Pundits predicted a maelstrom of negative reactions from the black community to President Obama’s recent change of heart on the issue of the right of gay couples to marry. Instead, there has been barely a strong breeze against him.
Mainstream media has dispatched reporters across the country, polling every preacher with a pulpit and barber with a pole, to find some major undercurrent of opposition and have instead found a calm current of general acceptance.
Perhaps, if they understood that black folks have long had to deal with the subtleties of ideals versus realities, then it would be less of a seeming contradiction to those outside of the community.
Sexual preference and piety have been tacitly dealt with for some time in the church without ostracism, but with acceptance of the individual regardless of codified policy. The gay choir director is a stereotype that in many instances had some basis in fact, but it was never a stereotype portrayed with hatred or vitriol, simply a humorous observation of the complexity of even what is supposed to be black and white. Black folks have accepted for quite some time that on most issues, there are lots of shades of gray.
