The New Black

The Film

The New Black uncovers the complicated and often combative histories of the African American and LGBT civil rights movements. The film examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar — the black church — and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda.

The New Black goes from New York to Washington, D.C., to California to document the stories of the gay gospel singer Tonex, and Sharon Lettman, the head of the National Black Justice Coalition. They challenge homophobia in the black church and confront traditionally white gay organizations around issues of race. The film also follows Bishop Harry Jackson, a leading anti-gay black minister, as he fights efforts to advance gay rights. Through these stories and other secondary characters, the film reveals a political alliance between members of the black church and the Christian right that has shaped the fight for gay rights over the last 20 years.