A groundbreaking study of the intersections of race and sexuality, by an all-star group of writers. From Selma and Stonewall to California's Proposition 209 and the Defense of Marriage Act, blacks and gays continue to face resistance. Conservatives often lump these two groups together by arguing that both are demanding not equal rights, but "special" rights. In fact, gay rights activists have drawn parallels between their own struggles and the civil rights movement. Yet others have balked at any comparison, and conflict between the minorities has recently arisen. In an unprecedented undertaking, Dangerous Liaisons provides a platform for the leading minds of both communities, including those who straddle both worlds, to debate the volatile subject of the relationship between African Americans and homosexuals. In eleven newly commissioned pieces together with five classic essays, Dangerous Liaisons addresses such timely issues as attitudes toward gay marriage versus attitudes toward interracial marriage; the growth of gay and lesbian rights organizations and homophobia in the black church; and conflict among minorities in the arts. Dangerous Liaisons presents well-known historians, political analysts, activists, artists, writers and philosophers on minority relations in the struggle for legal, social, and cultural equality.

Contributors:
Michael Bronski
George Chauncey
Cheryl Clark
Cathy Cohen
Gary Comstock
Samuel Delany
Martin Duberman
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Jewelle Gomez
Pillip Brian Harper
Audre Lorde
Robert Reid-Pharr
Darieck Scott
Barbara Smith
Alisa Solomon
Cornel West

Many gays and lesbians have suffered from oppression in the United States; so have many African Americans. But their mutual suffering has not necessarily led to sympathy and collaboration: witness the sharp protests among some black leaders when queer activists compare their struggle to the civil rights movement, or the subtle exclusion of gays and lesbians of color from some activist organizations. The essays in Dangerous Liaisons all stem from the premise that this division is counterproductive in combating both racism and homophobia. Contributors include Henry Louis Gates Jr., Audre Lorde, Cornel West, and Samuel Delany. Jewelle Gomez describes the ways in which her acceptance in the black community has often been predicated upon suppressing her lesbianism, while Martin Duberman describes his experiences researching and writing his biography of Paul Robeson. In all these essays runs an undercurrent that Barbara Smith makes explicit: "All of the aspects of who I am are crucial, indivisible, and pose no inherent conflict."