Sex Roles
DOI 10.1007/s11199-012-0152-4
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
“Once You’ve Blended the Cake, You Can’t Take the Parts
Back to the Main Ingredients”: Black Gay and Bisexual
Men’s Descriptions and Experiences of Intersectionality
Lisa Bowleg
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract Although Black gay and bisexual men have written eloquently about the intersections of race, gender, and
sexual identity in anthologies such as Brother to Brother and
In the Life, empirical studies of intersectionality with men,
and Black gay and bisexual men in particular are rare. This
qualitative study examined descriptions and experiences of
intersectionality in individual interviews with 12 U.S. Black
self-identified gay (n 09) and bisexual (n 03) men in
Washington, DC. Participants ranged in age from 21 and
44 (M036.33) and were predominantly highly educated and
middle income. Research questions were: (1) How do participants describe and experience intersections of race, gender, and sexual identity?; (2) How do social processes shape
their social identities?; (3) What are their challenges due to
intersections of race, gender, and sexual identity?; and (4)
What are the perceived benefits of these intersections?
Analyses highlighted four key themes: (1) explicit and implicit descriptions of intersectionality; (2) the primacy of
identities as Black and/or Black men first; (3) challenges
such as negative stereotypes, racial microaggressions in
mainstream and White LGB communities, heterosexism in
Black communities, and gender role pressures to act “masculine”; and (4) perceived benefits such as psychological
growth, liberation from traditional gender role or heteronormative expectations, and the freedom that being outsiders or
“never being comfortable” confers in terms of exploring
new opportunities and experiences. These findings imply
that intersectionality can be expanded to incorporate the
L. Bowleg (*)
Department of Community Health and Prevention,
School of Public Health, Drexel University,
1505 Race Street, Mailstop 1032, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
strengths/assets of intersectional identities in addition to
oppression based on interlocking social identities.
Keywords Intersectionality . Black gay and bisexual men .
Resilience . Racism . Social identity
Introduction
“We must be willing to embrace and explore the duality of
community that we exist in as Black and (italics in original)
gay men,” wrote Black gay cultural activist and poet Essex
Hemphill in the introduction to the anthology Brother to
Brother: Collected Writings by Black Gay Men (Hemphill
1991, p. xxvii). Without explicitly using the term intersectionality, Black gay and bisexual men have long written
eloquently and profoundly about the intersections of their
gender, race, and sexual identity in anthologies such as In
the Life: A Black Gay Anthology (Beam 1986), Brother-toBrother, and other books (e.g., Carbado 1999; Harris 2005;
Johnson and Henderson 2005).
Intersectionality, again not by name, has also been a
theme in a handful of theoretical (e.g., Icard 1986, 1996;
Martinez and Sullivan 1998) and empirical (e.g., Crawford
et al. 2002) articles focused specifically on U.S. Black gay
and bisexual men and other scholarship focused on U.S.
Black lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGBs) (e.g., Battle et al.
2002; Battle and Crum 2007; Greene 1995). This scholarship highlights the challenges to well-being and mental
health that Black gay and bisexual men experience from
racism including from White LGB communities (e.g., Battle
et al. 2002; Malebranche et al. 2004); negative stereotypes
about Black men and Black gay and bisexual men (e.g., P. A.
Wilson et al. 2009); heterosexism within Black communities
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(e.g., B. D. Wilson and Miller 2002); and the challenges of
integrating multiple social identities (e.g., Crawford et al.
2002; Icard 1986; P. A. Wilson 2008). But these have not
been intersectionality studies per se. This is because several of
these studies precede intersectionality scholarship or did not
integrate intersectionality’s rich and multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological literature. Moreover, U.S. Black gay
and bisexual men have not been the predominant focus of this
scholarship. Thus, considerable gaps in knowledge exist about
how Black gay and bisexual men (and Black lesbian and
bisexual women) in countries other than the U.S. describe
and experience intersectionality.
Black feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989)
coined the term intersectionality to describe the exclusion of
Black women from White feminist discourse (which equated
women with White) and anti-racist discourse (which equated
Black with men). Intersectionality is a theoretical framework
that examines how multiple social identities such as race,
gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic status (SES), and disability (to name a few) intersect at the level of individual
experience (i.e., the micro level) to reveal multiple interlocking social inequality (i.e., racism, sexism, heterosexism,
classism) at the macro social-structural level (Collins 1991;
Crenshaw 1989; Davis 2008). Black women, and the intersection between race and (women’s) gender have been the
historical focus of intersectionality (Collins 1991; Crenshaw
1989; Nash 2008). In a departure from this trend, this study
places U.S. Black gay and bisexual men at the forefront of
intersectionality research.
Two tenets of intersectionality are central to this study.
First, is the notion that social categories (e.g., race, SES,
gender, sexual identity) are not independent and unidimensional, but rather multiple, interdependent and mutually constitutive (Collins 1991). Thus, one identity alone
(e.g., gender) cannot explain unequal or disparate outcomes
without the intersection of the other multiple social identity
(ies) (e.g., race, gender and sexual identity). Black men in
the U.S. provide an apt example. Indeed many of the presumed privileges associated with being a man in the U.S.,
such as being financially, politically, and socially successful
(see Levant et al. 1998) evaporate when Black men’s gender
is intersected with race and low socioeconomic status (SES).
Compared to their White counterparts, Black men experience
disproportionately higher rates of poverty (DeNavas-Walt et
al. 2011), unemployment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2012), incarceration (Sabol et al. 2009), and mortality and
morbidity (Murray et al. 2006).
Second, is intersectionality’s emphasis on how multiple
social identities at the individual level of experience (i.e., the
micro level) intersect to reflect interlocking macro level
social-structural inequalities (Collins 1991; Crenshaw 1989).
A macro level analysis of economic inequality from an intersectional perspective handily demonstrates the economic
ramifications of intersectionality for Black gay and bisexual
men. According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s
analysis of Black same-sex household data from the 2000 U.S.
Census Bureau, Black same-sex couples reported an annual
median household income ($49,000), $2,000 lower than that
of their Black married heterosexual counterparts ($51,000)
(Dang and Frazer 2005). Although Black male same-sex
couples shared the same level of median income as Black
married heterosexual couples ($50,000), they earned
$16,000 and $23,000 less than White female and male
same-sex couples respectively. This illustrates how structural
inequalities grounded in intersections of race, gender, and
sexual orientation adversely affect Black male same-sex
couples
Using intersectionality as a theoretical framework, this
qualitative study examined intersections of race, gender, and
sexual identity based on individual interviews with a sample
of 12 U.S. Black and gay men. This smaller sample size is a
hallmark of qualitative research, where interview studies
typically include sample sizes of “15±10” (Kvale 1996, p.
