really?
I didn't know it was a thing
Now I have to think about it, and I'd really rather not.
From Gawker
(alas, because it reads more like Thought Catalog):
There has been much ado about the newfound notion of “black gay privilege.” In numerous tweets, blogs, and a certain Huffington Post article, it has been articulated as a special benefit enjoyed by black gay men. This “privilege” - produced by white anxiety and white supremacy - supposedly enables us to evade the traditional economic struggles experienced by straight black men.
The crux of the argument is such: White people are less intimidated by black gay men because they are seen as less of a threat. Therefore, black gay men enjoy greater employment options and benefits than black straight men. Said “privilege” is situated on the assertion that black gay men are less masculine and therefore less intimidating to white men and women, and more likely to be hired and promoted.
So what's chapping my ass about this particular phenomenon is that, to the best of my knowledge, I haven't been competing for the same jobs with straight black men. It's about the skill set.
Add to that the notion that to be a “non-threatening black gay man,” I'd need to lead with my sexual preference at the job interview, which is not something I do because it's not only irrelevant, it's completely inappropriate.
On the whole, the arguments advanced by Mr. Wilson reek of lame-ass Afrocentric arguments that Frances Cress Welsing was spewing back in the seventies about the hypermasculine black male, untouched by the European incursions into Africa and the feminized European male. It was bullshit then, and it's even bullshittier now.