As you’ve probably noticed already, gay rights is a very charged and controversial issue in American society. Nowhere is this more true than among Black Americans. As the New York Times reports, the issue of whether or not to accept homosexuality has divided many predominantly Black churches around the country:

In St. Paul, the Rev. Oliver White, senior minister of Grace Community Church, lost nearly all his 70 congregants after he voted in 2005 to support the blessing of same-sex unions in his denomination, the United Church of Christ. . . .

Some black ministers, like their white counterparts, said they had been moved to reconsider biblical passages about same-sex relations by personal events, like finding out that a friend or relative is gay. Some members of the clergy contend that because of the antipathy to gay men and lesbians, black churches have done little to address the high rate of H.I.V. infection among African-Americans. . . .

Some leading African-American religious thinkers and leaders — like Cornel West, the Rev. Peter J. Gomes and the Rev. Michael Eric Dyson — have called for inclusion of gay men and lesbians. But other leaders are convinced that the Bible condemns homosexuality and that tolerance of gay men and lesbians is a yet another dangerous force buffeting the already fragile black family.

Although I don’t have any sources to cite, I have heard consistently heard that in general, Blacks tend to be less accepting of homosexuality in general and same sex marriage specifically than other racial groups. This divisive sentiment is described quite well in the article and its examples of how congregations have dwindled in Black churches that have openly accepted gays and lesbians.

In fact, my students and I recently covered this topic in my “Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity” course (that also includes Sexuality topics). We watched the excellent documentary video Tying the Knot that convincingly illustrated the connections between the current opposition to same sex marriage and the opposition to interracial marriage prior to the Supreme Court striking down state bans on interracial marriage in 1968.

Ultimately, I might be tempted to take the easy way out of this debate and say that homosexuality is a very moralistic issue that defies rational analysis and therefore people can disagree based on their personal convictions. But in the end, as the article points out, Black pastors who used to cite the Bible in their opposition to homosexuality have changed their mind and have found other Bible passages that support accepting homosexuality.

My point is that even if homosexuality is a moralistic issue, morals can -- and often do -- change. Similar to how opponents used the Bible to preach against interracial marriage before 1968 and how most people nowadays see very little link between the two, so too do I feel the same way about moralistic interpretations of homosexuality.

The bottom line is, people of all races will still oppose homosexuality. But we are seeing that using the Bible to base their opposition is increasingly becoming a very tenuous foundation.