102). Qualitative methods are ideal for this study because
they emphasize the “rich contexts of history, society, and
culture; … “resituate” participants in their worlds; and
perceive participants, not as subjects, but as “reflexive,
meaning-making, and intentional actors” (Marecek 2003,
p. 49).
In light of the dearth of empirical intersectionality research focused on Black gay and bisexual men, the study
is poised to make at least three important contributions to
advancing knowledge about intersectionality. First, consistent with intersectionality’s core tenet, the study will expand
empirical knowledge about how individual-level experiences relevant to multiple social identities at the micro-level
reflect interlocking social inequality for Black gay and bisexual men at the macro social-structural level. The research
will also illustrate how intersectional identities are mutually
constituted rather than additive (Collins 1991). Second,
Black women, and the intersections of their race, gender,
and SES have been the historic focus of intersectionality
(Nash 2008). Thus, another important contribution of this
research is its challenge to intersectionality’s “theoretical
reliance on Black women’s experiences” (Nash 2008, p.
6). Despite advocacy for a more ecumenical intersectionality
(Collins 1991; Nash 2008), women remain the focus of the
vast majority of intersectionality scholarship. For example,
only one of the 13 articles in the 2008 Sex Roles (Shields
2008) special issue on intersectionality focused exclusively
on men. Focusing on men is not only relatively novel, but it
provides an opportunity to explore intersectionality in the
context of simultaneous “penalty and privilege” (Collins
1991, p. 225) among a sample who is advantaged by virtue
of gender, and disadvantaged by virtue of the intersection of
race, gender, and sexual identity.
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Finally, the study provides the opportunity to expand
knowledge about how social processes and social-structural
factors facilitate the creation and maintenance of Black gay
and bisexual men’s social identities. Contemporary feminist
scholars have critiqued intersectionality’s traditional conceptualizations of intersectional identities as essential, stable, and resistant to the whims of time, history, culture,
context, and geography (Nash 2008). Far from being
“trans-historical constants” (Nash 2008, p. 5) social identities and meanings are highly variant. The temporal chasm
between what it meant to be a Black man during slavery in
the U.S. and what it means to be a Black man in the era of
U.S. President Barack Obama is vast, for example. There are
also likely cross-cultural variations to intersectional social
identities. Moreover, contemporary scholars emphasize social identities as social processes created by social interactions and “institutional, political and societal structures”
(Warner 2008, p. 459); not essentialist, universal constants
(Nash 2008; Warner 2008). It is for this reason that privileged
identities such as Whiteness, heterosexuality, and being a man
are relatively invisible identities. Few White people in the U.S.
perceive themselves as having a race; few heterosexual people
perceive themselves as having a sexual orientation, and few
men perceive themselves as having a gender. This is a hallmark
of power whereby people with privileged statuses are considered the norm, while non-privileged “others” (i.e., people who
are racial/ethnic minority; lesbian, gay and bisexual, and
women) are created in relation to the normative group. Thus,
this study also affords the opportunity to advance knowledge
about how “penalty and privilege” (Collins 1991, p. 225) ebb
and flow in the lives of a sample of Black gay and bisexual
men who although socially privileged as men, risk social
penalty as a consequence of the intersection of their race and
sexual identities with their gender.
Structural forces also shape social identities. In the U.S.,
historical legacies of slavery and institutionalized racial
discrimination, and more subtle and contemporary forms
of racial discrimination and racial microaggressions (Sue
et al. 2008) also foster the creation and meaning of social
identities. For instance, regardless of whether or not they
identify as Black, the social category of Blackness is reinforced for Black men in the U.S. through a host of racist
policies and practices including, but hardly limited to Driving While Black, disparate rates of police harassment and
surveillance; disproportionately high rates of incarceration,
and the likelihood that store clerks or security guards will
follow them in stores. Similarly, institutionalized heterosexism shapes the creation of LGB identities through the absence of anti-discrimination protections for LGBs in
employment, housing, and marriage equality and societal
prejudice against people who are or are perceived to be
LGB. This study will expand knowledge about the role of
social processes and social-structural factors in the
construction of intersectional identities based on race, gender,
and sexual identity in this sample of Black gay and bisexual
men. This has the potential to add to knowledge about the
reconstruction of social identities (Deaux 1993) with a population who, with the exception of the HIV/AIDS literature, has
been relatively invisible within social science research.
The study examined four research questions: (1) How do
Black gay and bisexual men in this sample describe and
experience the intersections of race, gender, and sexual identity? (2) How do social processes shape the social identities of
this sample of Black gay and bisexual men? (3) What do
Black gay and bisexual men in this sample perceive to be
the challenges of the intersections of their race, gender, and
sexual identity?; and (4) What do Black gay and bisexual men
in this sample perceive to be the benefits of the intersections of
their race, gender, and sexual identity?
Method
Participants
Interviewees were 12 self-described Black gay (n09) and
bisexual (n03) men, a subsample of respondents from Trials
and Tribulations (Bowleg 2001), a qualitative study focused
on the experiences of multiple minority stress, resilience,
and sense of community among a sample of 28 Black LGB
and transgender people. To address the void of empirical
studies on intersectionality conducted with Black gay and
bisexual men, this study included the male subsample of
Trials and Tribulation respondents (n012). Male respondents
ranged in age from 21 to 44 (M036.33, SD07.51) and were
highly educated: two men reported graduate degrees, four
reported college degrees; five reported some college or professional training; and one reported a high school degree.
Personal annual incomes ranged from less than $10,000 to
between $70,000 and $79,999 (M0$20,000 to $29,999). Two
men were in same-sex committed relationships; 6 were single;
4 were dating. Table 1 presents the demographics of each
respondent.
Procedures
As with recruitment for the larger Trials and Tribulations
(Bowleg 2001) study, participants were recruited from ads
placed in the Washington Blade, a free weekly lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) paper and the City Paper,
a free weekly general newspaper. The ads invited people to
participate in a study about “the life experiences of Black
LGBTS.” Prospective participants were screened by phone
to determine whether they met the study’s eligibility criteria of:
identifying as Black LGBT or having a same-sex partner and
being at least 18 years old. All of the interviewers (two trained
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Table 1 Demographic
characteristics by interviewee
Name
Age
Highest level of
education
Annual income range
Sexual identity
description
Relationship status
Brandon
21
High school diploma
Less than $9,999
Gay
Single
Charles
43
Bachelor’s degree
$20,000 to $29,999
Gay
Single
Craig
Daniel
26
39
Some college
Some college
$20,000 to $29,999
$20,000 to $29,999
Gay
Gay
Single
Dating
Jay
32
Bachelor’s degree
$40,000 to $49,999
Bisexual
Dating
Jonathan
Kareem
44
30
Some college
Bachelor’s degree
$10,000 to $14,999
$30,000 to $39,999
Bisexual
Gay
Single
Dating
Michael
42
Master’s degree
$50,000 to $59,999
Gay
Single
Nigel
Perry
37
42
Bachelor’s degree
Master’s degree
$30,000 to $39,999
$70,000 or over
Gay
Gay
Committed/Partnered
Dating
Rodney
37
Some college
$20,000 to $29,999
Gay
Committed/Partnered
Timothy
43
Some college
$10,000 to $14,999
Bisexual
Single
interviewers and I) were Black women. The digitally recorded
interviews ranged in length from 45 to 60 min. Participants
received a $30 cash incentive. The Institutional Review Board
of the author’s institution approved all study procedures.
