Rev. Al Sharpton on FBI probe of Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr.

The Reverend Al Sharpton on the current FBI probe of State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and his son, Assemblymember Ruben Diaz, Jr.:

The fact of the matter is that it might not hurt them at all. Sometimes, in communities of color, attacks from law enforcement backfire. When you’re under attack, it gives your supporters a chance to rally around you, especially when the attacks seem unfair or unwarranted.

From a profile of the Senator and his son in today's New York Times. The article notes the differences of opinion between father and son on issues regarding same-sex marriage and abortion, among other issues (h/t The Agenda).

Political Updates - You Get to Dance Salsa Too and a Book on Bloomberg

More local politics, please don't yawn!

Salsa Al: Those Ferrer camp salsa dancing ads, while not heavy on content, have been fun to watch. Particularly that Al Sharpton one.

Well, now it's YOUR turn to send the Ferrer campaign your own salsa dancing videos (actually it can be any type of music you like to dance to) by sending your mpegs to: info@ferrer2005.com - Aparently they will be posting the best ones on the Ferrer campaign website. Do it fast, though, kiddies, elections are next week!

Buddies: Unfortunately, any good-will that the ads might have elicited got eclipsed by the release of a totally different ad called "Buddies" on the same day, which the New York Post trumpeted up on its first page by implying that it featured a cartoon Bloomberg giving a cartoon handjob to a cartoon George W. Bush (!) which the Bloomberg campaign immediately called 'disgusting' (even if the actual ad doesn't show anything close to that).

I did think that the ad crossed a line and I did send it out to a couple of friends to see if it striked them as a bit, um, problematic, not to say homophobic, but they both thought it was a funny take on the Jib Jab ads that ran during the Bush-Kerry race but that was about it. I almost blogged about my feelings about the ad but let it go. Well, the Post cover page story came out the next day. Must mean I'm thinking along the lines of the editors at the New York Post (and that's kinda scary!).

Catch up to the visitors from Puerto Rico: As for the LGBT Puerto Rican contingent for Ferrer? Well, they will be here this weekend. You have a chance to meet them as they campaign for openly lesbian Democratic councilmember nominee Rosie Mendez (running to gain the District 2 seat vacated by Margarita Lopez) on Saturday morning at 11:30am in the Lower East Side. Fernando Ferrer will join them a little later. Interested? Call Rosie Mendez' campaign office for more info: (212) 677-1077.

The Book on Bloomberg: Finally, for local political wonks, there has always been a rumor of a strategy book used by Mark Green to attack Bloomberg in his failed 2001 mayoral campaign. Well, rejoice! Now, thanks to The Politicker, you can also get a hold on an actual copy!

Al Sharpton's Lesbian Sister

Back on August 18, when I blogged about Kanye West's thoughts about homophobia in hip-hop and rap music, you might have missed my comments on a meeting that I attended at which the Reverend Al Sharpton introduced an anti-homophobia initiative aimed at the African-American community. At the meeting, the Reverend spoke movingly about one of his mentors, Bayard Rustin, and how Rustin - a close advisor to the Reverend Martin Luther King - was shunned by some black leaders for being gay.

Today in the mail I received the October 11th, 2005 issue of "The Advocate" and - in a feature about the Reverend's initiative - he also credits someone closer to him for his interest in launching the initiative: His sister.

"My sister is gay. I understood the pain of having to lead a double life in the system [since] we grew up in a church. She is gay, and she fought that perception in church while she embraced it in her private life," says Sharpton in the article.

The article also says that the Reverend's desicion to march in a gay pride parade for the first time ever (see photo above taken at this year's Heritage of Pride march in NYC) was part of this initiative, though I don't remember seeing any anti-homophobia flyers being passed around and, at the time, it seemed more of a political move to deny other local political candidates his endorsement.

I also just blogged about Keith Boykin and Jasmyne Cannick's effort to confront the black church and its hypocrisy on gays. So it might seem a natural fit for the Reverend to join forces with these African-American leaders in challenging the black church. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be in the works:

"Soon after word of Sharpton's initiative spread," says The Advocate, "Harry Knox, director of the religion and faith program at the Washington, DC-based gay group Human Rights Campaign, flew to the Big Apple to strategize with Sharpton. 'We're going to be among the financial sponsors, but we're also working with him to get in touch with people doing similar things around the country,' Knox sais. And Sharpton's voice garners great attention. 'We're glad he's raising it on our behalf,' Knox says. HRC is contribuiting $5,000 in the initiative's projected $50,000 start up costs.'"

Now, I have met Harry and admire the work he has done, particularly while he was working at Freedom to Marry. But one of the fears I heard when word went out about the Reverend's interest in fighting homophobia in African-American communities was that his interest would be co-opted by the larger national LGBT advocay organizations (who have proved so ineffective in reaching out and working with minority LGBT activists and organizations).

Here's hoping that something can still come out of it.

Kanye West Comes Out... and why he should talk to Al Sharpton

Kanye West

Kanye West has come out... against gay bashing.

The AP has reported that in an MTV interview set to air tonight at 10:30pm (EST) the popular rapper admits having been a homophobe until one of his cousins came out, forcing him to change his attitude towards gays. Energizing the stagnant rap music word with his Grammy winning 2004 debut, "The College Dropout", Kanye is set to release a follow-up, "Late Registration", on August 30th. About gay-bashing, he says: "Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, `Yo, stop it.'"

Recently the constellation seems to be realigning itself in favor of a powerful major effort to combat homophobia in African-American communities. On Sunday, July 31st, 2005, some people went to church and were moved to tears - even those that felt long abandoned by the black churches in their communities; and - even though the event took place in New York's Riverside Church - word has traveled like wildfire through blogs and regular word-of-mouth.

Just a few days earlier, on July 27th to be more exact, I had been invited to a private meeting for the launch of an anti-homophobia project targeting African-American communities. Now, this is nothing new and there have been other African-American led efforts to do so. What made this note-worthy was that the person launching the initiative was the Reverend Al Sharpton.

At the gathering, he gave a stirring speech about his mentor, Bayard Rustin, and how it dawned on him that Bayard was gay. He spoke of how much pressure and pain African-American leaders had caused Mr. Rustin in not accepting him and about their outright despise at the fact he was gay.

He said that it was time for an effort to counter homophobia in African-American communities and, in particular, to tell black that 'being macho does not mean beating up or attacking people just because of a different sexual orientation.' Finally, he closed by saying that years had passed since he had first met Mr. Rustin and said that the initiative was perhaps '30 years too late' but that he was now ready to do this now.

Then he turned the mike over to Marjorie Harris of the Fields Harris Group, which he introduced as the communications and marketing agency which would lead the effort - and the message changed somewhat. Ms. Harris mostly spoke of the HIV transmission risk posed to black women by men on the 'down low' - men who slept with men but did not identify as gay - an increasingly disreputed "phenomenon". Ms. Harris said that what was unique about the project was that it would bring both the concern of African American women with efforts to combat homophobia in black communities under the same roof.

Now, though this was the first year that the Reverend marched in a gay pride march (see PHOTOS), it is certainly not the first time that the Reverend has sided with LGBT communities - most memorably during the his 2004 presidential campaign run. Even back in 1994 he was joining ACT UP in New York to demand that former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani make HIV/AIDS a top priority. So, despite some troubling press about the Fields Harris Group and the Reverend, he does have the right heart on the issue and - like him or not - his voice does carry in African American communities.

Now, if the Fields Harris Group could reach out to Kanye and figure out to engage him as a national spokesperson, making it easier for others to join, we would certainly be heading in the right direction.