The "Down Low"

“Double Lives on the Down Low” by Benoit Denizet-Lewis was unlike anything I have ever read before. What I initially noticed was that the article read like a story, which immediately made it much more enjoyable to read. I was shocked that by the third paragraph there was already a clear differentiation and segregation between the white club for openly gay males, and the mostly black and Hispanic club where men go but do not consider themselves to be gay. First of all, the two groups go to two different clubs, so no intermingling of race occurs. Secondly, the white males are willing to admit that they are gay, but the blacks will not. I was shocked to hear the reasoning behind this, that the black culture believes “masculinity and fatherhood as a black man’s primary responsibility and homosexuality as a white man’s perversion.” This idea struck me as strange, as though it isn’t possible for a black man to be gay, but it definitely is possible for a white man to be gay.
My eyebrows kind of rose when I read about what being on the “Down Low” meant. I found it so unheard of to technically be gay, but consider yourself not to be due to your particular culture’s views. It is one thing to not “come out of the closet” or seemingly acknowledge to others that you are gay, but it is another to deny to yourself that you actually are gay and refuse to put the label of being “gay” on it even if you simply plan to keep it to yourself.
I definitely agree that “looking black enough” equates to “looking masculine, tough, and “straight.” It seems as though a black man will not admit to being gay, because there is such a strong focus on masculinity, and it is viewed as though gayness and masculinity cannot go hand in hand with each other. This made me think back to class, when we talked about the idea of “doing gender,” that gender is not something that you are, it is something that you do. These technically gay men on the “Down Low,” are not gay, that they are masculine and just like to have a good time.
I find it interesting that the black culture finds the “Down Low” label to be a separation from white, gay culture. In particular, I like the response that followed Denizet-Lewis’s question of the difference between being on the “Down Low” and being in the closet, stating that, “Being on the DL is about having fun, being who you are, but keeping your business to yourself. The closet isn’t fun. In the closet, you’re lonely.” This example definitely shows that people have their own ideas about gender in their particular culture, and they find their black culture’s view on it different than the white culture’s view of gayness. The statement that really expressed the black culture’s belief on gayness reads, “It’s not like if you’re black and gay, because then it’s like you’ve let down the whole black community, black women, black history, black pride.” This statement reads as though being gay is a bad thing, and that the black community cannot take another blow to its ego.
I felt that it was a very logical idea that the black community is “simply too homophobic and views homosexuality as a curse against a race with too many strikes against it; whereas, the white community is more accepting of its sexual minorities, leading to fewer double lives, less shame, and less unsafe sex.” I also thought that the concept of gay men not admitting that they are gay because they need their family because of economic reasons and racism in particular was a very valid excuse. It was really sad to think about how black, gay men can choose to be discriminated against at home for their sexuality or discriminated somewhere else for their skin color, if they do choose to share with others that they are gay. It is not right that society is like this, and people should be able to express their sexuality no matter what the color of their skin may happen to be.
Because this article discussed the AIDS epidemic, I was thinking about healthcare, and I noticed a particular quote that seemed to express a concept dominant to the black culture, “Black people trust the church. We don’t trust health care. We don’t trust doctors and nurses, but we trust the church. So when the church says, ‘Get tested,’ when the church says, ‘Take your medicine,’ people will do it.” This particularly reminded me about when we discussed in class how institutions interact and why the health disparities among races exist. I connected this to this particular quote from the article, because if minority representation among doctors and other care positions can be increased in the health care field and facilities, black minorities may feel more comfortable getting help. Yes, the black community should be able to trust the church, but they should be able to trust health care as well.