Measures
The study used an interview guide approach to elicit narratives about intersectionality. This approach provides for
topics and issues to be outlined in advance and grants
interviewers the flexibility to decide the sequence and phrasing of questions (Patton 2002). Sample questions included:
“Let’s suppose that someone dropped in from another planet
and asked you to tell them about your life as a Black gay or
bisexual man. What would you say?”; and “Some say they
are Black first and gay or bisexual second. Others say that
they are gay or bisexual first and then Black or male second.
Then, there are others who say that they don’t feel as if they
can rank these identities. What about you?”
Data Analysis
After transcription, research assistants edited the interviews
for clarity and to remove personal identifiers. I read the
transcripts multiple times to familiarize myself with the
data. Thereafter, I imported the transcripts into Nvivo 9.0,
a qualitative data analysis software package. I used Nvivo to
code the data and create memos in which I recorded my
interpretations and reflections about the data in relation to
the research questions. First, I created topic codes, which
involve the assignation of labels to text and “usually
involves little interpretation” (Richards 2009, p. 100). For
example, I labelled any text in which a participant discussed
any aspect of identity ranking (e.g., “I’m Black first,” “I
can’t rank my identities” etc.) as Identity Ranking (see
Table 2 for a list and description of topic codes). After
Table 2 Topic codes and definitions
Code Label
Definition
Advantages
Perceived benefits and advantages of being
Black gay or bisexual men
How being Black gay or bisexual men had
prompted self-examination or personal
growth
- Introspection &
growth
- Freedom
- “Not being
comfortable”
Disadvantages
Freedom from traditional societal
expectations such as gender role norms,
heterosexual marriage and children
Benefits to living on the margins or not
fitting in with the mainstream
Challenges or disadvantages of being Black
gay or bisexual men
- Negative stereotypes
References to stereotypes of Black men as
dangerous, hypersexual, etc.
- Racism: General
References to the everyday challenges of
racial prejudice and discrimination
- Racism: White LGBs References to racism within White LGB
communities
- Heterosexism in
Negative attitudes, or silence or invisibility
Black communities
about LGBs in Black communities
- Act masculine
Pressures to act masculine to avoid
suspicion of being gay or bisexual, or
internalization of stereotypes that gay men
are flamboyant
Identity ranking
Intersectionality
Social Processes
Any references to the ranking of social
identities, including not being able to rank
them
The notion that multiple social identities
interlock and are mutually constitutive
References that highlight how social
processes such as interaction with others,
the visibility of race, or social-structural
factors such as discrimination influence
social identities
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multiple rounds of coding in this manner, I refined the codes
in a hierarchical structure such that I created Identity Ranking as “parent” code and beneath it, created “Black first,”
“impossible to rank,” and “reasons for ranking” as separate
“child” nodes, and beneath the latter code created “grandchildren” codes such as “visible cues” and “awareness of
being Black first.” Simultaneously, I used Nvivo’s Memo
function to record my ideas and interpretations about what I
was reading and coding, and to ask questions about the data
(e.g., “Discussions about intersectionality are not always
explicit. Is there an implicit way in which interviewees
discuss the intersection of their identities?”). After multiple
rounds of topic coding, I determined that I had reached
coding saturation. In qualitative research, saturation
describes the point at which new ideas or themes cease to
arise (Charmaz 2006). I also reviewed again all of the
study’s transcripts to ensure that I had coded all relevant
text into any codes that I had newly created. Thereafter, I
conducted analytical coding. Analytical coding refers to
“coding that comes from interpretation and reflection on
meaning” (Richards 2009, p. 102). Based on the memos
that I had created, I further refined codes to match my
interpretations such that I created a code called “Challenges
of Intersectionality” under which I assigned the core themes
highlighted in the results section.
My analyses meet four criteria of trustworthiness of
analysis: reliability, credibility, transferability, and confirmability (Lincoln and Guba 1985; Merrick 1999). To assess
the reliability of my coding, a recent MPH graduate with
qualitative analysis and Black LGB research experience
independently coded the transcripts in Nvivo 9 using my
list of codes. We then used Nvivo 9’s coding comparison
query function to assess inter-rater reliability. Nvivo 9 calculates the Kappa Coefficient individually for each code
(e.g., “Black first”) and transcript. Our Kappa value was
.76. Kappa values of at least .75 indicate excellent agreement between coders (QSR International 2011).
Credibility involves the use of techniques that increase
the likelihood of credible interpretations (Lincoln and Guba
1985; Merrick 1999). This criterion was met through prolonged engagement with the data and peer debriefing. Prolonged engagement with the data involved multiple reads of
the transcripts, intensive coding and revisions of codes to
ensure saturation. For peer debriefing, I invited two Black
gay male researchers with qualitative research expertise with
Black gay and bisexual men to review my interpretations
and provide feedback on their credibility. One of them
highlighted a quote that I had interpreted in terms of race
only rather than intersections of race and gender. After
reviewing the code and the transcript for the context of the
code, I revised my interpretation to reflect this feedback.
With this exception, both debriefers assessed all of my
interpretations to be credible. Transferability refers to
the extent to which researchers have provided sufficient
description to help readers assess whether a study’s findings
can be transferred beyond the sample. Readers may assess
the extent to which the findings are transferable to other
populations of Black gay and bisexual men from the extracts
of participants’ narratives that augment the analyses presented
in the results section. Finally, confirmability refers to the extent
that the study’s methods, procedures for data collection and
analyses are described thoroughly to enable others to determine whether the researchers’ interpretations are grounded in
the data (i.e., confirmable). Confirmability is demonstrated
through the provision of detailed information about our methods, recruitment, data collection, and analytical strategies.
With the exception of minor edits to improve clarity, all quotes
are provided verbatim. Excerpts of the narratives from all 12
interviewees are presented in the results section. Pseudonyms
are provided to protect the confidentiality of interviewees.
