Was Malcolm X Bisexual?
For the past two weeks, I've been researching various allegations about how Malcolm X, the famed revolutionary, and orator from the Civil Rights Movement, may have been bisexual or queer. There are many different reactions that people have to these allegations.
Some worried that these allegations of bisexuality would somehow discredit, Malcolm X’s legacy or that they existed to immaculate him. Others can’t conceive of Malcolm X being queer in any sense at all or fail to engage with the possibility of his sex work as a youth in Harlem for both genders. Many queer folks find these allegations interesting and worthy of discussion, instead of shutting down the conversation altogether due to stigma and homophobia.
Whatever the reason, these allegations are out in the world, so let’s explore where they came from and the validity of the research behind them.
Who alleged that Malcolm X was bisexual?
In 1991, the first complete biography of Malcolm X was published by white writer, Bruce Perry. Perry, at one point, gained access to various prison records that show various details of Malcolm X’s time while incarcerated. The book, Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America explores Malcolm X’s life on various levels and Perry noted that he interviewed hundreds of people to write this book.
In a handful of parts of the book, Perry alleges (via interviews) that Malcolm X once worked as a worker for a rich white man from Boston who sometimes requested sexual favors as a part of the job. And that Malcolm X, while living in Harlem in his younger years, often hung out in bars and establishments where sex workers frequented.
Upon further digging, there are many critiques of Perry’s book, whether it be the quality of his interviews of Perry’s angle. One reviewer noted of the biography in The Great Plains Quarterly:
The work, however, falls short on several levels. The book is dense and episodic, and the author’s analysis is often tentative, with speculative conclusions couched in psycho-babble. Perry’s assertions about Malcolm’s sexuality and homophobia are just plain nonsense
Another take on Malcolm X’s sexuality by Manning Marable
In 2011, Manning Marable published Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, a book that alleges that Malcolm X may have engaged in queer sex work. According to one of Malcolm X’s daughters, Ms. Shabbaz, this book took close to 20 years to write and involved some interviews with Malcolm X’s children.
In the piece, Ms. Shabazz disputes numerous points of discussion in the book; ranging from the fact that Marable never explicitly asked to interview Malcolm X’s children and that Ms. Shabazz believes that the FBI would have known if her father was queer or bisexual due to their COINTELPRO surveillance.
In one of the most interesting parts of the interview, Ms. Shabazz is asked if there’s a change she would have simply not known or been told if her father engaged in queer sex work in his younger years:
Ms. SHABAZZ: Right. I think the things that I take issue with are the fact that he said my father engaged in a bisexual relationship, a homo — you know, he had a gay lover who was an elder white businessman, I think, in his late 50s when my father was in his teens. And, you know, my father was an open book. And we actually have four of the missing chapters from the autobiography. And, you know, he is very clear in his activities, which nothing included being gay.
And certainly he didn’t have anything against gay — he was for human rights, human justice, you know. So if he had a gay encounter, he likely would’ve talked about it. And what he did talk about was someone else’s encounter.
Do these allegations matter?
On many levels, I agree with assertions that research in historical figures should be based in thorough research and rigor, like Ta-Nehesi Coates notes in his own musings on the Marable book, “For my part, I found Perry’s book, which is big on telepathy and small on skepticism, to be pretty worthless. I take any claim leveled in that book with a grain of salt.”
Although, on some level, as a queer, Black person, I’d like to trust that more Black people are ready to engage in the complexities of masculinity. sexuality, and sex work, some of the responses to musings on these allegations on social media feeds suggest otherwise. To consider and question whether or not Malcolm X was bisexual or a bisexual sex worker is akin to disrespecting his legacy. But even this assertion begs the question… What is Malcolm X’s legacy? And why would non-heteronormative behavior jeopardize it? If Malcolm X were queer, what would be so bad?
The deeper and more legible answer that comes to mind is the fact that queerness, to some, seems to be a threat to the rugged, revolutionary Malcolm X that they knew while ignoring the fact that queer and LGBTQIA erasure is ripe throughout Black history. This stigma may be a factor in the rampant aversion to the possibility of Malcolm X being LGBTQIA.
Ultimately, the question of Malcolm X’s legacy transcends simplistic notions of identity and sexuality. Instead, it prompts us to interrogate the narratives we construct around historical figures and the biases that inform them. Embracing the complexities of identity, including queerness, enriches our understanding of individuals like Malcolm X and acknowledges the diversity of experiences within marginalized communities. It is through this nuanced exploration that we honor and truly appreciate the multifaceted legacies of those who have shaped our history.
