Writer Claims Malcolm X Was Bisexual

By News One October 26, 2009 12:25 pm

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Peter Tatchell wrote a piece in the UK Guardian, called “Malcolm X Was Bisexual, Get Over It.” Tatchell writes that he is disappointed in the lack of recognition for gay and lesbian African Americans for Black History Month (Black History Month is in October in the UK). He writes:

Perhaps it is unintentional but Black History Month sometimes feels like Straight Black History Month. Famous Black LGBT people are not acknowledged and celebrated. Either their contribution to Black history and culture is ignored or their sexuality is airbrushed out of their biographies.

He goes on to write that one famous Black LGBT person is none other than Malcolm X:

A good example of this neglect is the denialism surrounding the bisexuality of one of the greatest modern Black liberation heroes: Malcolm X. The lack of recognition is perhaps not surprising, given that some of his family and many black activists have made strenuous efforts to deny his same-sex relationships and suppress recognition of the full spectrum of his sexuality.

As evidence to his claim, Tatchell points to a biography of Malcolm’s by Bruce Perry, “Malcolm – The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America”:

Based on interviews with Malcolm’s closest boyhood and adult friends, Perry suggests the US Black liberation leader was not as solidly heterosexual as his Nation of Islam colleagues and Black nationalist acolytes have always claimed.

He documents Malcolm’s many same-sex relations and his activities as a male sex worker, which spanned at least a 10-year period, from his mid-teens to his 20s, as I described in some detail in a previous article for the Guardian.

These allegations refer to Malcolm X’s life as Malcolm Little before he converted to Islam. Many people have criticized Perry’s book and his family has denied the reports.

Here is a criticism of Perry’s book from the Washington Post by Robert O’Meally

Several very large problems plague this “first complete biography of Malcolm X.” First is its fake scientific method, which at its worst becomes a verbal mishmash of Freudianisms, Ericksonisms, and other -isms from popular psychology: what psychologists themselves call psycho-babble. …. To buttress his thesis and his claims of various sorts, Perry presents incontrovertible evidence along withspeculative fluff and mere hearsay and gossip.

Here is another criticism of the book from the St. Petersburg Times by Sheryl James

At one point, Perry says Malcolm “had been seen wearing a dress.  Though the garment may have been a Halloween costume . . ” There is no source for this strange incident, no elaboration. The incident hangs in the air with little or no relevance.

The inclusion of a couple of Malcolm’s adolescent sexual experiences seems equally pointless. Almost all youngsters have these kinds of scenes that are embarrassing in retrospect and meaningless in the larger scope of their personalities.

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  • 3-15-2010 3:27 pm

    So,why do none of you geniuses and experts on X write a counter and factual account of his life, instead of whining about what or that?

    And NO, I don’t believe the story. It simply never occurred to me and I don’t find it in the least way interesting.

    Although I do find the gay conspiracy thing too funny. And probably more true than the stories they come up with.

    LOL

  • 11-15-2009 3:31 am

    WHY DID’NT J EDGAR HOOVER OR THE NATION OF ISLAM USE IT AGAINST HIM ALREADY?? KICK ROCKS!!

  • 11-11-2009 3:45 pm

    So f**king what? He’s dead now. And even if he was, it doesn’t negate none of what he fought for.

    Now on to some real news.

  • 11-2-2009 12:27 pm

    WTF? I’ve been hearing this theory for awhile. Why does homosexuality is always used to discredit Black leaders or Black men in general? Boycott this book and ragtag author.

  • 11-2-2009 11:43 am

    who cares……….he is gone now, and I dont care what his fav sexual position was…….get a life.

  • 11-2-2009 11:06 am

    What i’ll slap da s**t outcha if he was so what, he was a criminal at one point too but he changed. hate to see negative news get light i bet if he were alive he would make you cringe at your own self indulgence in stupidity.i live on the hill in Boston, Malcolms ole stomping Ground and we love his legacy here and we don’t like disrespect towards it. 1 MO THING gays should be screamed On Bigtime black history is just that HISTORY what is important about a gay persons gay struggle when its more harder to just be black and survive here with out bending to self destructive ways of living and thinking.

  • 11-2-2009 10:56 am

    What i’ll slap da s**t outcha if he was so what, he was a criminal at one point too but he changed. hate to see negative news get light i bet if he were alive he would make you cringe at your own self indulgence in stupidity.i live on the hill in Boston, Malcolms ole stomping Ground and we love his legacy here and we dont like disrespect towards it

  • 11-1-2009 5:26 pm

    i guess u really want to b killed huh?

  • 11-1-2009 10:13 am

    So lakerdude, how are you so sure? you was with him?

  • 10-31-2009 11:23 pm

    He was bisexual.

