WASHINGTON – They’re here, they’re queer, they’re typical.
Alvin Williams and Nigel Simon are an African-American couple who have been together six years, own a home, have an adopted 6-year-old son and are both veterans.
That makes the Upper Marlboro couple fairly representative of black same-sex families across the country, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
“When the issues of gays and lesbians are addressed in the media, it’s all white,” said Simon, who works for the Environmental Protection Agency. “They forget there are African-American gays and lesbians.
“When you hear about gay adoption it’s us. When you hear about marriage, it’s us. That’s been the biggest issue we’ve been trying to kick down, the visibility issue,” he said.
The task force said the 2000 Census counted 600,000 self-identified same-sex couples in the United States. Of those, the study found that 85,000 were black or had one black partner.
The Washington-Baltimore region had 4,997 same-sex black couples, trailing only New York City’s 10,460.
But Pine Bluff, Ark., had the largest proportion of African-American same-sex couples — 66 percent of all same-sex couples in that city are black.
Other findings include:
— Same-sex black couples earn less than either heterosexual black couples or same-sex white couples. Black lesbian couples report median incomes $9,000 less than heterosexual black couples and $18,000 less than white lesbian couples.
— Income differences notwithstanding, black same-sex couples are about twice as likely as their white counterparts to be raising children, adopted or biological. Close to two-thirds, 61 percent, of African-American lesbian couples are parents, compared to 46 percent of African-American gay couples.
— African-American lesbian partners are four times more likely to have served in the military than other black women, single or married. But while black lesbians represent less than 1 percent of all veterans, they make up 3 percent of those discharged for their sexual orientation.
The study is aimed at countering homophobia in the black community as well as conservative groups that have been reaching out to black churches as part of their campaign against same-sex marriage, said Matt Foreman, director of the task force.
In November elections, 11 states will vote on whether to ban same-sex marriage, he said. In eight of those states, passage could mean a rollback of domestic partners’ benefits and adoption rights.
“Black gay and lesbian couples have more to gain if allowed to marry,” Foreman said, “and more to lose if it is banned.”
-30- CNS 10-06-04