Rethinking Gay Pride and Decency
By Tracy Gibson




( United Bank of Philadelphia Needs FIVE more branches -- West Philadelphia; Upper Darby; South Philadelphia; Bryn Mare; Radnor )
I know. I know. You don’t really want to hear what I have to say and you wish I would shut up and crawl under a rock. Well, I’m hear speaking for God, fairness, decency and righteousness and I have a lot to say. My voice will not be quieted, like Martin’s voice, Angela’s voice, Malcolm’s voice and Medgar’s voices were not quieted.
I am before you today to talk about Gay rights / AIDS / HIV and decency as well as everybody else acting with more decency, including those who are vilifying the Black Gay and Black Lesbian community. (By the Way I include transgendered People and Bisexuals, queers and the straight people who LOVe and appreciate us in this bailiwick as well..)
I get tired of People who are gay and lesbians – but especially Gay men of all colors – talkin about gay rights and what they don’t get and How they are discriminated against when they go to Black Gay Pride in Atlanta and act like a bunch of wild hooligans. They don’t try to live decent lives and buy something more than a designer pair of sneakers and expect respect. They have sex (not that it is any of my business) with three different People a week and think this is OK. Now I had so sow my own wild oats so I know this sex thing is a scary, secretive and sensitive subject, but just go with my on this journey if you will.
The young People (and ashamedly older Black People as well), the young Black People travel to Atlanta, Georgia just to take part in the free and open sex that is going on. During Free-Sex Black Gay Pride week, they are seen swinging off of the Rafters, eating things with hair on them, switching down the halls of White-owned hotels, Sucking this and sucking that and not taking prisoners or asking questions. This new drug is just allowing this kind of behavior to happen with no holds barred. (PrEP). I am glad People aren’t getting sick as much or as seriously as they once were. (Believe me I have lost more than my share of good friends). But People of all ages, races, sexual persuasions and economic levels need to learn some decorum, decency, respect and kindness. They MUST understand that treating other People like animals takes up a whole animal instinct within the Person doing the indecent behavior in the first place. This doesn’t only go for Black Gay men, but for the host of ranges of People and behaviors on this planet -- this still alive earth we hear so much about lately.
These same sex addicted folks (Believe me I know about it because I put myself through years of therapy and am a recovering sex addict myself) these same sex-addicted folks haven’t a dime to share with People who are Gay activists who also have decent lives and want to better this Black Gay community from the inside out all the Way through.
Not only will they not stop hanging from the Rafters long enough to give decent folks a dime -- they won’t go to church; they won’t go to Mosque; they won’t go to Synagogue and they won’t even think about more refined things in life like going to the Opera; fine dining; listening to Classic European Music like Doschefiski, Beethoven or Tchokofskie; looking seriously at a painting by Sister Claudia Aziza Gibson Hunter, Tanner or Rembrandt; buying into stock / bond market interests; listening to Classic jazz like Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, Lonnie Liston Smith or Bobbi Humphrey (Black female Flutist). They would not stop from having sex long enough to think that they deserve to attend Black hotels in Atlanta (and other cities) and treat those hotels with respect, decency and dignity. They don’t understand that they need to live GODly lives, even if they are homosexuals or heterosexuals with a penton for living outside the so-called norm.
No matter what our sexual proclivities are or who we go to bed with, we as humans – regardless if we are Black or White – need to take into consideration that we need to build lives of decency, good will, respect, an orientation towards justice and fair play, openness, acceptance of our Fellow humans and GODlyness. One is not stricken from decent behavior just because one is Gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgendered. This is a reward that comes along with being accepted as humans who want to marry and it is part of the unspoken equation that comes along with marriage rights and the other rights Gay and Lesbian and Transgendered People are getting such as a right to a job; not being sexually identified on their SEPTA transpasses; and having the right to protest, congregate, own businesses, and support Gay and Black owned businesses if we s with. Some of these rights have been long fought for. Some of these rights are just being won, s Donald Trump gears up to snatch them away from us.
Moreover, He (The Donald) will find it quite easy to snatch these rights away unless we not only vote with our votes, but with our Fendi Pocket books by buying Back and buying progressive and buying Gay. The Donald will find such things as taking away our rights because we are not doing our homework and fighting back in an organized, decent, timely, intelligent and did I say economically supported and organized fashion?
You buy a Black hotel by owning your own house and buying income properties for about 40 years and parlaying those houses into enough credit (along with taking on other Black partners and having a good job; good credit rating and being responsible.) You do not own hotels, apartment buildings, office building and large to very large businesses by swinging off the rafters at Sheraton Hotels in Center City or acting irresponsibly in other ways.
Don’t think some of the People who own much of the means of production are not silly and out of control also. There are always exceptions to every rule. There are People (Mostly White) who own major business chains like McDonalds; Burger King; Hiil and Knowlton [Public Relations]; Macy’s; Haliburton; British Petroleum; General Electric etc. who are totally out of their minds and out of control. Some of the things (related to the development and establishment of U.S. policy and taking advantage of that policy ) some of the things said corporations do in this regard are totally crazy and they will be exposed soon and People will no longer want to shop at their stores and shops.
Just like The Donald will not get one half of what He wants to get done, done, we have to organize to make sure that fact rings true by 2019 – the midterm elections. But this is not only about elections, it is about economics and building a strong Black economic base that is unshakable, stable, multifaceted, all embracing of our Black People and one that exudes the evasive decency I’m talking about. 


















