Last Monday night, I attended a screening by DGBM of the documentary, "You Are Not Alone" by NAACP Award-winning director, Stanley Bennett Clay.
After hearing of DGBM(Depressed Black Gay Men), I was apprehensive about seeing this film because as proven from watching the documentary, the issues that cause depression among gay Black males are no different than in any other ethnicity. However, as I brought up to the director privately after the screening, gay media as we know it always puts a White face on all of the issues in coming out. Mr. Clay's response to me was, "Well, they're telling their stories, so we must tell ours."
And that's what has always bothered me about American gay media - the separatism of such universal issues. In regards to coming out as a gay American, because of the variety in ethnicities in this country, there should be no Black people's story, White people's story, Latino, Asian, Middle Easterner's story, etc. There is no color to the depression that some of us face. For it is all a COLOR-BLIND HUMAN story. Nor is it based on religion, since there are even atheist households that hate homosexuals. So depression takes its toll on them as well.
The reason why documentaries like "You Are Not Alone" have become necessary is because gay media makes Black families the bad guys in halting the progression of gay rights. How many stories on gay media websites during the campaign for gay marriage did we not see fingers repeatedly pointed at Black churches? Trying to make us quickly forget the Mitt Romneys and Michele Bachmanns and her husband with his "conversion therapy". That is until Election Day was nearing.
So I say requests to see this film should definitely be made. Not only so families of Black gay males can watch and learn from it, but non-Black gays of all ages as well. So they can realize that despite what the racism in gay media has told you, our situations, our struggles with our families, and ourselves are COLOR BLIND and NO DIFFERENT.
Beautiful!
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