NEWS ANALYSIS: In the Black Church, an Uneasy Silence On Gay Issues

c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Asked about how he, as an African-American clergyman, feels about the debate over same-sex marriage, the Rev. James Forbes of New York’s Riverside Church talks about “leading a movement towards full inclusiveness.” The Church of God in Christ, one of the few African-American denominations to publicly address the issue, […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Asked about how he, as an African-American clergyman, feels about the debate over same-sex marriage, the Rev. James Forbes of New York’s Riverside Church talks about “leading a movement towards full inclusiveness.”

The Church of God in Christ, one of the few African-American denominations to publicly address the issue, is headed in the opposite direction. It declared in mid-April that unions of same-sex couples “are sinful and in direct violation of the law of God in that they are a deviation from the natural use and purpose of the body.”


But as the May 17 date when Massachusetts’ highest court will permit same-sex marriage approaches, most black denominations have not come out of the closet with their views on the controversy.

“I’m struck by the fact that I haven’t seen more official statements or positions on the issue, guiding their own church members about how to think about this issue,” said the Rev. Robert Franklin, a black church expert and professor of social ethics at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.

“We shouldn’t be silent on this issue.”

Those who have been vocal acknowledge that some of their brethren may not have determined what they should say.

“I think that the jury’s still out on the issue in the African-American church,” said the Rev. Woodrow Walker II, an Atlanta-area pastor who held a March rally at his church of black clergy opposed to same-sex marriage.

“I think many are still trying to weigh it as to whether they should stand for or against this.”

Walker and more than two dozen other black ministers signed a statement declaring “we utterly reject the notion that same-sex marriage is a civil right.”

Now, after helping convince Georgia legislators to approve a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage for the November ballot, he’ll be working to encourage voters to approve the measure.


While Sylvia Rhue, director of Equal Partners in Faith, a liberal leaning network of religious leaders, has declared that the Georgia legislators “voted to write discrimination into their state constitution,” her own congregation has mixed opinions.

Rhue, an African-American lesbian, said of First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles: “It’s like any other church, (with) people who are progressive on the issue and people who need more education.”

Polls reveal differences across racial and religious lines concerning gay marriage. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported last July that while opposition to gay marriage dropped in the overall population from 65 percent in 1996 to 53 percent in 2003, black opposition stayed virtually the same at 65 percent in the earlier year and 64 percent seven years later.

More recently, a poll released by Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly found that while 65 percent of African-Americans opposed permitting gays and lesbians to legally marry, 77 percent of African-American evangelicals voiced such opposition.

The National Black Justice Coalition is working to encourage African-Americans to voice support for “marriage equality” but its leaders acknowledge it is not a top priority for many blacks.

Keith Boykin, executive director of the coalition, said most of the group’s efforts relating to religious leaders have been with individuals rather than denominations.


“I think you have to do that to build the denominational support,” he said. “You have to start with finding out where individuals are within their specific faiths.”

Historically, this hasn’t been a major topic of discussion in black churches, said Drew Smith, director of the Public Influences of African-American Churches Project at Morehouse College.

“I think African-American churches have been aware of the prevalence of members that may have different sexual orientations than those that the church traditionally supports, but I think the general policy has been almost like the U.S. military, which is `don’t ask, don’t tell,”’ Smith said.

The range in views on same-sex marriage among black Christians is rooted in a number of causes, said the Rev. Garland Pierce, an associate director of the National Council of Churches who staffs its Committee on Black Congregational Ministries.

Sometimes black clergy are more progressive than their congregants, so staying quiet about their support of gay marriage may be a form of job protection. On the other hand, the comparison of gay rights to civil rights has irked some leaders and prompted them to step forward with objections.

Those kinds of differences prompt an ecumenical group like the council _ with seven historically black denominations among its 36 member communions _ to remain silent as well.


“The theological and kind of political perspectives of those churches vary quite dramatically to the point that no consensus has been reached,” said Pierce.

The debate, in general, is a complicated one with possible areas of disagreement and agreement on how to define _ and make _ gay partnerships.

“It may turn out that the divisions between the civil aspect and the sacred aspect need to be talked about,” said Forbes, whose New York congregation is interracial and interdenominational.

Boykin, who has participated in discussions on black radio stations, said those tensions have surfaced on the airwaves as well.

“They don’t think gays and lesbians should be discriminated against (but) don’t like the idea of churches being forced to marry them,” he said.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

The Rev. Gerald Green, assistant pastor of Unity Fellowship of Christ Church in Los Angeles, hopes the dialogue can move beyond questions of morality.


“The fight becomes justice and equality, not so much me trying to prove to you that I’m right and you’re wrong,” said Green, an African-American bisexual whose church was founded by African-American gays and lesbians. “When we get caught up in that … then the process of justice doesn’t move.”

But despite the various divides, political and religious experts on religion say it is highly unlikely that the mostly silent views on same-sex marriage will figure loudly in the voting booth.

“Blacks … tend not to be single-issue voters,” said Pierce, of the National Council of Churches. “I don’t think that it will have a great effect on how they vote or who they vote for.”

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