January 24, 2005
Members Achieve Long-Sought Recognition
The National Association of Black Journalists approved the creation of a Lesbian and Gay Task Force over the weekend, a milestone in efforts by black gay journalists to gain acceptance within the organization. NABJ becomes the first journalist of color organization to recognize an internal gay group.
The board voted 13-5 to authorize the task force, NABJ secretary Sarah J. Glover said.
“This task force, which grew organically from its gay and lesbian members, will work to strengthen black journalists — including the scores of gay journalists who felt NABJ did little to pay attention to their individual/collective needs,” co-chair Frankie Edozien, a reporter at the New York Post, told Journal-isms. “Many for YEARS have been afraid to congregate openly within NABJ. . . . It is a further affirmation that NABJ is a big tent umbrella organization for ALL black journalists, including its hitherto silent gay members.”
NABJ veterans might recall the organization’s convention in Houston in 1993, when, as Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Betty Baye later wrote:
“Former NABJ President and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Vernon Jarrett was speaking for many black people when he said he deeply resents gay activists, whether they’re black or white, appropriating the language of the civil rights movement to make the case that homosexuals are as oppressed as black people are. He was heckled and booed, but Vernon didn’t hold his tongue. Many others did.
“Indeed, it was more than ironic that black journalists, many of whom are outspoken on practically everything on NABJ’s agenda, feared expressing an honest opinion lest we be perceived ignorant or, worse than that, homophobic. In the same way, white people often approach matters of race, fearing the brand of racist,” Baye continued.
While NABJ had its first gay president in 1989 with the election of Thomas Morgan, it has opposed admitting the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association as a full partner in Unity: Journalists of Color, saying members of the predominantly white group face a different set of problems. Still, some called the stance homophobic.
The new task force, which has 46 members and is co-chaired by Marcus Mabry, chief of correspondents at Newsweek, made a 15-minute presentation and took questions for an hour and a half as the NABJ board met in Queens, N.Y., Edozien related.
“There was thoughtful discussion by every board member in the room,” Glover said.
The five voting against West Coast representative Jerry McCormick’s motion to create the task force were Melanie Burney, Neal Scarbrough, Stephanie R. Jones, Vickie Newton and V. W. Vaughan. Most were traveling today and could not be reached for comment, but Burney, NABJ’s parliamentarian, said tonight she voted against approving the task force because the request had not followed established procedures.
Edozien called the action historic.
“In the last year, one of the biggest stories in the nation has revolved around marriages for gays and lesbians. Another has been black sexual identity in America — the diversity of the Black LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered] community and the increase in HIV/AIDS in our community. NABJ should lead or play a vital role in how these issues are covered,” he said.
“Now the organization has a formal organized structure to deal with these issues.”
Among the other Unity partners, members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists might well have attempted to start a caucus, spokesman Joseph Torres said, but the Native American Journalists Association has not, said executive director Ron Walters. The Asian American Journalists Association has some interaction with lesbian and gay journalists, said executive director Rene Astudillo.
“We don’t have caucuses per se in our organization,” he told Journal-isms. “However, at our annual conventions, we usually have meetings or networking events/receptions held by some of our partner organizations like SAJA, KAJA and NLGJA,” references to the South Asian Journalists Association, the Korean American Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. “Some AAJA members, including myself, are also NLGJA members,” said Astudillo.
Via the Maynard Institute’s blog.