BURT-MURRAY: Absolutely. It's time for the African-American community to get real. And that homophobia does exist in our community. We've embraced it and the silence is killing us. African- American women, the leading cause of death is HIV. So women, 18 to 34 are being killed because we refuse to talk about this issue and accept gay and lesbian people in our community.
LEMON: Do you think it's a stigma men say, black men say, I can't come out because my black sisters won't accept me? I won't be --
BURT-MURRAY: Right. My church won't accept me.
LEMON: My church won't accept me.
BURT-MURRAY: Yes, my community won't accept me. And those are very real fears. But the community has to understand that we have to move beyond this because it is killing us.
LEMON: OK. We talk now about out in the open, about the down low, the black community's dirty little secret.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: I was researching something for a story I was doing as part of our Gay in America series, and there was one young man at work who said -- I said, well, do you know anyone who is on the down low who I can interview about what have you? And he said, no one, I couldn't tell you. He said, I am. And I said, why can't you -- why won't you just come out? He said, because my sisters won't love me. They won't accept me. My family won't love me. My family won't accept me. And I say, so you walk around working, pretend that you're straight? And he said, yeah, I have to do that in order to survive. What is that drama?
TYREE "DJ DRAMA" SIMMONS, APHILLIATES: It's a shame.
(LAUGHTER)
You know, it's tough. I mean, you know, my, being a person shouldn't be judged by, you know, who they fall in love with, you know, who they feel is special to them, you know what I mean?
FARRAH GRAY, AUTHOR/ENTREPRENEUR: I think homosexuality in the black community has been something that, like we said, we really don't talk about, that on the down low thing didn't really come about. I didn't know that there were that many brothers on the down low until the book came out myself. And I started educating myself on the topic because many of us live in the 51st state of the United States, and that's the state of denial.
LEMON: You see the president speaking to the largest gay rights organization in the country, really in the world, the HRC, saying that he is going to get rid of, abolish Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He's going to abolish the domestic partnership thing, defense of marriage act, I should say. He is going to -- he supports civil unions, didn't go far as to say he supported same-sex marriage.
As someone who is a church leader and also a community dealing with people who are on the down low, what does this do to you? As he said, this is a challenge. Do you agree with him?
BISHOP EDDIE L. LONG, SR. PASTOR, NEW BIRTH MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH: We've had members of our congregation with a gay lifestyle, et cetera. And that's nothing that we can deny. A lot of times we never address it, we act like it wasn't there, et cetera. And when you get in the body of Christ and people of faith, I'm finding that different sides, the way you interpret scripture. I think the bottom line of the whole thing is, number one, respect, number two, love.
But if my conviction would be personally, if my conviction was, well, I don't believe in the gay lifestyle, and I believe it's not God's way. I should be respectful.
TYRONE MCGOWAN, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE SENIOR: Don, I believe that if there's any place that our brothers and sisters who choose a different lifestyle should be accepted, it should be the church. They should be able to find love, embracing affirmation in the church from the pulpit.
PERRY: We could argue all night whether it's chosen or not. That's inconsequential. What we can in fact deal with is what is. If one person believes it's a choice, if another person believes it's part of who they are, in the end we're talking about a person who has identified him or herself as a homosexual. And as such, we need to treat that person with a certain level of respect.
CNN also spoke with Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)'s President Jarrett Barrios, on the topic of the Obama admin and the LGBT community.
I'm not surprised that Faux News doesn't give us the time of day regarding our issues (unless it's in a negative light), but is MSNBC giving as much time/less time? Just asking, since I haven't seen much reporting during news segments.
A series that gives a fair picture of our lives -- including the diversity of the community -- it will be a timely and necessary subject to address as equality legislation is being pondered and enacted at the federal, state and local levels in the United States. It is a change that is occurring in an environment filled with disinformation, scare tactics and outright bigotry that needs the disinfection of sunlight.
