The National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays (formerly The National Coalition of Black Gays) was the United States' first national organization for African American and Third World gay rights.
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While many Washington, D.C.-based gay rights organizations opposed the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, NCBG's support for the march smoothed the way for the event.
Founding (1978)
In 1978, ABilly S. Jones, Darlene Garner, and Delores P. Berry organized the National Coalition of Black Gays (NCBG) in Columbia, Maryland, to provide a national advocacy forum for African American gay men and lesbians at a time when no other organization existed to express their views. The organizers were motivated by a belief that existing gay and lesbian organizations did not represent the views and experiences of African Americans. In 1984, NCBG added Lesbian to its name in the 1980s to become the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays. The organization's headquarters moved to Detroit, Michigan briefly in the mid-1980s.
Advocacy
NCBLG was one of the first organizations to initiate HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in the black community, including pamphlets that used coded terms familiar in the black community with men who would never identify with the gay community.
In addition, it sponsored two National Third World Lesbian and Gay Conferences and published a news magazine, Black/Out, which offered funding and support for the organization. The first National Third World Lesbian and Gay Conference took place in Washington D.C in 1979. It garnered more attendees than the second conference, held two years later in Chicago, although the 1981 conference was noted for its more diverse participants.
Dissolution (1986)
NCBG added Lesbian to its name in 1984 to become the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, but by 1986, several key leaders left the organization, and eventually the group (without any official announcement) faded out of existence.