Same gender loving

Same gender loving, or SGL, a term coined for African American use by activist Cleo Manago, is a description for homosexuals, particularly in the African-American community. It emerged in the early 1990s [cite web |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Communities of African Descent Media Resource Kit |work=Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation |publisher= |date= |url=http://www.glaad.org/poc/coad/coad_media_kit.php |accessdate=2007-02-03 ] and is often used by those who prefer to distance themselves from terms that they see as associated with "white-dominated" lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities. [cite journal |last=Poynter |first=Kerry John |authorlink= |coauthors=Jamie Washington |title=Multiple Identities: Creating Community on Campus for LGBT Students |journal=New Directions for Student Services |volume= |issue=111 |pages=45 |date=2005 |doi=] The term includes both down-low and openly homosexual persons within the black communities. It is also considered by some to be more descriptive of emotional links between gay men than the identity "gay". Though the term was first used by Manago as an attempt to separate from what he perceives as the "gay, white establishment", its actual meaning is not race-specific.

In a 2004 study of African American men, most of whom were recruited from black gay organizations, 12% identified as same gender loving, while 53% identified as gay. [cite journal |last=Malebranche |first=DJ |authorlink= |coauthors=Peterson JL, Fullilove RE, Stackhouse RW |title=Race and Sexual Identity: Perceptions about Medical Culture and Healthcare among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men |journal=J Natl Med Assoc. |volume= |issue=96 |pages=97–107 |publisher= |date=2004 |accessdate= Summarized in cite journal |last=Young |first=Rebecca M. |authorlink= |coauthors=Ilan H. Meyer |title=The Trouble With "MSM" and "WSW": Erasure of the Sexual-Minority Person in Public Health Discourse |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=95 |issue=7 |pages=1144–1149 |publisher= |date=2005 |url= |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2004.046714 ] Men attending Black Gay Pride Festivals in nine U.S. cities in 2000 responded similarly, with 10% identifying as same gender loving, 66% as gay, and 14% as bisexual. [cite conference |last=Cochran |first=SD |authorlink= |coauthors=Scott RL, Mays VM, Nellos C. |title=Don't Call Me Queer: Preferred Self-Identifiers for Recruiting African American MSM's in HIV Research (Abstract) | booktitle = Int Conf AIDS |pages= |publisher= |date=July 11-16, 2004 |location= |url=http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/102278459.html |doi= |id= |accessdate=2007-02-01]

ee also

*Down-low (MSM)
*Same-sex attraction

References