In light of the charges against Bishop Eddie Long, Vanderbilt sociologist Richard Pitt is available for comment to media. Pitt鈥檚 research interests include the intersection of sexual identity and religion. He looks specifically at homosexuality and the black church in his papers 鈥淜illing the Messenger: Gay Black Men鈥檚 Negotiation of Anti-Gay Religious Messages,鈥� and 鈥淪till Looking for My Jonathan: Gay Black Men鈥檚 Management of Religious and Sexual Identity Conflicts.鈥�
Media interested in interviewing Pitt, an assistant professor of sociology, can reach him at 615-322-7530, 615-322-2706 or r.pitt@vanderbilt.edu.
Regarding the questions surrounding Bishop Eddie Long . . .
鈥淭he burning question is, 鈥榃hat will the barbershop talk about this be?鈥� Will black America move to important questions about the black church鈥檚 silence about sex and sexuality, prosperity theology, the power of (black) spiritual leaders over their congregations or will this quickly become another opportunity for the black community to engage in paranoid fantasies about a down-low epidemic (鈥渘ow it鈥檚 in the church鈥�) or to conflate loving, adult, gay relationships with pedophilic and coercive ones.聽 Would his chances of surviving this, ministry and reputation soiled but intact, be increased if women were accusing him of this impropriety? Regardless of how this comes out, I worry that the fallout won鈥檛 hit the right targets.鈥�
On anti-gay religious messages聽 . . .
鈥淕ay men (and to a lesser degree, women) attend churches for all the same reasons anyone else might.聽They come for the messages and community that doesn鈥檛 denigrate them and ignore the occasional messages that pointedly might be antagonistic toward them.聽It is a flawed assumption that every Sunday, there are anti-gay messages.聽They鈥檙e no more likely to leave Eddie Long鈥檚 church than the heterosexuals who are 鈥榮hacking up鈥� would.聽In fact, the black church鈥檚 own version of 鈥榙on鈥檛 ask, don鈥檛 tell鈥� allowing gay men and women to attend, serve, and (most importantly) GIVE makes it unnecessary for most to even consider an exodus.鈥