Sitting Down and Talking About It

A rare thing happend recently at Harvard University. A diverse group sat down and had a spirited but rational discussion on homophobia within the black community:

From Bay Windows newspaper:

It’s hard to imagine two topics more polarizing in America than race and sexuality, and when three Harvard University student groups convened a Feb. 20 forum on homophobia within the black community it was conceivable that the discussion could have erupted into a catastrophic argument. What happened was just the opposite. For two hours Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, former mayor and current City Councilor Kenneth Reeves, and a diverse group of about 70 Harvard students and community members gathered in the common room of the Lowell House dormitory and engaged in a freewheeling discussion about homosexuality and the black community, a discussion frequently punctuated by laughter. The forum, co-sponsored by the Harvard College LGBT Political Coalition, the Harvard Black Men’s Forum, and the Association of Black Harvard Women, revealed a broad range of perspectives on how black LGBT people have been received within their families, the church, Harvard, Cambridge, and the broader community.

There were a wide range of experiences and incidents shared with the group, most of whom came away with a better understanding of the other side on issues impacting the black GLBT community.

Talking, listening, learning.....perhaps it's not a lost art after all.

Click here to read the entire article from Bay Windows.