 now irrelevant? Judge not and ye will not be judged.
Anthony Galloway is president of Black Pride STL.