Blacks, Gays And The Church: A Complex Relatnship : NPR

Contents:

• SOUTHERN GOSPEL SGER KENNY BISHOP IS NOW A GAY UNED CHURCH OF CHRIST PASTOR
• WHO'S GAY GOSPEL MIC?
• ARE THERE GAY PEOPLE SOUTHERN GOSPEL MIC?
• PROMENT CHRISTIAN SGER COM OUT OF THE CLOSET AS GAY! WHO IS IT?
• BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP
• GAYS, GOD AND GOSPEL MIC
• CHRISTIAN SGER RAY BOLTZ COM OUT, LIV A NORMAL GAY LIFE

SOUTHERN GOSPEL SGER KENNY BISHOP IS NOW A GAY UNED CHURCH OF CHRIST PASTOR

Whe southern gospel mic seems like a strange source of pleasure for a "gay, secular humanist amic, " as Douglas Harrison intifi himself (17). Guid by theologil fundamentalism and social nservatism, southern gospel's performers and fans tend to take a dim view of homosexualy.

In 2003, gospel sger Kirk Talley was "outed" when the FBI arrted a man who attempted to blackmail Talley wh suggtive photographs he shared on a gay web se. First, how n a homosexual nonbeliever like Harrison, who as a youth was a "Southern Baptist sissy, " who dreamed of beg a southern gospel star until he me out and suffered the nsequenc for dog so by a reprsive relig culture, still fd ecstatic "glory-rollg joy" southern gospel mic?

WHO'S GAY GOSPEL MIC?

Dpe his clear disda for the homophobia, fundamentalism, and, at tim, racism lurkg beneath the surface of whe southern gospel, he do not bee polemil or "substute one set of moral dogmas for another. The Gay-Gospel Paradox.

If racism and distct unrstandgs of gospel mic's meang and purpose have rerced s separatn as genr, whe and black gospel n, neverthels, fd mon ground wh their shared tradns of homophobia. Then Sgs My Soul was released jt one month before Anthony Heilbut's The Fan Who Knew Too Much, portns of which open a door to what he lls the "secret closet" of gays black gospel mic. The tend dienc of each book may not overlap but they both expose the hypocrisy of the gay-gospel paradox nservative Christian culture and, hopefully, will force broar bate.

ARE THERE GAY PEOPLE SOUTHERN GOSPEL MIC?

His immersn the gospel world exposed him to the genre's "fay secret": gay people formed the heart and soul of black gospel mic while the fundamentalism of church and clergy kept them the closet.

"Arch-homophob" the gospel muny, Heilbut wr, equently sg "the mic of gay people, acknowledgg wh every breath and step that if you banished the sissi and the bull daggers [gospel sger Shirley Caar's homophobic aspersns], the tabernacle might cmble. " Harrison's gay-gospel paradox transcends race and uld be applied to any homophobic area of Amerin life, but the hypocrisy seems all the more glarg, as Heilbut emphasiz, a mil and relig culture that played such a pivotal role the civil rights movement. Freedman, "Usg Gospel Mic's Secrets to Conont Black Homophobia, " The New York Tim, June 1, 2012, accsed Augt 4, 2012, ; Louis Bayard, "Review of Anthony Heilbut's 'The Fan Who Knew Too Much, '" The Washgton Post, Augt 3, 2012, accsed Augt 5, 2012,.

PROMENT CHRISTIAN SGER COM OUT OF THE CLOSET AS GAY! WHO IS IT?

For more on the difficulti faced by black gospel sgers who e out as gay see, Kelefah Sanneh, "Revelatns: A Gospel Sger Com Out, " The New Yorker, Febary 8, 2010, 48–57,.

Ironilly, Harrison tak Heilbut to task Then Sgs My Soul for his ial discsn of homosexualy gospel culture The Gospel Sound. In this olr work, Heilbut argued that black gospel appealed to gay people bee of the mic's "theatril" quali. Goodman has been imated by other sgers, cludg mal, while also beg a character habed by drag queens gay bars throughout the South.

For an dience a gay bar, wr Harrison, gospel drag "transmutat the gospel classic to a ll for actn on the part of the dience" (144).

BLACKS, GAYS AND THE CHURCH: A COMPLEX RELATNSHIP

"If orthodox evangelil popular culture has a vted tert portrayg the gay-gospel nnectn as a sful paradox, " Harrison persuasively argu, " is no small part an attempt to efface the fact that sner and sat alike e to the mic as nonnformists—real or imaged, gay or straight, and everythg between—drawn to southern gospel's dramatic renrg of spirual margaly and social misftedns" (148).

It is a ncln that would ronate wh equal power Heilbut's discsn of homosexualy and hypocrisy black gospel culture. There is a crilly important distctn between the outsir inty of the nservative evangelil and the gay gospel fan. "The Gospel Church and the Rug of Gay Liv: An Interview wh Anthony Heilbut.

Ltle did I know that Kenny had strayed far om his Fundamentalist Christian roots and was now a married gay man and a bivotnal pastor at Bluegrass Uned Church of Christ  Lexgton, Kentucky! Talk about fdg the unexpected — a liberal, gay Kenny Bishop. The Gospel church and homosexualy has reportedly had a long ter-twg relatnship.

GAYS, GOD AND GOSPEL MIC

Boy Band Members Who Are Out As Gay, Bisexual or Queer.

The band’s first album, also lled “Lavenr Country, ” was one of the first untry albums wh outwardly gay them, acrdg to Billboard.

CHRISTIAN SGER RAY BOLTZ COM OUT, LIV A NORMAL GAY LIFE

The album, origally released 1973, clus songs wh lyrics about queer sire and homophobia. However, to disver pro-homosexual activi among the so lled psalmists, should shock Southern Gospel’s fahful. This article will only touch a ltle rner of this wispread problem, specifilly the most visual, yet ignored, homosexual and pro-homosexual artists.

Back 2006 Kirk “Is he Gay or not” Talley shared the Open Door stage wh Joyce Mart of the Marts. However, jt like Kirk, Kenny’s road to revery led right through a gay spot near old Ltle Rock. For those who don’t know eher, they are both pro-homosexual “misters”.