Results and Discussion
Research Question 1: Descriptions and Experiences
of Intersectionality
Intersectionality asserts that identities are not independent
and additive, but multiple, interlocking and mutually
constitutive (Collins 1991; Crenshaw 1989). Analyses of
interviewees’ narratives about their lives as Black gay and
bisexual men demonstrated how their discussions of their
social identities reflected this view, either explicitly or implicitly. Nigel a 37-year-old gay man deftly summarized the
intersectionality of his race, gender, and sexual identity,
noting the difficulty of separating these identities as if they
were independent of each other:
Well it’s hard for me to separate [my identities]. When
I’m thinking of me, I’m thinking of all of them as me.
Like once you’ve blended the cake you can’t take the
parts back to the main ingredients. I’m a gay man.
Also there is something to say about the aspects of
being a Black man.
Similarly, Charles, a 43 year old gay man observed of
his intersecting identities: “it would be hard to separate [my
race, gender, and sexual identity] and set them out on the
table or compartmentalize, or to really say where one ends
and the other begins because I really don’t experience it
that way.” Although Nigel’s and Charles’s narratives represent explicit articulations of intersectionality, implicit
narratives about intersectionality are equally revealing.
They highlight intersectionality’s posit that multiple social
identities are mutually constitutive, such that focusing on a
single category (e.g., gender) obscures the depth of understanding provided by that category’s intersection with
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another category(ies) (e.g., race, SES, sexual identity). It
may also explain how people with interlocking identities
perceive and conceptualize their identities. As the following excerpt highlights, Daniel, a 39-year-old gay man
appeared to have had difficulty answering the question
about what it means to be a man, because presumably he
perceived his race and gender as mutually constitutive:
Interviewer: “What would you say about your life as a
man?”
Daniel: “As a man?”
Interviewer: “As just a man.”
Daniel: “Um… It’s kind of… Will you give me something else?
Interviewer: “What it means to be a Black man?”
Daniel: “Oh, okay.”
Thereafter, Daniel’s narrative increased in length and
elaboration as he reflected on what it meant to be a Black
man.
Interviewees’ narratives also illustrate how the intersection of both advantaged and disadvantaged social identities
undermine any idea that multiple identities could be additive. Jay’s narrative epitomized this perspective. Jay, a
32 year old bisexual man acknowledged that his advantaged
status as a man did not necessarily “add” much social
advantage because it intersected with his other disadvantaged identities, namely his race and sexual identity:
… [Being a Black bisexual man is a life] filled with
pressure. It sort of seems like you got the short end of
the stick in many ways. There are advantages in our
society to being a man. In some cases men are paid
more or maybe taken more seriously or whatever. But
being Black is definitely a strike against you in our
society. Being bisexual is also.
Research Question 2: How Social Processes Shape
Identities
Contesting the traditional intersectionality perspective that
social identities are stable and fixed, contemporary intersectionality theorists assert instead that social processes such as
social interaction, context, and social-structural factors inform and create social identities (Warner 2008). A continuation of Daniel’s aforementioned narrative about what it
means to be a Black man deftly illustrates this point. For
Daniel, being a Black man meant that “You have to strive a
little harder to get things that you might not have to do if you
are a White male.” His response implies that social identities
are not fixed, but rather created through power relations
(Warner 2008). That is, he discussed what it meant to be a
Black man in relation to the privileges that he perceived that
White men have relative to Black men in the U.S.
Ten of the 12 interviewees (83 %) noted that they ranked
their identity as Black and/or Black men as primary. While at
first glance this appears to run counter to intersectionality’s
tenet that social identities are intersectional, not additive and
thus cannot be ranked (Collins 1991; Cuadraz and Uttal 1999),
further examination underscored how social processes (e.g.,
the social construction of race based on visible phenotypic
characteristics, racial prejudice and discrimination) shape the
interviewees’ ranking of their Black identities as primary.
Analyses suggest that the combination of the ascribed
identity status of race in the U.S., the visibility of “race”
relative to normative Whiteness, and the role of racial prejudice and discrimination against Blacks in the U.S. are
social processes that may have prompted an early awareness
of Blackness for the majority of men in this sample. Kareem’s
narrative was typical of the experience of having race as an
early-ascribed identity, in contrast to the gay identity that he
later acquired. The 30-year-old gay man explained:
I would say Black first just because I was more aware of
that before I was aware of what being gay was all about,
so I embrace that first. And although I can’t really
distinguish the two, I would say that I’m Black first.
Sexual identity, like racial identity is also socially constructed through social processes (e.g. institutional and interpersonal discrimination against LGB people) (Warner 2008). The
narratives of men such as Timothy, a 43-year-old bisexual man
also highlighted how having a visible identity (i.e., race) versus
a nonvisible identity (e.g., sexual identity) can shape social
identity. Timothy said that he prioritized his African-American
identity because, as he noted, “As far as an [being an] African
American, I cannot hide that [because it is visible] … but I can
fit into a straight world without sexuality being of importance.”
That is, being able to pass as heterosexual, and thus avoid LGB
discrimination presumably made his Black identity more salient
than his bisexual identity.
Interviewees’ narratives also highlighted how socialstructural factors such as racial prejudice and discrimination
had informed their social identities. Perry, a 42 year old gay
man exemplified this view with his emphatic description:
[I’m] Definitely Black first. Definitely Black first.
There’s no doubt that every day, in every way, especially
living here in this country you can never forget that you
are Black. … Not ever can you forget it. Not for a
minute can I ever forget that I am Black. I don’t think
about being gay for long stretches of the day, but I can
never forget about being Black in this country.
Research Question 3: The Challenges of Intersectionality
Consistent with intersectionality’s tenets about the interplay
between intersecting micro and macro level factors, the
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narratives of the men in this study underscore how race, gender,
and sexual identity interlock to reveal intersecting micro and
macro level racism, heterosexism, and gender bias. All but one
of the 12 participants (92 %) perceived that it was challenging
to be Black men in general, and Black gay or bisexual men in
particular. Charles summed up the challenge this way: “My
struggle as a Black man is really to find some joy in life.”
Craig, a 26 year old gay man, described “Being a Black male”
[as] probably one of the hardest thing you can do or be.”
Narratives about the challenges of being Black gay or bisexual
men coalesced around four themes: (1) negative stereotypes
about Black men or Black gay men; (2) racial microaggressions in mainstream and White LGB communities; (3) heterosexism in Black communities; and (4) the perceived pressure to
act masculine to avoid suspicions of being gay or bisexual.
Negative Stereotypes about Black Men and Black Gay Men
Participants such as Craig described their lives as buffeted
by pervasive stereotypes of Black men as dangerous, thugs,
unintelligent, or hypersexual. Consequently, Craig noted,
being a Black man meant continuous self-monitoring about
one’s behavior:
It means being careful of where you walk because
someone might fear you; because people see you like
you’re a sexual predator, as a thief, as well as a thug.
… it’s definitely not easy being a Black man.
