LogFAQs > #933171206

Being black is something you can't escape. You go out into the world and they see you as that. My sexuality is something that is so fundamental to who I am. Its something I cant get rid of. Its an intersectionality that is really hard to navigate and that has affected my life in real ways. Homophobia in the black community is rampant.

A nine year old boy felt so down and dark that he had to leave. He had to hang himself. Thats what people dont understand. Thats what homophobia does. It kills you slowly over time. Even as a young child and we dont all make it.

To simultaneously be in a community but know that community doesnt accept you fully is like splitting yourself. You dont feel like you can authentically be yourself. Youre not respected and you are not treated fairly. For whatever reason, who you love and what you do in the bedroom matters to people even if its not with them. The best thing to compare it to is racism. Its an ism.

According to a report from the University of Pennsylvania, there are only 21 out of the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S. that have LGBTQ organizations on campus. Institutions that are fundamentally built under social justice and activism are not inclusive of all the identities within the black community.