欧宝娱乐

“The US "Down Low" is thronging with young Black males who live double lives in the homosexual urban underground. These "Black" and "queer" young males, who have sex with men and live straight lives, reject "gays" as "faggots who dress, talk and act like girls", thereby ascribing a White effeminacy to gayness and embracing a Black hypermasculinity.”
― Chantal Zabus, Out in Africa: Same-Sex Desire in Sub-Saharan Literatures and Cultures

“1) 鈥淗ow did I end up down this rabbit hole of being obsessed with men on the DL (down-low)? Why did I prefer playing more in the straight arena with the closet cases (as they were called in my day) and the bisexual men over the gay ones?鈥�

2) 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 identify in my day; you were either gay, bisexual, or straight. People will always label others or pigeonhole them without even knowing for sure who they really are. They presumably stereotype and judge just by your outward appearance.鈥�

3) 鈥淚t wasn't until the seventh grade that Sister Gloria would be my social studies teacher, and I began leaning more towards being an extrovert than the anxious introvert that I was. All the accolades go to her. She lit the flame under my ass that would be the catalyst for my advocacy. Her podium, located front and center of the classroom, became ground zero for me and where I found my voice.鈥�

4) 鈥淭heir taunting was my kryptonite. My peers hated me for no other reason than the fact that they thought I was gay. I was only thirteen and often wondered how they knew who I was before I did.鈥�

5) 鈥淓vangelical Christian Anita Bryant (First Lady of Religious Bigotry), along with her minions, led a crusade against the LGBTQ community back in 1977 and said we were trying to recruit children and that 鈥楬omosexuals are human garbage.鈥� My first thoughts were, how unchristian and deplorable of her to even say something like that, not to mention, to make it her life鈥檚 mission promoting hate.鈥�

6) 鈥淎re there any more Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. kind of Christians in this country today? Dr. King knew about his friend鈥檚 homosexuality and arrest. Being a religious man and a pastor, Dr. King could have cast judgment and shunned Bayard Rustin like so many other religious leaders did at the time. But he didn鈥檛. That, to me, is the true meaning of being a Christian. He loved Bayard unconditionally and was unbiased towards his sexual orientation. Dr. King was not a counterfeit Christian and practiced what he preached鈥攁nd that, along with remembering what Jesus had said, 鈥楲ove your neighbor as yourself,鈥� is the bottom line to Christianity and all faiths.鈥�

7) 鈥淲e are all God鈥檚 children! That is what I was taught in Catholic school. God doesn鈥檛 make mistakes鈥攊t鈥檚 as simple as that. Love is love鈥攑eriod! I don鈥檛 need anyone鈥檚 validation or approval, I define myself.鈥�

8) 鈥淵ou will bake our cakes, you will provide us our due healthcare, you will do our joint tax returns, and yes, you will bless our unions, too. Otherwise, you cannot call yourselves Christians or even Americans, for that matter.鈥�

9) 鈥淭he torch has been passed. But we must never forget the LGBT pioneers that have come before and how they fought in the streets for our lives. Never forget the Stonewall riots of 1969 nor the social stigma put upon us during the HIV/AIDS epidemic from its onset in the early 1980s. Remember how many died alone because nobody cared. Finally, keep in mind how we were all pathologized and labeled in the medical books until 1973.”
― MICHAEL CAPUTO