Wilson Weasels Out?

I wrote earlier about the anti-gay remarks Washington’s own Big Black Bigot — “Rev.” Willie Wilson, on of the organizers of the Million More March” — made recently. Just to refresh your memory, though, here’s a taste.

“Sisters making more money than brothers and it’s creating problems in families … that’s one of the reasons many of our women are becoming lesbians,” Wilson said.

…“Lesbianism is about to take over our community. … I ain’t homophobic because everybody here got something wrong with him,” he said. “But … women falling down on another woman, strapping yourself up with something, it ain’t real. That thing ain’t got no feeling in it. It ain’t natural. Anytime somebody got to slap some grease on your behind and stick something in you, it’s something wrong with that. Your butt ain’t made for that.

“No wonder your behind is bleeding,” he said. “You can’t make no connection with a screw and another screw. The Bible says God made them male and female.”

Wilson’s remarks have been bandied about in the news ever since, and it seems as though he’s trying to shift positions or at least make it look that way. He seemed to start out standing by his remarks shortly after they hit the news, with more than a little belligerence — belligerence which was apparently backed by his congretation.

TV trucks were in front of the church and reporters were in the pews yesterday as Wilson made it clear there would be no tearful apology to the cameras.

“I’ve been called by radio and TV all day yesterday,” Wilson said. “I said: ‘I ain’t got nothing to say to you. You don’t know us. You don’t care about us. Get off this phone. Don’t call me no more.’ ”

The crowd erupted with cheers and encouragement.

Later, though, Wilson seemed to be trying to back away from his remarks, claiming they had been misunderstood.

A well-known minister who has come under fire for remarks about lesbians said yesterday that his comments were taken out of context.

…Wilson, national executive director of the Millions More Movement to mark the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March in October, said his comments were misunderstood by those outside the church. “You know what I was talking about,” said Wilson, a former mayoral candidate. “I was talking about a serious problem in our schools about our young girls. I was speaking to that issue.”

You can revisit the previous post to read and hear Wilson’s words for yourself, and then decide to what degree they were misunderstood. If you ask me, Wilson spoke his mind pretty clearly, with the candor of a man who believed he was in safe company (though now he seems to think otherwise, chiding his congregation this Sunday with “Whatever goes on in this house stays in this house”). Wilson’s remarks, combined with the failure to include black gays and lesbian in initial planning for the Million More March, are a pretty good indication of the level of acceptance and inclusion black gays can expect — unless the community makes a significant effort to show otherwise. Thus far, only a few seem to have objected to Wilson’s comment.s

I was living in D.C. when the Million Man March came to town, and I remember the discussion over the inclusion and participation of black gay men. I was torn about whether to attend or participate, and in the end decided not to march. I was too troubled by Farrakahn’s past remarks about homosexuality (Usenet is forever), to bring myself to participate at that level. Instead, I went to work that day, then snuck away on my lunch hour to go down to the National Mall and hear some of the speeches. On my way back, I saw groups of black men huddled by radios, here and there, listening to the speeches; some even with hands joined and heads bowed in prayer. I can’t say I came away from it all with a strong feeling of connection or brotherhood. Maybe I would have if I’d marched with the black gay contingent. But that wasn’t the case.

With this recent turn of events, and Wilson’s association with the Million More March, I’m not sure I’ll see my way clear to attending or participating this time either. (Besides, I’m not sure whether my family — the hubby in particular — would be well received.) To paraphrase Joseph Beam, if I can’t come home as who I am then I might as well not make the trip.

Oh well, maybe Robert Traynham will be there. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by anti-gay rhetoric.