  • 10-31-2009 3:46 pm

    dummies sh*t i’ve every heard be4 let malcolm soul rest all tha hard work he put in it took years just 4 that man 2 get 2 his shining point and u wanna tare him down u no better than tha 4 black people who killed him

  • 10-31-2009 2:57 pm

    N***a PLEASE! Whoever came up with this stuff needs to be pistol whipped to the fullest extent of the law.It seems like a person would say or do ANYTHING to degrade an African American man with such a huge significance in our history, and on top of that, trying to sell some books. What proof does he have, or where is this stuff coming from in the first place? People should not even acknowledge this idiot!

  • 10-30-2009 7:31 pm

    Don’t believe it and so what if he was….what’s the point. They can’t bring down the legacy of the man, his contributions to African American progress outshines his personal life. This is 2009 not 1909 that type of brainwashing unneccessary shyt don’t work no more. Well maybe for some uneducated folks.

  • 10-30-2009 10:26 am

    To me this entire article is pointless! And I believe that it’s total BS! How can someone write an article talkn down about someone that’s no longer here to defend himself!!!? Than, so what if he was bisexual! At the end of the day he is still the same man who faught and stayed tough for African Americans! He is still the same man who inspired blacks to stand up for and defend themselves! TV One please put an article together that’s really worth my time and throw this BS in the garbage!!!!!!!

  • 10-29-2009 8:30 pm

    Peace and overall it’s BS .
    What I notice with all these black people going gay or lesbian.
    Here come somebody trying to twist the legacy of a strong black man.
    Mainly designed to created some confusion among the black masses.

    Real Black Nationalist and Pan-Afrikanist know the real deal.
    This is protected by the RED, The BLACK and the GREEN.
    This goes out to all you sissies, the real sissies who are scared
    of the white man,so have decided to go hide behind the nature of a female.
    These racist white folks dont care what you claim.
    Only thing they see is your color.
    Go listen to some real Malcolm X speeches.

  • 10-29-2009 2:52 pm

    Faux pas

  • 10-29-2009 1:49 pm

    What a f*cked up publicity stunt to get yo s**t recognized. Like other people have said…N if he was?!? Obiviously he re-nounced ALOT of things, including pork for the better of his self n the movement!!
    I’m all for gay rights n whatnot, but u don’t drag dwn pilars of the blk community on speculations that NO ONE but u has investigated!!

  • 10-29-2009 9:01 am

    I hope his book flops.

  • 10-28-2009 11:37 pm

    IT SO MUCH SELF HATRED. BROTHER MALCOLM X DIED FOR EQUALITY.HAVE THIS INDIVIDUAL HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH BRO. MALCOLM. ITS OKAY TO WHOM WANT TO SHOUT OUT TO THE ROOF ABOUT YOUR SEXUAL PREFERENCE.THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE. OCTOBER IS FOR LGBT MONTH. THAT’S DEFAMATION BE CAREFUL HOW YOU STEP.

  • 10-28-2009 11:10 pm

    This is absolutely absurd…The ONLY book written or penned for the life of Malcolm Little/ Malcolm X, that should be given ANY and all credit is the Auto-Biography of Malcolm X as TOLD to Alex Haley. Haley spent over 5 years researching, scoping and TALKING TO MALCOLM X himself to write the book. There should be no LGBT BLACK history month simply because whatever rights, work, accomplishments these supposed LGBT people have done for the BLACK community holds no bearing on their sexual preference. Why is it that EVERYONE who is black and Lesbian/Gay etc…is doing their best to make the LGBT struggle the black struggle?? Sorry you gays and lesbians but the two are NOT THE SAME! You are taking the name of a late, great LEADER and doing your best to tarnish who he was and what he stood for just to gain browny points for gays and lesbians? Trannsgenders and bi-sexuals? You people CHOSE to be who you are…you chose to ‘come out’ and take any and all criticisms good and bad upon yourselves…Malcolm didnt CHOOSE to be black…he was born that way and he made a VERY GOOD name for it…Youre already gays and lesbians, tranny’s and bi-sexuals…dont lump STUPID on top of what you already have to fight through…

  • 10-28-2009 6:45 pm

    Somebody here hit the nail on the head its time to lock and load.There has to be a contract out on that f****t piece of s**t.

  • 10-28-2009 2:30 pm

    these double agents sumthin else
    why no pic? jahz_lynx1
    my user is irrelevant 2 the message at hand goofy simple ass clownish nigga

  • 10-28-2009 10:02 am

    MALCOLM WAS A SOLDIER PERIOD,IF J EDGAR HOOVER WOULD HAVE KNOWN,
    THIS HE WOULD HAVE USE IT AGAINST MALCOLM.

  • 10-28-2009 9:59 am

    This guy also said that Greg Louganis is “black”. And again I ask what rights are gays fighting for besides the recognition of their marriages?

  • 10-28-2009 9:44 am

    Sorry, reading about Malcolm leads me to believe otherwise. And I can’t buy this from a guy that is promoting gay rights. It sounds too hokey.

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