Nor were stereotypes about Black men relegated to White
people only. Charles recounted that some of the Black
women that he had encountered also held negative stereotypes about Black men:
When I walk down the street, White women and Black
women and middle class looking Black women, jump
out of my way, because I don’t wear a suit and tie to
work. … You know, if I get on an escalator, and there’s
an older Black woman in front of me, and she’s just in
abject fear for her life, and I’ve never done anything to
her. … This hurt [s] me just as much as some White
woman running the other way.
Highlighting the intersectional nature of stereotypes for
Black men regardless of sexual identity, Nigel illustrated
how negative stereotypes associated with Black men often
overlapped with those people held of gay people: “… that
they’re freaks or promiscuous, can’t maintain relationships
and all of that [also] goes back to Black men. So, it’s all
intertwined; it’s hard to pick it apart.”
Racial Microaggressions
Recognizing that contemporary manifestations of racism
tend to be more subtle and covert than the racism of the
pre-civil rights era, scholars of racism have proposed racial
microaggressions as the term that best describes contemporary forms of racism (Sue et al. 2008). Analyses highlighted
two key themes: (1) racism and racial microaggressions in
general; and (2) racial microaggressions in White LGB
communities.
Racism and Racial Microaggressions in General The challenge of racial prejudice and discrimination were daily and
unrelenting occurrences for all but one of the 12 participants
(92 %). Daniel was the only participant to note: “I don’t have
to deal with a lot of racism.” By contrast, the other interviewees recounted a litany of racist experiences such as being
denied promotions or jobs, police harassment, being pulled
over for “driving while Black,” not being able to catch cabs, or
being followed in stores. Most common were narratives about
experiences with more subtle forms of racism (i.e., racial
microaggressions). Jonathan, a 44 year old bisexual man
recalled a time when he was in a jewelry store and observed
a woman clutch her pocketbook when he passed her to browse
some jewelry. “You’re never free of the [racist] attitude” was
how Perry described the experience of being treated rudely or
scrutinized while shopping, particularly in upscale stores:
If you go to a Saks [Fifth Avenue] you’re never free of
that little thing. You know that somebody reacts to
you. And maybe it’s your perception, but it’s not a
perception that is based on no experience or anything.
It’s not that you’re crazy. … I always say that then,
that racism, much more so than any of the other isms, I
feel it all the time, or the potential for it. The potential
for a negative racial judgment put on me.
Kareem reflected on how difficult it was for him as a
Black man to catch cabs even in a city as diverse as
Washington, DC:
The one thing that I would say [about the subtlety of
contemporary racism is] that I can’t catch a cab in the
city. … Just last Thursday [I stood] on the corner with
just me and another [Black] friend and [watched] the
cab just go by [only to] have two White gentlemen
come stand next to us and get a cab. They got angry
because the cab stopped for them and not for us and so
they flagged a cab for us.
Racial Microaggressions in White LGB Communities Five
of the 12 interviewees (42 %) also honed in on their perceptions of racism within White LGB communities. Among
the participants who discussed this theme was the consensus
that many White LGBs were uncomfortable with Black
LGBs and expected Black LGBs to assimilate or otherwise
accommodate in order to be accepted. Charles was the most
vocal about his perception that although the White LGB
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people with whom he worked at a LGB organization were
comfortable with his identity as a gay man, he did not
“believe [that] they’re comfortable with my identity as a
Black man.” As a consequence, he noted that he rarely felt
safe in his workplace:
I feel comfortable with being a gay man there, but I
don’t necessarily feel really comfortable being a Black
man. … I would not go right out and accuse them of
being racist, but I think there are aspects of African
American life or Black life or Black character that they
are uncomfortable with. … There are few places that I
can go where I can feel completely whole; in the
African American communities as well as the gay
White communities, as well as at work.
Craig reiterated Charles’ point:
Being a Black gay male means also facing discrimination within the gay community as well. There is
a huge gap between the White gay community and
the Black gay community, especially in this area.
[Washington, DC is] a majority Black town, but
somehow we still have like people sitting at different cafeteria tables, as I call it.
Echoing the thread about racism in White LGB communities as well as how social processes shape intersectional
social identities. Nigel recounted “even as a Black man you
still get the racism or whatever within the gay community
for being a Black man. … That’s one of the reasons I’d say
that if it came down to it, I’m a Black man first because
there’s racism even within the gay community.” Continuing
the theme that White LGB communities often expect Black
LGBs to assimilate, Nigel noted that he often told young
Black people who spent more time in the “White gay community” because they perceived it to be more LGB tolerant
than Black communities that “most of the time, [White gay
communities] want you to give up the Black part of you.”
Indeed, although seven of the 12 men mentioned that they
were out to their families and friends in Black communities, it
was more common for participants to be, as Jay described
himself, “closeted.” His decision to be closeted, he explained,
was rooted in his perceptions about Black communities’ lack
of acceptance of gay and bisexual people, particularly men.
Charles dispelled the notion that there was a monolithic
heterosexist Black community by asserting that “the Black community, once again is composed of many different communities,
and often what is seen as concern or consensus of the community
is often the issues of middle-class, heterosexual Black men who
usually go to church.” Continuing this thread, Nigel opined that
heterosexism in Black communities was far more nuanced:
Most people tend to think of the Black community as very
homophobic, and to a certain extent they are. But I have
[always thought it’s] like how the Southerners [and the
Northerners] deal with the Blacks. They say Southerners
hate Blacks as a race but they like the individual ones, and
Northerners hate the individuals but like them as a race.
That’s my whole thing with the Black community. They
tend to like the ones they know and interact with, but as a
whole, homosexuals, gays, they’re against it.
Acting Masculine to Avoid Suspicions of Being Gay
or Bisexual
Seven of the 12 interviewees (58 %) said that they perceived
heterosexism in Black communities to be especially challenging. Narratives centered on the perceived silence and
invisibility of Black LGBs within Black communities and
the perception that Black communities disapproved of Black
LGBs. Kareem described the issue this way:
Gender role norms for boys and men conflate masculinity and
heterosexuality (Bowleg et al. 2011; Herek 1986), such that
six men in this sample (50 %) described how any deviation
from acting “masculine” often prompted suspicion that they
might be gay or bisexual. At its most extreme, one’s status as a
man could even be called into question. Timothy, one of the
three bisexual men in the study, recounted an argument in
which his father exclaimed, “You’re not a man, you’re a
queer!” One consequence of these gender role norms,
Brandon, a 21 year old gay man, explained is that: “So much
is expected; [there are] so many roles that one must play to be
a Black male and or to be considered a “normal” Black male.”
