Town hall meeting takes on homophobia in Detroit's black community

DETROIT – The article was not unlike dozens of others Brent Dorian Carpenter had written. He turned in a recap of a retreat for gay men of color he'd attended to his editor at the Michigan Citizen shortly after his return in August and assumed that was the end of it. He was wrong. It was actually the beginning of a backlash he could have never imagined. An engineer and occasional fill-in talk show host on WHPR-FM 88.1, Hodo (station manager confirmed that's his entire name) saw the article and was enraged.
"He read it over the radio and proceeded to stir up an anti-gay frenzy with his call-in guests, the result of which was folks calling in to cancel their subscriptions, people saying that I was not fit to be a member of the community and that the paper should be shut down," recalled Carpenter, who saw several layers or irony in Hodo's actions. "It was an article on love, unity and brotherhood among gay men in the community and he used it to bash us, and he did so from a radio station that sits directly across the street from Highland Park High School, where an unidentified 15-year-old freshman was beaten and hospitalized by 30 of his classmates for being gay."
Carpenter, a contributing writer for both the Citizen and Between The Lines, brought details of the episode to a BTL editorial meeting, where he learned that one of his colleagues at the paper had a similar radio talk show host horror story.
Imani Williams had been listening to Inside Detroit with Mildred Gaddis on WCHB-AM when she heard several confused gay callers in need of assistance and resources berated on the air. Williams, herself a social worker, called into the show and was treated no better by Gaddis and her co-host Greg Bowen.
"He told me that I could not be a lesbian if I had kids, and Mildred said there was no way I could be a lesbian and Christian," said Williams, who was shocked, especialy considering the fact that Gaddis had been a guest speaker at Hotter Than July – Detroit Black Gay Pride in 1997.
At the editorial meeting, Carpenter and Williams compared notes.
"We just got talking about the massive homophobia in Detroit and how local talk show hosts hold a microphone in their hands and wield it as a weapon," Williams said. "The hate that they spew is unbelievable."
Michigan Citizen Editor-in-Chief Theresa Kelly believed it, and she saw a need to do something about it. Kelly suggested that the Citizen host a town hall meeting on homophobia, an idea that Carpenter and Williams were quick to run with.
"There is no forum right now for discussion of these issues," said Kelly, explaining the origin of her idea. "All these off the wall comments that were repeatedly made on the air – there seemed like there should be some conversation and elevation of the discussion. Let's get beyond the emotion. These are people. These are life and death issues here."
When Carpenter shared Kelly's idea at a subsequent BTL meeting, the paper's publishers were quick to sign on.
"Both of the people involved in initiating this are reporters with the paper," said Susan Horowitz, BTL co-publisher. "In dialogues in the editorial meetings it became clear – and we were clear – that the amount of homophobic media going out over the airwaves in Detroit was enormous. And we felt that the best way to initiate a dialogue was to hold a town hall meeting. It's urgent, it's necessary and it's overdue. I'm hoping that the people who need to hear this conversation show up."
Therein lies the problem. As plans for the meeting continued and invitations were sent out, Gaddis and Hodo were among the first to send their regrets.
"It's unfortunate that Mildred Gaddis and Hodo will not be accountable to their listeners," said Kelly. "But if some of their listeners are educated eventually the level of the conversation will rise if people get beyond their mid-evil fears. And I do believe that's what it is: fear. Ignorance breeds contempt. It's just a matter of education. Those two will come around eventually."
In the meantime, organizers of the town hall meeting are encouraged by those who have agreed to attend. Fox 2 WJBK anchor and reporter Charles Pugh will moderate the meeting, which will take place Wednesday, Jan. 28 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. On the panel will be such distinguished dignitaries as State Senator Hansen Clark, Detroit Assistant Chief of Police Harold Cureton, Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, Detroit Public Schools CEO/Superintendent Kenneth Burnley and others.
And the Jan. 28 meeting is just the beginning of a discussion that organizers hope will long continue.
"We're planning two more town halls," said Johnny Jenkins of Detroit Black Gay Pride, a co-sponsor of the event. "We're planning one in late spring. Right now, the tentative name is 'Young, Black, Gifted and Gay.' It's going to focus on GSAs and black gay youth in the city. We're planning another one in early fall, and that's going to be focused more politically on the topic of civil rights versus gay rights. And the whole series is geared toward getting out the vote and getting people educated on our issues."
Jenkins said he'd also like to see the formation of a political action committee come out of this process.
"I'd like to see us flexing our muscle," he said. "I know we've got some. It's just a matter of seeing how much we've got."
He would also like to see Gaddis and Hodo attend one of the later meetings, if they don't ultimately make it to this one. One way or another, they will be a part of the discussion though.
"It's easy for cowards to hide behind the safety of microphones and pulpits and not have to look the people that they are affecting in the eye," said Carpenter. "But they are involved in this discussion so far as their actions instigated the gay community into convening this town hall. So for that, ironically, we owe them a measure of gratitude.
"It was Bull Connor and his fire hoses and police dogs in Birmingham that really woke the nation up to the plights of African Americans in that great civil rights movement," Carpenter continued. "This is the civil rights movement of our time. Hodo, Mildred Gaddis: I know Bull Connor was an enemy of mine, and you're no Bull Connor."