To Create Our Own Rituals

This chapter reviews the state of the broomstick wedding among same-sex couples, both before and after its the legalization in the United States. For many people facing systemic discrimination and marital inequality, jumping the broom symbolizes resistance to the status quo. This chapter examines how same-sex couples who used the broomstick ceremony were depicted in the mainstream media, which portrayed the LGBTQ movement as overwhelmingly white and middle-class. For Black people in this community, however, the ritual can hold a distinct meaning that is connected to their unique historical and contemporary experiences. To examine this distinction, it uses the film Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom (2008) as a starting point in this discussion, analyzing how the film uses (or does not use) jumping the broom to unveil the complexity of being Black and gay in the United States. It then uses an intersectional framework to examine how the broomstick wedding is used by white gay men and lesbians to promote a colorblind vision of the LGBTQ community, though for lesbian and gay African Americans it often holds a double-meaning for them as a group “twice-barred” from legal matrimony, once as enslaved people and then as those who are same-sex attracted.