Rev. Irene Monroe: when we see in the documentary Cher — gay icon nonpareil — not celebratory about Chaz’s transition as her close friends and girlfriend Jenny are, it’s unnerving.
America’s Gay Confederate and Union Soldiers
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Rev. Irene Monroe: Queer Civil War buffs have been arguing for some time that the deafening silence around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Confederate and Union soldiers indicates proof of their very presence.
Using Blacks For Saving America from Gay Marriage
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Irene Monroe: As African Americans, we continue to experience the harm that religion-based bigotry causes, especially concerning the civil rights issue of same-sex marriage.
The Gandhi None of Us Knew
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Rev. Irene Monroe: The deification of Gandhi intentionally eclipsed Gandhi the real man. andhi’s real life was overlooked and supplanted with a series religious myth.
Like Black Church, St. Patrick’s Day Parades Are Anti-Gay
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Rev. Irene Monroe: St. Patrick’s Day has rolled around again, and like previous March 17th celebrations nationwide, its LGBTQ communities are not invited. As a contentious and protracted argument for now over two decades, parade officials have a difficult time grasping the notion that being Irish and gay is also part of their heritage.
Rev. Peter Gomes: Accidental Gay Advocate
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Rev. Irene Monroe: In 1991 Gomes came out of the closet as a pre-emptive strike against a rabidly conservative Christian student group on campus whose magazine hurled homophobic diatribes against us LGBTQ students.
Vodou’s Acceptance of Gays
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Rev. Irene Monroe: Misconstrued by racist images, of zombies rising from graves, jungle drums, orgiastic ceremonies ritualizing malevolent powers of black magic, and engaging in cannibalism, by today’s popular culture images courtesy of Hollywood’s and New Orleans’ tourism industries, Vodou is a persecuted religion.
Womanist and Saying Who We Are
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Rev. Irene Monroe: The secular use of “womanist” is by African-American women who have either left the Black Church because of its gender bias and homophobia, or who do not come from the Black Church religious experience. These women use the term to identify a culturally specific form of women-centered politics and theory.
Preserving Artistic Integrity, or Ethnic Property Rights?
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Rev. Irene Monroe: I am troubled, however, in this recent kerfuffle concerning the n-word how many of us African Americans, in particular, go back and forth on its politically correct use.
Say What? Lesbian Priests Marrying Each Other!
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Rev Irene Monroe: For me, the joy in this moment of knowing about the holy matrimony of Lloyd and Ragsdale is that the Episcopal Church crawls toward inclusiveness, albeit haltingly, and in spite of opposition.
Should Kwanzaa Stay in Black Neighborhoods?
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Rev. Irene Monroe: This Kwanzaa holiday, I’ll head out to the neighborhood store to purchase my red, black and green candles for the kinara, because I know that the strength of the U.S. economy is found in its multicultural small community owned businesses that reflect our nation’s diversity. And in so doing, I would also be honoring the fourth principle of Kwanzaa which is cooperative economics.
Remember Our Homeless Gay Youth This Holiday
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Rev. Irene Monroe: many of our LGBTQ youth, myself included as once a homeless youth, do not really have a home to go to where they can sit at the family table and be fully out — or if out, fully accepted.
Black America Still Sees AIDS as a Gay Disease
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Irene Monroe: If black America were its own country, standing on its own like Haiti or Nigeria, black Americans would rate 16th with the epidemic in the world. And the epidemic is heavily concentrated in urban enclaves like Detroit, New York, Newark, Washington, D.C and the Deep South.
Remembering Trans Heroine Rita Hester
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Irene Monroe: This weekend is the 12th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance and many of us across the nation will be memorializing transgender Americans murdered because of their gender identities or gender expressions.
Not Only “For Colored Girls”
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Irene Monroe: For Colored Girls is not only for colored girls because it offers a pathway to self-growth, finding our authentic power, and discovering the divine in one’s self.
Re-introducing Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Women of African Descent
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Rev. Irene Monroe: After nearly two decades of LBT women of African descent’s invisibility on a national level Zuna is causing a revolution by taking the bold step in this era of single-issue queer politics to remind us all we, too, matter.
When Will the Homophobic Bullying Cease?
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Rev. Irene Monroe: Anti-gay bullying is not to be endured or tolerated. And it must be stopped by us all — and at all levels, from our legislators to our educators.
The Messology of Bishop Eddie Long
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Irene Monroe: When preachers pontificate too much from on high about the sins of homosexual sex, the cautionary tale is to be careful of what you say, because your words invariably will come back to bite you, as we are seeing with Bishop Eddie Long.
Will Tea Party Climate Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?
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Irene Monroe: With the momentum of Tea Party candidates, who are anti-Obama, anti-abortion, and anti-gay civil rights, unseating long-term Republican incumbents in this recent primary aggressively trying to retake Congress and with midterm elections now just weeks away the chances of repealing DADT is looking slimmer.
Why Johnny Can’t Think Critically
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Rev. Irene Monroe: A mind is a terribly thing to waste. But for conservatives and Tea Party activists who want to indoctrinate our kids rather than to educate them, a mind is a terrible thing to have. Now with far-right activists like Glen Beck pushing for more Jesus and less Darwin — working to reshape the academic landscape in schools, colleges and universities across the country — we will soon know without having to wonder “Why Johnny Can’t Think Critically.”
Does It Matter that Hip-Hop’s Queen Latifah Is “Outed”?
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Rev. Irene Monroe: As one of the most prominent and influential female hip-hoppers of her generation, however, Queen Latifah hides her sexuality as a way to not only survive her own internalized homophobia, but also the musical genre’s.
Blacks and The N-Word
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Rev. Irene Monroe: But, our culture’s present-day cavalier use of the n-word speaks less about our rights to free speech and more about how we as Americans — both White and Black — have become anesthetized to the damaging and destructive use of this epithet.
Essence Magazine’s True Color
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Rev. Irene Monroe: There has been a color change at Essence. After forty years of having sisters from the African Diaspora as its fashion directors, the new one — Ellianna Placas — is white. And the news is sending seismic shock waves to many of its subscribers here in the U.S. and across the globe.
Healing the Black-White Divide on Homophobia
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Rev. Irene Monroe: McClurkin is a classic example why homophobia is an ongoing problem in the African American community, and it must be challenged at every opportunity.
Ex-Gay Minister Drives Gays From Boston’s Gospelfest
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Rev. Irene Monroe: With Pastor Donnie McClurkin, the poster boy for African American ex-gay ministries, who spews anti-gay religion-based vitriol, billed as the main event, many in the African American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities will not be in attendance at this year’s event. And neither will the mayor.
Did You Barbecue Pig or Pug This Fourth?
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Rev. Irene Monroe: The reason we eat cows, pigs, lamb, chickens, fish, and not dogs, cats, hamsters, and parakeets, according to Joy, is because our selective belief systems are supported by emotional and cultural responses that tell us some animals are edible while others are not.
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