Black gospel singers who are gay

I was a homeless, sixteen-year old runaway when two Black women in long robes and headscarves offered me a place to stay. They brought me home to a shotgun house in East Austin, where they lived communally, sheltered the homeless, and held religious services for hours on end.

I'd never spent time in church, and in any case I'd never heard of one like this. With fewer than a dozen members, no sign to mark it, no painted windows, no cross. They said they were holiness, sanctified. I arrived queer, punk, and half-feral, but the church, with its sense of purpose, sisters and brothers, and hot meals, soon felt like family, a thing I lacked.

I stayed for ten years, the only white girl in an otherwise all-Black church, trying and failing to be a saint. When I joined the church I laid sex, drugs, and rock and roll down at the altar. Gospel, the old stuff, helped fill the musical void. I thought it was better than punk.

It was the root. When he was just starting out, James Cleveland played with them. James Cleveland invented the modern gospel choir, taught piano to Aretha Franklin, wrote more than songs, appeared on more than albums, and lost track of how many went gold. By the time he died at age 59, he'd been the King of Gospel for thirty years.

NU examines ‘Gays and Gospel’

Cleveland was born in the right place--Chicago--at the right time Martin, who led the first mixed-gender black gospel singers who are gay group, went on to sell Cleveland's songs through her publishing house. He spent time at Mahalia Jackson's beauty shop and listened to her hum while she fixed hair.

He debuted at Pilgrim Baptist as a boy soprano, and as a teen sang hard enough to damage his voice. Left with a gravelly tone and a limited range, Cleveland compensated by focusing on composition, arrangement, and piano. In the 's, Cleveland relocated to Detroit, served as organist at C.

Franklin's New Bethel Baptist Church, lived on and off with the Franklins, and taught nine-year-old Aretha her first piano chords. ByCleveland was well known for his work with choirs, incorporating bits of blues, jazz, and soul, then re-arranging it, much like Dorsey had done with spirituals.

By reputation, Cleveland could arrive in any town and assemble a voice choir in three days. When it was time for Aretha to make a gospel record, she called on Cleveland and his choir. Their collaboration, Amazing Graceremains her best-selling album and recently became an acclaimed documentary.

Cleveland died inreportedly from heart failure. His funeral was held at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, lasted four hours, was attended by over 4, people, and included at least two clothing changes for the deceased. Within a year of his death, two men filed suit against Cleveland's estate.

Cleveland's outing after death revealed a paradox. Lesbians and gays contributed greatly to the church, often through music, even while being condemned from the pulpit. As Keith Boykin, author of One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in Americawrote, "The church might be the most homophobic and most homotolerant of any institution in the black community.

At the church, being queer was only one of my problems. I prayed earnestly to "get right.