When Charles I. Nero was growing up in a predominantly black community outside New Orleans, he and his best friend were forbidden to talk to each other because their teachers and parents thought they behaved too effeminately. And, his friend's brother threatened to beat him if he became a "punk."

The use of words like "punk" and "faggot" to describe gay men, strong pro-marriage beliefs and general violence toward gay men and lesbians are examples of how the black community displays homophobia and heterosexism, said Nero, assistant professor of speech communication at Ithaca College.

homophobia and heterosexism, said Nero, assistant professor Homophobia in the black community and racism in the gay and lesbian community combine to alienate and oppress black gay men and lesbians, Nero said in a speech here last week as part of the Contemporary Scholarship on Lesbian and Gay Lives.

Conflicting stereotypes of race and sexual orientation complicate establishing an identity and often foster racism or homophobia, Nero said.

For example, Nero said when he told his father he was gay, his father responded,"I don't know how you could be this way. I was an athlete in college."

Nero said historians, scholars and social workers label the black gay man as pathological because of the conflicting stereotypes of "the black brute" and "the pathetic gay man." He said those scholars usually claim that homosexuality does not exist in the black community or that it is a deviation from "blackness."

The media "black brute" image, which became widespread after slavery, shows black men as aggressive criminals and rapists, said Leola Johnson, assistant professor of journalism.

"The image survives today in the Mr. Ts and Action Jacksons," said Johnson, who wrote her dissertation on the images of minorities in media productions.

However, Johnson said the media image of the black man and the black woman is portrayed separately from the image of the gay man or lesbian.

"There's no conception of what kinds of problems African-Americans have in the gay community," Johnson said. "I think they (black gay men and black lesbians) are invisible. They don't have an image."

Alnisa Allgood (junior-administration of justice) said that as she grew up she had to combat specific stereotypes of race and sexual orientation.

Allgood said she had to combat her belief that same sex relationships were wrong. The first time she realized she was sexually attracted to a woman, she said she suppressed her feelings.

"I was aware of emotional attachments to women, but I never thought anything about it because it was a taboo," Allgood said.

However, as Allgood met other gay men and lesbians, she said she gradually became comfortable with her lesbian identity.

Now defining herself as a black, lesbian feminist, Allgood said the three minority statuses cannot be separated.

"I can't sector and divide myself," Algood said. "I feel oppressed as all three."

Society's tendency to value one minority group over another complicates multiple definitions, said Lisa Henderson, instructor in mass communications. When minority groups are seen separately and valued differently, people with multiple minority statuses may feel their different identities pulled apart, she said.

"We are all multiply defined," Henderson said. "It's true of everyone, but somehow it is not permitted for lesbians and gay men."

Henderson said specific movements such as the feminist or lesbian movement can be exclusionary to people of color. She said because those movements often separate on gender issues, they exclude groups such as people of color who may not want to divide along gender lines.

Henderson said while racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes are destructive and alienating, progress toward more open discussions is beginning at the University.

She said the University's diversity campaign's recent inclusion of lesbians and gay students was a large step in the right direction.

Organizations such as the Center for Women Students and the Center for Women's Concerns are addressing concerns of students with dual minority status, she said.

The "Interactive Affects of Racism and Sexism" lecture series sponsored by the Center for Women Students deals with issues race, gender and sexual orientation.

True Colours, a social support group for people of color who are also gay or lesbian, formed last semester and now meets in room 120 Boucke.

"It's a slow process, but it's getting off the ground," Henderson said.