On Sunday night BET’s episode of Meet The Faith discussed homosexuality in the black church with CNN regular Keith Boykin, original Broadway Dreamgirl Sheryl Lee Ralph and Bible-thumper Bishop E. Bernard Jordan.

It was a fiery discussion exposing hypocrisy within the black community, both in and out of the church. The show reminded us how deeply saddening religious people can be with bizarre clips of dramatic pastors condemning homosexuality, using "faggot" and "sissy" right at the pulpit. I'll never understand how religious people are some of the angriest people I have ever met in my life.

Nonetheless, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Keith Boykin fearlessly challenged these archaic constructs. Bishop Jordan hypothesized the reason why many in the black community are homophobic is because they just aren’t around gays. Well, Miss Sheryl Lee Ralph, reading my mind, shot back, “Yes they are! A lot of people are around a lot of homosexuals, they just may not know it — they just may not want to accept it! Come on — in the church they are sitting right there in the pew right next to you!” Don’t you just love an outspoken straight woman?

Black Entertainment Television (BET) recently announced a very ambitious line-up of upcoming television programming. In fact, it's the network's most extensive line-up in its 26 year history. Will it be gay friendly? That's another matter that only time will tell.

It's probably not a good sign that the first openly gay face on the network was just last year when Ray appeared on the reality show College Hill. African-American and gay rights activist Keith Boykin is also on a talk show on the network's recently re-launched BET J network (which seems to change its focus with the frequency of a chameleon changing its color). In the past, Boykin has had critical things to say about BET and the way it represents the African-American community. Jasmyne Cannick, another African-American gay rights activist, has also taken the network to task, especially for the sexist and homophobic videos that receive frequent airplay on the channel.

BET's new line-up includes reality shows, primetime animated series, and their first ever scripted sitcom. It's encouraging that some of the names behind the new programs include Orlando Jones who just played gay on Men in Trees, as well as Vin Diesel and Will Smith. There is a spin-off of College Hill called College Hill Interns and another reality series titled Baldwin Hills charting the lives of upper-middle-class black teens in suburban L.A. Somebodies, a sitcom that will debut in the fall, is based on the movie of the same name that follows a group of University of Georgia graduates as they try to figure out what to do with their lives.