In any case, our different interpretations point to why I said that this kind of article is better suited to a personal blog where the author and the writers share cultural references and an assumed bond of good faith. You attended the reading, and your experience contributes to your positive interpretation of this blog post. Other readers who did not go to the reading, and who may come from different social milieux, are obviously troubled by it. I am going to hazard a guess that most of the readers of this blog were not familiar with this book before seeing this article featured on the front page of The Defenders Online. It may very well be an excellent book, but, standing alone, this article appears to perpetuate, rather than challenge, pernicious stereotypes.

For what it’s worth, I agree with everything LDF Supporter said.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is America’s legal counsel on issues of race. Through advocacy and litigation, LDF focuses on issues of education, voter protection, economic justice and criminal justice. We encourage students to embark on careers in the public interest through scholarship and internship programs. LDF pursues racial justice to move our nation toward a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans

In addition to being wholly unrelated to LDF’s core issues–education, voting, economic justice, and criminal justice–this posting should offend anyone interested in LDF’s broader role in combating harmful stereotypes about minority groups, which serve only to fuel racism, sexism, homophobia or transphobia, and other forms of pernicious discrimination. Specifically, in attempting to describe her friend Alan, Ms. Patton instead portrays a cartoonish caricature of a gay white man, painting the portrait of an insecure yet narcissistic young man obsessed with feminine imagery, iconic female singers and actresses, and body image. Although, as with any stereotype, we may recognize elements of these traits in individual gay (and, dare I say, straight) men, the sweeping brush with which Ms. Patton paints “gay men” as a seemingly monolithic group who “idolize divas” gives false credibility to the validity of these stereotypes. It should go without saying that the “diva” stereotype of African American women referenced throughout this posting is equally troubling, particularly coming from a staff member of a national civil rights organization.

As a fierce advocate of civil rights and equality for all–and a deep admirer of LDF’s unique place in the historic and contemporary public discourse on racial and economic justice–I worry that postings like this dilute the LDF brand and unnecessarily distract the organization and its constituents from the critical work LDF and its attorneys undertake on a daily basis. It should not go unnoticed that nearly a week has passed since the oral arguments at the Supreme Court in NAMUDNO in which LDF’s attorneys admirably embodied the spirit of Thurgood Marshall in defending the Voting Rights Act, yet the main page on the LDF website contains just a two-paragraph posting about the oral arguments. That post chooses only to link to the audio of the arguments and a video of a press conference rather than to provide any summary of what transpired at the Court that day. Yet, at the same time, a paid LDF staff member wrote this 29-paragraph, 1500-word entry on a book reading about a topic unrelated to LDF’s work?

I would hope that this blog can find its true worth in helping to create a public forum on genuine issues of civil rights. LDF would benefit from such a dialogue, including, in the context of LGBT rights, on issues of common interest with communities of color, such as tackling efforts to write discrimination into law through ballot measures like California’s Proposition 8, addressing the HIV epidemic, and working together on enacting or improving non-discrimination laws and hate crimes legislation. All of these issues are critical–and timely–and I lament any missed opportunity to engage the LDF community on these real issues by diverting the organization’s limited human and financial resources to creating blog postings such as this.

Deana Johnson
Brooklyn