At first, those old enough may recall, straight men refused even to speak to us, lest others perceive them as less than fully virile, if not gay themselves. Not long ago, the biggest barrier for social acceptance for gays was heterosexual men. Gay white men, in fact, pioneered a prototype for this. White gay men - once intensely vilified but now able to harness our white male privilege for good, having learned what being on the outside is like - are a conduit through which black women can work against both countervailing forces that push them down. No alliance is perfect, but this one has the potential, if nurtured properly, to reconfigure the stories of race and gender.
Yet here’s what else Mannie overlooks in her full-frontal assault: White gay men as a group could be the truest friends black women can have in American society. Her fire is fueled by some undeniably racist interactions, a supposed epidemic of white gay men who actually wish to be called by stereotypically black names and anoint themselves “strong black women.” It’s difficult to dispute that such behavior is weird and offensive, but it’s illogical to suggest all gay white men are “thieves” on that anecdotal basis alone. Others have already burned the piece down to its homo-ignorant nub, noting that Mannie writes cluelessly and obscenely about the nature and challenges of being gay. She zinged, “You are not a black woman, and you do not get to claim either blackness or womanhood. Last week, that alliance came under attack by misguided University of Mississippi senior Sierra Mannie, who believed she was defending black women from cultural theft by launching an assault on white gays who, to her mind, behave too black.