...there is no point in fetishizing black homophobia, for there is nothing essentially antigay about black Americans either. Whatever African-Americans think about gay rights, the fact is they don't think about it very much. Of the thousands of black people interviewed by David Bositis, an analyst at the JCPES, not one has volunteered it as a priority. Other surveys show blacks are more likely than whites to support antidiscrimination laws that protect gays and lesbians. Indeed, according to the Human Rights Campaign score card, black legislators have done a better job of defending gay rights than white Democrats. In other words, when black people have the power to protect gay rights in law, they are more likely to use it than other racial groups.

Despite these facts many white liberals are peculiarly invested in the notion that African-Americans are backward on all social issues except race. What this assumption is based on other than an innate sense of superiority is not clear. What is obvious is that it will have to be confronted before any progressive coalition capable of mounting an effective challenge to the right can be built.