It is again time for South Carolina Black Pride Week which, starting Wednesday, will celebrate the African-American LGBT community through a myriad of family-friendly, political and entertainment events for “the most vulnerable and underserved within our community,” as described on the SC Black Pride website.
South Carolina Black Pride Week is hosted by SC Black Pride, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to connect all LGBT persons and celebrate their beauty and individuality, as they “each share a past in the journey to equality,” according to the SCBP website.
Pride Week incorporates the organization’s “6 Pillars of Pride” — education, youth and young adult, health and wellness, community involvement, political awareness and LGBT unity — in each of its events. Black Pride Week’s 2015 theme is “Primetime 4 Black Pride — 10 years of Standing in our Truth” to celebrate a decade of work done toward equality and acceptance of the African American LGBT community in South Carolina.
Black Pride Week’s biggest event is the Expo, which will consist of a film festival, over 20 vendors, an entertainment line-up, a kid’s room and recreational activities. The Expo, to be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Meadowlake Park, will also offer free and confidential HIV testing by Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services. As an educational event, several workshops hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, SC Equality and SCBP will take place on Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Cecil Tillis Center. Other events include a Sunday picnic, men’s entertainment night and “Blackbird” premiere.
For gay African Americans, who represent the highest proportion of the LGBT community in the U.S., the journey to equality is ongoing. In a 2012 study the Black Youth Project found that 43 percent of black gay adolescents have contemplated or attempted suicide and 26 percent are targeted in anti-gay bullying. South Carolina is one of seven states with laws against positive instruction in schools (where a majority of bullying occurs) regarding LGBT matters.
Michael LaSala, a social work professor and researcher at Rutgers University, attributes such staggering numbers to the intersection of homophobia and racism. Black citizens and especially black males, LaSala argues, are expected by family and peers to fend off racism with an overly masculine disposition. As a result, black, gay men perceived as such often draw a negative reaction from family. According to his studies, LaSala says many respond with, “You have everything going against you so why choose this?” adding extra pressure to black gays, whether in or out of the closet.
SCBP President Anthony Beckett sees South Carolina Black Pride Week and related celebrations nationwide as a way to relieve some of that pressure and add a rung to the ladder of equality.
“Until there is true justice and equality present in every facet of the human experience in America, Black Prides will always be necessary,” Beckett said.
South Carolina Black Pride Week kicks off Wednesday night at 7 p.m. with Family Bowling Night held at Royal Z Lanes. Admission is $10 per person including shoe rentals, and refreshments and prizes will be given out during the event.