Christina AzenabJasmine RileyEnglish 1CMay 18, 2014Like a stain of red wine on a white dress: homophobia in black America through Ayana Mathis' “Floyd” in The Twelve Tribes of Hattie “The Everyone’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans view it as an illness says more about them than it does about homosexuality. -James Baldwin. In his impressionable quote, Baldwin expresses the overt but tacit rejection of homosexuality. Baldwin indicates that homosexuality or homosexuality in America is equated with an incurable disease or that it is a conventional theory that reveals an attitude of intolerance within American society. This widespread notion has an increased presence, particularly in the African-American community (Crawford et al. 2002: 179-180). In a thorough but lively analysis of Floyd, Ayana Mathis reviews popular receptions of homosexuality and queerness in the African American community. Floyd's characterization uncovers the ostracization faced by gay black men, which generates a deceptive performance of hypermasculinity. This false performance manifests itself by masking emotion and revealing an attitude of contempt for everything that is lacking in the ideology of masculinity while perpetuating homophobia. To understand the congruence of the disconnect between an African American man and a Queer, in the black community, one must see how their societal position is generally disconnected within the community and the way in which this disconnection poses a problem to the archetypal construction of the black man. The perception of black men within the black community stems from the perception of hypermasculinity: "Hypermasculinity [among men] is...... middle of paper ...... due to everything behavior juxtaposed with that of the heterosexual. relationship. Carl's mother's account not only highlights the disdain for homosexuality within the black community, but also illustrates the open demonization that is commonly seen from the African American perspective. (Ward 501) It is interesting to illustrate Carl's mother's expression which made Floyd repulsive and brazenly aware of his "wrong". This reference can be likened to how homosexuality in the black community is bad and gives rise to persistent perceptions that heterosexuality is good and homosexuality is bad (Thomas 1996:59). Overall, the complexities behind the unacceptance of homosexuality in Black America have profound consequences. ingrained ties to the social construction of a black man and the social construction of being gay. These points of view are sometimes opposed within the