Thank you, Oprah

[Natasha]

Thank you, Oprah

http://www.sovo.com/2008/8-29/view/editorial/9073.cfm
DIONNE BATES
8/29/2008

Women were considered property to their husbands and in the absence of love, sex, in most instances, was considered an obligation. But Shug and Miss Celie developed a relationship that transcended the bounds of that obligation and the oppression that being in relationships with men dictated. They discovered a true, genuine, intimate love that both of them had never been privileged to have as the property of men.

Today, we call their kind of love "same-sex love" or homosexuality.

Black homosexual, bisexual, and transgender individuals (e.g. LGBT) are often abhorred in African-American society. As a black lesbian, I have been subjected to homophobia within the African-American community, as have many of my black LGBT brothers and sisters.