Does homosexuality remain the greatest taboo in black culture? Is homosexuality a European cultural imposition on Africans? Are you black first or queer? These are the questions the anthology "The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities," edited by Delroy Constantine-Simms, seeks to answer through essays from academics, journalists, other writers.

There are twenty-eight essays in the book, with thirteen of them focusing on issues related primarily to African-American men or male homosexuality, and only four focused on lesbianism and bisexuality in the black community (a shortcoming which Constantine-Simms plans to rectify in the second volume, which is set to be published in the summer of 2003).

The female-focused essays in this collection include:

• Mati-ism and Black Lesbianism: Two Idealtypical Expressions of Female Homosexuality in Black communities of the Diaspora--Gloria Wekker
• Creations of Fantasies/Constructions of Identities: The Oppositional Lives of Gladys Bentley--Carmen Mitchell
• Bessie Smith: One of the first Divas--Kennette Crockett
• A Feisty Female Rapper Breaks a Hip-Hop Taboo--Laura Jamison

It is worth noting that three of the four are profiles of celebrities, with only the first essay looking at larger issues of lesbianism/bisexuality within the black community--which is unfortunate since, as writers such as bell hooks and Keith Boykin have pointed out, lesbianism occupies a unique position with the black community and is perceived as threatening for very different reasons than male homosexuality.

But the essays are interesting nonetheless, especially Wekker's, which explores the difference between mati-ism (based on the Sranan Tongo word for women who have had sex with other women but still maintain sexual relationships with men) and black lesbianism, asserting that the institution of mati-ism has "retained more Afrocentric, working-class elements, while black lesbianism has more middle-class, Eurocentric features" (p. 149).

The other three articles, on performance artists Gladys Bentley, Bessie Smith, and rapper Queen Penn, were illuminating in their exploration of the artists' sexuality as it related to their performance. Smith, of course, was a fairly well-known bisexual jazz singer from the 20's and 30's, Bentley was a lesbian drag king recording artist during the Harlem Renaissance period, and Penn was an up-and-coming female rapper in the late 90's with a sexually ambiguous hit song called "Girlfriend" who has now mostly disappeared from the music scene.

There are also ten articles in the anthology that focus on issues relevant to all gay African-Americans, however; these include:

• Forward--Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
• My Gay Problem, Your Black Problem--Earl Ofari Hutchinson
• Can the Queen Speak? Racial Essentialism, Sexuality, and the Problem of Authority--Dwight A. McBride
• Homophobia in Black Communities--bell hooks
• Are You Black First, or Are you Queer?--Gregory Conerly
• Is Homosexuality the Greatest Taboo--Delroy Constantine-Simms
• Their Own Received Them Not: African American Lesbians and Gays in Black Churches--Horace Griffin
• Heart of Lavender--Eugene J. Patron
• The House That Kids Built: The Gay Black Imprint on American Dance Music--Anthony Thomas
• Swishing and Swaggering: Homosexuality in Black Magazines During the 1950's--Gregory Conerly
• Epilogue: Coming Home--Conrad Pegues

Bell hooks' essay "Homophobia in Black Communities" was first published in 1989 but is no less relevant today. Her exploration of homophobia in the black communities has been a foundation for much academic work since then, and is in fact critiqued in another essay in the book, "Can the Queen Speak? Racial Essentialism, Sexuality and the Problem of Authority." In fact, many of the articles reference, critique, or build on each other, which helps the book feel like well-rounded conversation (the paltry number of female-focused articles aside).

One of the male-focused articles, "Hip Hop's Closet: a Fanzine Article Touches a Nerve" by Rolling Stone critic Toure, is one of the reasons the anthology created such a stir when it came out, since this essay suggests that many of the trappings of hip hop stem from homosexual subcultures and that the virulent homophobic lyrics in many rap songs are an example of "protesting too much." Both the black media and wider media outlets jumped all over this assertion, creating headlines like "Hip Hop Has Gay Roots?" and generating a lot of publicity for the book.

When this anthology was published in 2001, it was hailed by many in the African-American community as a long-overdue exploration of the subject of homosexuality within the black community--and criticized by many for being too American-centric, overly academic, and an example of heterosexual colonization.

The first charge has merit, but according to editor Delroy Constantine-Simms, the overwhelming number of American writers in the collection is not due to a lack of effort on his part, but because few essays were submitted by British writers (or writers of other nationalities) despite his best efforts to recruit them.

The second charge--that the articles are too academic in tone (and therefore inaccessible to most readers)--is debatable since some critics have actually commended the book precisely for its readability and lack of academic emphasis. It is true that the essays are heavily weighted towards academic writers, but few seem to be so jargon-heavy that they are unreadable to the non-academic reader.

The final charge of heterosexual colonization stems from the fact that Constantine-Simms is a heterosexual black man editing a book about homosexuality. But Constantine-Sims asserts, in an interview with Africana.com, that "the one thing that I have recognized in life is that when you are a minority you need allies from the majority group." Furthermore, he contends, "Black gays and lesbians are part of my community and do not fall outside my personal cultural framework."

Critics who make this charge would do well to ask themselves why a heterosexual person was the first person to publish such a book, since it seems like something black gay academics should have done a long time ago. But then, the number of black gay academics isn't very large, either, so maybe it was just a matter of two many issues to cover, not enough time.

At the end of the day, this book is a welcome addition to the literature of African-American Studies and Queer Theory--and to anyone interested in issues of homosexuality in the black community--regardless of Constantine-Simms sexual orientation. Its unique contribution to this under-examined subject matter is just one of the reasons "Taboo" won the Lambda Literary Award for best Non Fiction Anthology in 2001, and why the second volume is eagerly anticipated, especially by those hoping to read even more about issues of black female sexuality.

Amazon.com: "The Greatest Taboo"