( CNN ) -- It feels as if I 've been living a double life all of these years , and I do not want to deceive you , or myself , any longer . The burden has become too heavy , the struggle to deny my true self , too great . In order to be free I have tell you something . I am black . I know ; I should have told you sooner . But I was afraid . After all , I 've already shared with you that I am gay and well , we all know a person ca n't be both . At least that 's how it feels the conversation is usually framed : There 's a black community and a gay community , and the two conflict and do not mix . Since President Obama voiced support for marriage equality and now the board of the NAACP has followed suit , the narrative is that the black community is trying to make room at the table for gay people . Allow me to correct this storyline : No one is making room for gay people , gay people have always been at the table , at the forefront . What Obama , Jay-Z , Julian Bond , Floyd Mayweather Jr. and others have done over the past week is simply acknowledge life is not an `` either/or '' proposition but rather an emphatic `` and . '' Boxes are for shoes , not people . So while compartmentalizing folks makes it easier to herd people into target groups and voting blocs , it 's a gross misrepresentation of the reality of humanity . I am gay . And I am black . And despite the efforts of black religious conservatives to ignore that intersection , the truth is that intersection is a major part of black culture . It 's in our literature ( James Baldwin ) , our films ( Lee Daniels ) , in politics , baseball fields ( Glenn Burke ) , the Black Panthers ( Angela Davis ) and the civil rights movement ( Bayard Rustin ) . That intersection exists in our hair salons , barbershops and , yes , even our churches . Before becoming a journalist , I worked in youth ministry in two churches in my early 20s . I lived with one of my pastors and his family and would study the Bible for hours on end under his tutelage . I fasted and tithed . I poured my heart out to the kids in the congregation . On occasion I even would fall asleep on the steps of the altar worshipping my God . I am black . I am gay . And yes , I am a Christian . I also know I was not the only gay , black man in ministry desperately trying to pray the gay away . In fact , I know one prominent choir director who finally had the courage to come out not too long ago . This is the messy and beautiful reality of humanity . The National Organization for Marriage , a fringe anti-gay think tank , actually had outlined a plan to try to race bait the black community into fighting with ... itself . `` N.O.M . 's memos detailed its campaign to direct money to a handful of African-American clergy in order to attack gay and lesbian couples that have made a lifelong promise to one another , '' said Sharon Lettman-Hicks , the executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition . `` The organization admitted their key goal is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks . '' But I am black , and I am gay . A wedge can not be driven between parts of my being . I was talking with NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin this past weekend , and he told me something that made a lot of sense . He said , in the fight for equality , you must be willing to run a race in which you may not be around to see the finish line . Not necessarily a pick-me-up , but filled with truth nonetheless . We are just beginning to have this conversation about sexual orientation and gender identity within the black community , but it is long overdue . A study conducted by the National Center for Children in Poverty found that African-American and Native American young people `` are overrepresented '' in the population of runaways . The study also found that between 20 % and 40 % of all homeless youth identify themselves as lesbian , gay , bisexual , transgender or questioning . Many say they were kicked out of their homes or ran away because of violence . Even on the streets these children are much more likely than others to be abused . How can the black community heal if it turns a blind eye to its own children ? It does n't make any sense . Blacks trying to separate the gay community from blacks ? Well , that makes even less sense . After all , a house divided against itself can not stand , and gay people are , and always will be , living in this house . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson .
LZ Granderson : Black , gay communities treated as if they are totally separate . Comment: LZ : Gays and lesbians have always played a prominent role in the black community . He says black community must resist attempts to turn it against its gay members .