Narratives about the pressures of gender role norms for
Black men centered around two themes: (1) the pressure to act
masculine in order to thwart suspicions that they were gay or
bisexual; and (2) particularly for men who were closeted,
internalizing stereotypes that gay and bisexual men are “flamboyant” or “sissies.” Kareem aptly summed up the issue of
acting masculine to avoid suspicion of being gay:
… In general the Black community is not as accepting
of homosexuality and so it’s kind of this thing that’s
not talked about. It’s there but it’s more hush-hush and
people just ignore it. A lot of families are embarrassed
by it so it is very rare you find people that are out and
can be themselves and are fully supported in their life.
I grew up [in the projects of Washington DC] trying to
make sure that I was as masculine as I could be. ....So,
most people are going to be looking for a gay man to
be very feminine and I just come across as the way I
am. They automatically assume that I am heterosexual
as opposed to being gay.
Heterosexism in Black Communities
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Underscoring the intersection between race, gender, and
sexual identity for Black gay and bisexual men, Perry noted
how vigilant he was about avoiding suspicion that he is gay
when in Black communities:
Echoing this theme, Brandon acknowledged that
although being Black and gay was hard, it was not “insurmountable.” He elaborated on several benefits of being
Black and gay:
I personally don’t go out in the Black community at
large and portray myself as a gay person, speaking in
gay lingo for example or acting in a way that would
bring attention to myself, that would form suspicion
that I would be a gay person if I’m by myself. … I’m
very conscious of it … of feeling like I have to, in a
way, pass.
I just feel like it’s made me a better person. It’s forced
me to look, to really look [at] what is life and what is it
to be a human; what is it to be a man. I really feel like
it’s made me look at life on something other than a
surface level.
Research Question 4: The Benefits of Being Black,
Gay or Bisexual Men
Patricia Hill Collins (1986), in addition to highlighting the
interlocking oppressions that people with multiple marginalized identities face, also emphasizes the outsider-within
status that has historically provided Black women with
opportunities for self-definition, creativity, and the ability
“to reveal new insights about the matrix of domination”
(Collins 1991, p. 234). Analyses of the interviewees’ narratives also accord with this view in the sense that eight of the
12 interviewees (67 %) in response to the interview question
about the benefits of being Black gay or bisexual men said
that perceived that their intersecting identities had conferred
unique benefits. Timothy, for example, noted that being a
Black bisexual man had honed, what he called his “sixth
sense.” “I have this extra layer of awareness that a lot of [my
straight friends] sort of miss.”
Narratives about these benefits centered around three
themes: (1) introspection and psychological growth; (2)
freedom from various conventions such as heteronormative
expectations and traditional gender role norms; and (3) a
sense that their outsider status had liberated them to explore
new opportunities or develop new strengths.
Craig noted that although he used to feel driven to the
point of paranoia by racism, he now chose to “associate with
people who [had dispositions that were] positive,” and
nonetheless felt “blessed to be Black. I wouldn’t change it.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Daniel noted that he was
not daunted by the challenges of being a Black gay man.
Instead, he said that he perceived these challenges as a
catalyst to grow and be the best person he could be:
I am striving for the best, to be the best that I can be. It is
not always easy, there are going to be hurdles in your life
no matter where go. And that is just part of living. And
when you don’t have any hurdles in your life, it is time
for you to move onto a higher place. That’s the way I see
it. So every day is a challenge and it should be. But it
should be a positive challenge and you are the one that is
in charge of that; that’s the way I see it.
Rodney, a 37 year old gay man, also shared Daniel’s view
that one could overcome the obstacles posed by prejudice
and discrimination:
Even though I identify as Black primarily, I don’t let
that limit me. A lot of people think that it can be a
hindrance or that things in life don’t come as easy, but
I don’t have that sort of mindset. … When I think of
who I am or what I am, I think of myself as a Black
man, but I don’t let that control my destiny or where I
want to go in life.
Introspection and Psychological Growth
Freedom from Traditional Societal Conventions
For five of the 12 participants (42 %), the experience of
confronting prejudice and discrimination based on the
intersections of their race, sexual identity, and gender
prompted them to introspect about life, social justice,
and grow psychologically. This was the case with Kareem who observed:
For four participants (33 %), being a Black gay or bisexual
man meant being free from societal conventions and expectations such as having to be married to a woman, have children,
have a certain type of job to support a family, or adhere to
gender role norms. Rodney explained that he enjoyed
The combination of the two [identities; being Black
and gay] has caused me to look a little deeper within
myself and to find definition from within and also to
just to love on a different level or beyond what people
may think in terms of the stereotypes and judgments
people make upon my life.
… the freedom. I find the institution of [heterosexual]
marriage can be awful[ly] oppressive … I think that if I
were born heterosexual and had a strong sexual appetite,
I might have had 4 or 5 kids at my age. It’s hard enough
on your own. I guess that’s what I am saying about the
sense of freedom. … It’s a freedom I really enjoy.
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Reiterating this point, Perry noted:
I would say that more than anything, being a gay
man in general with no children or anything, I like
the fact that I basically go where I want to and use
my income for what I want to use it for myself etc.
By far, I like that.
Kareem said that he enjoyed the freedom from conventional gender role norms:
I would say I don’t operate within the same boundaries
that some of my heterosexual friends operate with
because I accept both my feminine and my masculine
side. So there’s no conflict there for me. And so I like
the freedom to be able to just be.
For Jay, being a bisexual man meant enjoying “the best of
both worlds. He elaborated, “This sounds really selfish, but
[I like] having the best of both words I guess; being attracted
to men and women and having both find you attractive and
being able to reciprocate [is great].”
Freedom of “Not Being Comfortable”
Charles wondered whether his outsider status as a Black gay
man had prompted him to perceive and take advantage of
opportunities that others in his “lower working class family”
had not such as getting a college degree and living outside
of the city in which he was born. He traced this expansion to
his desire “to find my own place and of never being comfortable. I remember always feeling that there was something that would not allow me to blend in completely, made
me look elsewhere for other things.” Consequently, for
Charles, “being Black or being gay is kind of like my …
key, my connection to the rest of the world. It is not a
limiting thing.” Brandon used almost verbatim language to
discuss the benefits of not being comfortable: “[Being Black
and gay] never allowed me to be comfortable. I would say
that I love being Black and gay because … it’s forced me
out of the mainstream.” Moreover, he noted that being out of
the mainstream had fortified his self-esteem. He reasoned:
[When you are Black and gay] everyone hates [White
people hate you because you are Black; Black people
hate you because you are gay] so you have to have
really strong self-esteem. You need self- esteem. Being Black and gay could make you a great person just
by the simple act of trying to live. Because you can
learn how to put everything behind you and just love
yourself and be productive and just do things for
yourself. I feel that this has helped me. [It’s been of
immense help]. I would never not want to be Black
and … gay.
