R&B singer and LGBTQ+ ally Tank is challenging the perception that a so-called “gay agenda” is an attack on Black masculinity.
On the December 3 episode of the Holdin Court podcast, the singer – who made headlines in 2019 for saying that same-sex experimentation doesn’t necessarily make men gay – explained why he thinks the “homosexual conversation” among Black men is “a mess.”
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“The phobia as it relates to Black men is the elephant in the room,” Tank told hosts Big Court and Rachel Reneé, “and no one will actually articulate their devastation.”
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“You have to think, for a Black man, the worst thing to be called is gay,” he continued. “The first thing somebody is going to allude to, whether you are gay or not, when they are trying to assassinate your character or get off the highest joke imaginable — they’re going ‘gay’ first.”
Tank went on to suggest that “something within our culture” has created a stigma around homosexuality, which he said stems from the perception that “somehow there is a program to make Black men gay.”
“You see it everywhere,” he said. “‘There is an attack on strong Black men.’ But who’s the attack coming from?”
Big Court suggested that the perception of this so-called “gay agenda” may come from the fact that LGBTQ+ people are now more visible in media.
“Back in our generation — we’re the exact same age — we didn’t see homosexuality,” the host said. “It’s been around since the beginning of time, but it was your auntie’s friend, your uncle’s friend. But now it’s more in your face, it’s more acceptable, it’s more mainstream, actually trendy.”
Reneé noted that plenty of Black men in music have been celebrated for their androgynous style, from Prince to Rick James.
“That was in the context of entertainment,” Big Court said. “It’s showmanship. So, whereas we never saw anyone like that in real life.”
“We celebrated that. We owned it,” Tank said of androgynous style. “It wasn’t an attack or an assassination on anything.”
He went on to shut down the idea that queer visibility represents an “agenda” to minimize Black masculinity or heterosexuality. “No disrespect to homosexuality, I’ve never seen anything that made me say, ‘Oh wow, I wanna be gay. I’m inspired to be gay,’” he said.
Tank added that he understands homophobia because he was raised to believe that being gay was “an abomination,” and moved away from those beliefs.
But the singer also asserted that his LGBTQ+ allyship doesn’t compromise his faith.
“What I learned on my walk and on my journey is that all humans were created different,” he explained, “and the two things that every human being requires is grace and love. Every human deserves that. And once I got into that headspace I started looking at people differently. I don’t care who you sleep with.”
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