same gender loving

{{Short description|Term for African American homosexuals and bisexuals}}

Same-gender-loving, or SGL, a term coined for African American and African Diaspora use by activist Cleo Manago, is a description for homosexuals in the African American community. It emerged in the early 1990s{{cite web|title=Communities of African Descent Media Resource Kit|work=Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation|url=http://www.glaad.org/poc/coad/coad_media_kit.php|access-date=2007-02-03 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061002013523/http://www.glaad.org/poc/coad/coad_media_kit.php|archive-date=2006-10-02}}

as a culturally affirming African American homosexual identity.

SGL was adapted as an Afrocentric alternative to what are deemed Eurocentric homosexual identities (e.g. gay and lesbian) which do not culturally affirm or engage the history and cultures of people of African descent. The term SGL usually has broad, important and positive personal, social, and political purposes and consequences. SGL has been described as "an anti-hate and anti-anti-Black identity [...] movement, philosophy and framework".{{cite web|last=Manago|first=Cleo|title=What is Same Gender Loving?|url=http://bmxnational.org/faqs/what-is-same-gender-loving|access-date=16 April 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015005535/http://bmxnational.org/faqs/what-is-same-gender-loving/|archive-date=15 October 2013}}

In a 2004 study of African American men, most of whom were recruited from black gay organizations, 12% identified as same-gender-loving, while 53% identified as gay.{{cite journal|last=Malebranche|first=DJ |author2=Peterson JL |author3=Fullilove RE |author4=Stackhouse RW|title=Race and Sexual Identity: Perceptions about Medical Culture and Healthcare among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men|journal=J Natl Med Assoc|issue=96|pages=97–107|year=2004|volume=96 |pmid=14746359 |pmc=2594754}} Summarized in {{cite journal|last=Young |first=Rebecca M.|author2=Ilan H. Meyer|author2-link=Ilan H. Meyer|title=The Trouble With "MSM" and "WSW": Erasure of the Sexual-Minority Person in Public Health Discourse|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=95|issue=7|pages=1144–1149|year=2005|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2004.046714|pmid=15961753|pmc=1449332}} Men attending Black Gay Pride Festivals in nine U.S. cities in 2000 responded similarly, with 10% identifying as same-gender-loving, 66% as gay, and 14% as bisexual.{{cite conference|last=Cochran|first=SD|author2=Scott RL |author3=Mays VM |author4=Nellos C. |title=Don't Call Me Queer: Preferred Self-Identifiers for Recruiting African American MSM's in HIV Research (Abstract)|book-title=Int Conf AIDS|date=July 11–16, 2004|url=http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/102278459.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20061011230506/http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/102278459.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 11, 2006|access-date=2007-02-01}} Recent studies indicate that African-American disadvantaged youths are less likely than Euro-American youths to self-label as gay male, lesbian, or transgender youths.{{cite journal|last=Parks|first=Carlton W.|title=African-American Same-Gender-Loving Youths and Families in Urban Schools|journal=Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services|date=January 1, 2001|volume=13|issue=3|pages=41–56|doi=10.1300/J041v13n03_03|s2cid=145727328|issn=1053-8720|quote=Urban school personnel need to be aware that ethnic minority same-gender-loving youths often choose not to self-label as “gay,” “lesbian,” or “bisexual” (Monteiro & Fuqua, 1996; Peterson, 1992{{ISBN missing}}) ... Because most men of color do not self-label as gay or bisexual, the phrase same-gender-loving youths was selected to describe this population. This phrase currently is used by men of color in major urban centers as a {{sic|hide=y|culturally|-}}informed self-label related to their sexual orientation identity.}}

The National Black Men's Xchange is the oldest and largest US "community-based movement devoted to promoting healthy self-concept and behavior, cultural affirmation and critical consciousness among same-gender loving (SGL), gay-identifying and bisexual African-descended males and allies".{{cite web|title=Founder of Black Men's Xchange Issues Statement Regarding CNN's Don Lemon|url=http://www.dogonvillage.com/?p=2168|access-date=6 January 2011|author=villagechief}}