Similarly, Craig stated that he also perceived that being a
Black gay man had expanded his worldview. He noted that
he had:
Never really paid attention to [society’s negative
expectations for him as a Black gay man]. I’ve always
rebelled against everything that I was supposed to get
into. … [Consequently], I’ve opened up myself to
different experiences and different individuals, who I
think have made me a better person in return.
Conclusion
Black women and the intersecting social categories of race
and (women’s) gender have been the traditional focus of the
intersectionality framework (Nash 2008). In a departure
from this trend, this study focused on the intersections of
race, gender, and sexual identity in a sample of Black gay
and bisexual men. The study found that participants: (1)
explicitly and implicitly described intersectionality; (2)
highlighted the primacy of their racial identities; (3) noted
their challenges with negative stereotypes, racial microaggressions in mainstream and White LGB communities, heterosexism in Black communities, and gender role pressures
to act “masculine”; and (4) perceived that their outsider
status as Black gay and bisexual men conferred benefits
such as psychological growth, liberation from traditional
gender and heteronormative roles, and options to explore
new experiences. These interesting findings notwithstanding, an important caveat is the limited generalizability of the
study’s findings beyond its 12 interviewees.
Although the intersections of race, gender, and sexual
identity in the lives of U.S. Black gay and bisexual men
have been the subject of anthologies (see Beam 1986;
Hemphill 1991) and a small, but growing body of contemporary social identity focused research (e.g., P. A. Wilson
2008), this study is the first to explicitly use the intersectionality framework to empirically examine intersectionality in
the lives of U.S. Black gay and bisexual men. The study’s
findings about how interviewees perceived their social identities as intersectional rather than additive, and how the
intersections of race and gender were mutually constituted,
such that interviewees could not articulate what it was to be
a man absent its intersection with race, provide empirical
support for one of intersectionality’s core premises. It also
echoes findings from other qualitative research with Black
heterosexual men (Bowleg et al. in press) and Black lesbian
and bisexual women (Bowleg 2008; Bowleg et al. 2003).
This study also empirically bolsters contemporary intersectionality theorists’ posit that social identities are not
stable, essentialist, and historically invariant as conceptualized in classic intersectionality, but rather reflect social
processes (Nash 2008; Warner 2008). For most of the men
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in the sample, the awareness of their visible “race” as Black
is shaped and reinforced by the historical legacy of what it
means to be Black in the U.S. It is conceivable that men
born and raised in majority Black regions such as subSaharan Africa, the Caribbean or some parts of Latin
America (e.g., Brazil), may have a different awareness of
Blackness and what it means to identify as Black. Indeed,
the study highlights the need for more intersectionality
theory and research focused on international populations to
challenge intersectionality’s “theoretical reliance” (Nash
2008, p. 6) on U.S. populations and U.S. social identities.
Findings also reflect how racial prejudice and discrimination as social-structural factors may shape social identities. In asserting that they were “Black first,” interviewees
frequently referenced how racial microaggressions and racial discrimination had fortified their view that race was
their most salient identity. Participants recounted racial
microaggressions that were subtler than the more blatant
forms of traditional racism. Nonetheless, contending with
taxis that will not stop for you, observing women clutch
their purses in your presence, sensing that one needs to
surrender one’s identity as a Black man to fit into White
LGB communities, and being followed around stores are
potent and daily reminders of the salience of the intersection
of race and gender for Black men in the U.S. Perry’s comment that he could never forget being Black is reminiscent
of Essex Hemphill’s observation that “I can be gay in only a
few cities in this country [the U.S.], but I’m Black everywhere I go” (Tarver 1990, p. 7).
Perry’s comments and that of all of the participants who
emphasized that “I’m Black first,” have prompted me to
reconsider the issue of identity ranking within the context
of intersectionality. Previously I have discussed the tendency for Black lesbian and bisexual women in my research
(see Bowleg 2008; Bowleg et al. 2008; Bowleg et al. 2003)
to rank their identities as a challenge to intersectionality’s
posit that intersectional identities cannot be separated, and
thus ranked (Collins 1991; Cuadraz and Uttal 1999). Now,
informed by this study, I perceive that a superior explanation
for the ranking is precisely the consequence of power relations that shape the construction and salience of social
identities. Both things, both the ranking and the intersectionality coexist. Indeed, in the same interview in which
Hemphill noted that he was Black everywhere he went, he
also acknowledged, “For me, it’s all hand-in-hand, it comes
as one package. I can’t just be Black and then just be gay.”
As for their sexual identities, heterosexism also helped
construct these identities. Men in the sample who were
closeted cited concerns about heterosexism in Black communities or being shunned by families, friends, or coworkers as the key reason for not identifying as gay or
bisexual, or doing so only within certain contexts. This
finding accords with changing views about social identity.
In advocating for a reconstruction of social identity, social
psychologist Kay Deaux (1993) has illustrated how people
“construct their own identity packages” (p. 6) in terms of the
identity categories with which they choose to identify as
well as the meaning they attach to those categories; how
social identities shift as a result of the contexts that people
navigate, prompting people to do “identity work” (p. 10);
and the interlocking nature of multiple social identities.
Thus, the identities of the men at the time of the interview
might differ from the ones they might articulate if interviewed today. As people acquire other identities (e.g., as an
elderly person; a person with a disability, etc.) the
salience of some identities may recede while others
become more prominent. Situational context may also
shape the experience of identity in general (Ethier and
Deaux 1994), and intersectionality in particular. A Black
gay or bisexual man attending a weekend Black gay or
bisexual retreat for example may experience the intersection
of his identities (at least that weekend) rather differently than
one who lives and works in a predominantly White heterosexual community.
The study’s findings that the majority of the sample
perceived their lives to be challenging as a consequence of
interlocking oppressions such as racial microaggressions in
mainstream and White LGB communities; heterosexism in
Black communities; and rigid gender role norms that equate
masculinity with heterosexuality, mirror those from other
research with Black gay and bisexual men (e.g., Battle et
al. 2002; Malebranche et al. 2004). Indeed, the 20-year-old
Black MSM from Rochester, NY in the Malebranche et al.
(2004) study who noted, “Being Black man is a hard struggle. Not just being gay, being straight – being a general
Black man is an everyday struggle” (p. 99) could have just
as easily been an interviewee in this study.
Patricia Hill Collins’ (1986) outsider-within metaphor
provides a context for understanding some of the interviewees’ perception that being Black gay and bisexual men
provided them with greater insight into social justice issues.
Admittedly, the outsider-within metaphor is not a perfect fit
for Black men. In its original incarnation it describes the
history of Black women domestic workers in the U.S. who
gained an “insider’s” view of socially and financially
privileged White families, while still remaining outsiders
by virtue of the intersection of their race and gender (Collins
1986, 1991). This outsider-within status prompted a “peculiar marginality” (Collins 1991, p. 11) that facilitated Black
women’s ability to have an insider and outsider’s point of
view. Confined to labor far from the domestic spheres of
White privilege, U.S. Black men have not historically had
the same opportunities for “within” status as Black women.
Nonetheless, the narratives of a minority of men in this
study suggest that they perceived that their outsider status
as Black gay and bisexual men provided them with a
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marginal vantage point that facilitated insight into “the
matrix of domination” (Collins 1991, p. 225).
Moreover, findings from this research demonstrate that if
prejudice and discrimination based on intersections of race,
gender, and sexual identity are core aspects of what it means
to be Black gay and bisexual men, so too are the multiple
benefits of lives lived at the intersectional margins. Indeed,
it is possible that Black LGBs may demonstrate greater
resilience because of, not in spite of their intersectionality
(Greene 1995). Brandon’s narrative about how being hated
for being Black and gay had strengthened his self-esteem
bolsters this hypothesis. Interviewees noted how their experiences as outsiders had prompted them to introspect and
grow psychologically and be more attuned to social justice;
had liberated them from conventional gender role and heteronormative expectations; and how the sense of as Charles
and Brandon both noted, “never being comfortable” because
of their intersectional identities had influenced them to seek
out opportunities (e.g., getting a college degrees, living in
other cities) they may not have otherwise. Whereas a 1994
study demonstrated that Black lesbian and gay men had
levels of psychological distress that exceeded those of White
lesbian and gay men (Cochran and Mays 1994), more recent
research has found Black LGBs to have the lowest prevalence of lifetime mental disorders compared with White and
Latino LGBs (Meyer et al. 2008). The narratives of the men
in this study and the results from the Meyer et al. study
suggest that the strengths and resilience of some of the
Black gay and bisexual men in this sample despite intersectional prejudice and discrimination, are an untold story that
merits more qualitative, mixed methods and quantitative
research, particularly population-level research.
Obviously, the take home message here is not to sanction
prejudice and discrimination to prompt psychological
growth, but rather to imply that there are avenues for clinicians and organizations that work with Black gay and bisexual men to encourage and foster the positive side of
intersectionality: the freedom to grow and expand. The
narratives in this study attest that there is room to incorporate the strengths/assets of intersectionality along with the
deficits of interlocking marginalized identities.
This research also has other theoretical implications. The
most obvious is the need to weave the intersectionality
framework within multiple academic disciplines (Bowleg
2012). Another theoretical implication is the need for language that reflects men’s intersectionality experiences in
terms of race and gender. Sexism describes prejudice and
discrimination based on women’s gender, not necessarily
men’s. Both women and men experience racism. The absence of specific language to describe Black men’s experiences at the intersection of race and gender is one factor that
contributes to the invisibility of Black men’s lives in social
and behavioral theory, research, and interventions. The
dearth of behavioral research on Black men (with the exception of HIV/AIDS research focused on Black MSM)
compared to other groups sheds little clue, for example,
that Black men’s health status is, “in many respects the
poorest of any large population group in the United
States” (Bonhomme and Young 2009, p. 74).
An applied implication of the study is that Black
communities must address their heterosexism. Anecdotes and
scholarly accounts of heterosexism in U.S. Black communities
abound (Constantine-Simms 2000). Yet, Black communities
hold no monopoly on heterosexism. Black communities, like
Americans in general (Gallup 2010) can evolve to become less
heterosexist. With the exception of heterosexism, the findings
from this study and other research with Black heterosexual
men (Bowleg et al. in press) suggest that Black gay and
bisexual and heterosexual men share much in common. This
topic could initiate community dialogue about how Black men,
regardless of sexual identity, can coalesce as allies to improve
life for Black men and their communities.
There are limitations to this research. One is that the
qualitative approach and its small sample size limits generalizability beyond the 12 participants. Another limitation
is that the sample was predominantly middle class and
educated. Having a more socioeconomically diverse sample inclusive of low income Black gay and bisexual men
would have provided greater insight about how SES intersects with other identities to shape the challenges and
benefits of being gay and bisexual men. Another limitation
is that the sample included just three bisexual men. One
unfortunate consequence of a phrase such as “gay and
bisexual men” is that it implies that this is a monolithic
group. It is not. Although they may share much in common
as Black men and as MSM, Black gay and bisexual men
are also distinctly different in many ways. Presumably, the
experiences of intersectionality for Black bisexual men
differ from Black gay men with regard to aspects such as
self-identification as bisexual, negative stereotypes as “on
the down low” and “bisexual bridges of HIV transmission”
(Malebranche et al. 2010); disclosing one’s bisexual identity to others; prejudice and discrimination; from both
heterosexual and gay and lesbian communities; and norms
about masculinity. Thus, there is a critical need for more
intersectionality research (and research in general) focused
exclusively on Black bisexual men as well as research that
includes larger samples of bisexual men.
Intersectionality is complex; to live and to study. For
intersectionality scholars and researchers, the challenge is
how to balance and represent both the trials and tribulations
of interlocking identities at the micro level and actively
resist interlocking oppressions at the social-structural level.
The narratives of this study’s participants suggest that liberation for Black gay and bisexual men, and indeed all historically oppressed groups, may rest in the embrace of
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individual-level intersectional identities, and the simultaneous resistance of interlocking multiple oppression at the
social-structural level. Indeed, Black gay poet and cultural
activist Essex Hemphill perceived the embrace of his intersectional identities to be vital to his self-empowerment:
I’m all of these things [Black and gay] and it’s taken
me a very long time to arrive at a love of myself that
allows the integration to work. Each thing plays off of
the other. Each part of me empowers me. So I can’t
say, well my left hand is gay and my right hand is
Black (Tarver 1990, p. 7).
Echoing Hemphill, the narratives of the Black gay and
bisexual men in this study illuminate the understudied topic
of intersectionality-facilitated resilience. Charles’ reflections
about how life outside of the mainstream provided numerous opportunities for personal growth, self-esteem, and selfacceptance, highlights another reality of intersectionality;
namely, that: “Being Black and gay could make you a great
person just by the simple act of trying to live.”
Acknowledgement I am especially grateful to the study’s participants
for their candor about their lives and experiences as Black gay and
bisexual men. Also, I am indebted to David J. Malebranche, MD, MPH
of Emory University and Lee Carson, MSW of the Public Health Management Corporation who, as peer debriefers, evaluated the credibility of
my analyses and interpretations, and provided critical and invaluable
feedback on the manuscript. I appreciate the assistance of summer intern
Brogan Piecara who provided research assistance with the references. I
also owe a debt of gratitude to Jalia Tucker, MPH who assisted with
coding to establish inter-rater reliability. Last, but certainly not least, I am
supremely grateful to my ace Project Director Jenné Massie, MS for her
tireless dedication to troubleshooting Nvivo’s coding comparison feature.
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