By: Marcus D. Harvey

(adapted from a speech by Keith Boykins)


I Write Today
As One Black Gay College Student

I write because
Barbara Jordan
Langston Hughes, and
The Reverend James Cleveland
could not speak

I write for myself,
but I also speak for my uncle,
a black gay college professor
who could not be here
because he was murdered in his own bedroom

I write to stop hate crimes and homophobia
from UNC to Stanford
and all college campuses in between,
and yes, at Brown and DUKE as well

I write to tell
Chancellor Moeser and Provost Shelton
not to pack your bags for South Building
because you may not be working there next year

I write knowing that
the right-wing may vilify me,
closeted gay men may deny me
and religious demagogues may decry me

I write to tell Black straight college students,
and Black gay college students;
our days of division are numbered

I write because
two homosexuals college students who share their lives together
deserve at least the same rights
as two heterosexual college strangers who met last night at Player’s

I write because
James Baldwin
Lorraine Hansberry
Bayard Rustin
Audre Lorde
Glen Burke
Simon Nkoli, and
Bessie Smith
could not be here

I write as a member of Black college community
because there are problems in the community
that cannot be healed
by sweeping them under the sterilized, sanitized rug
of homogenized homosexuality

I write because
Martin Luther King
and Huey Newton
would support my cause

I write To Resist
the commercialization
and commodification
of a mainstream "gay lifestyle"
that enriches a privileged few
and impoverishes the masses
with a bankrupt culture of uniformity

I write because
Alain Locke
Joe Beam
Essex Hemphill
Mickey Fleming
Greg Hutchings
Assoto Saint
Craig Harris, and
Alvin Ailey
could not be here

I write because
two people sitting in a dorm room
should not be able to dictate
the entire black homophobic agenda

I write because
Sojourner Truth
Harriet Tubman
Malcolm X, and
Frederick Douglass
have taught me the value of struggle

I write because
our community has a right to know
how decisions are made,
and a responsibility
to hold our leaders accountable

I write because
Patrick Kelly
Willi Smith
Joan Fountain
Countee Cullen
Josephine Baker
Mel Boozer, and
Marlon Riggs
could not be here

I write so that
my silence will not be interpreted as complicity,
my concerns not discarded dismissively,
and my thoughts not represented simplistically

I write because
Coretta Scott King
Cornel West
Jesse Jackson, and
Nelson Mandela
have uplifted me

I write because
my sheroes and heroes
and other good people of conscience
have chosen not to speak

I write to give voice
to their concerns

I write because,
like Fannie Lou Hamer,
I'm sick and tired
of being sick and tired

I write to remind you, and myself, that I can
hold my lover's hand
at DUKE, or UNC, or NCSU, or WFU, if I choose to,
and I am not always found
in QNC, NCLYN, gay clubs, or coming out events.

I write to Honor
Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello
Ruth Ellis
Jewelle Gomez
Ruth Waters
Carl Bean
E. Lynn Harris
George Bellinger
Marjorie Hill
Carlene Cheatam
Maurice Franklin
Kofi Adoma, and
Peter Gomes
For Blazing A Path
In which I could follow

I write because
not all blacks are straight,
and not all gays are white

I write to Honor
Mandy Carter
Nadine Smith
Cleo Manago
Barbara Smith
James Earl Hardy
Phill Wilson
Ron Simmons
Alvin Quamina, and
Kevin McGruder

I write so that you will ask
why is homophobia a problem in the black college community

I write to Honor
RuPaul
Sapphire
Bill T. Jones
Ken Reeves
George C. Wolfe
Alice Walker
June Jordan. and
Phill Reed

I write so that
the presence of gay people of color
will not be tokenized
and the absence of gay people of color
will not be trivialized

I write to Honor
E. Patrick Johnson
Erica Smiley
C. Hawkins, and
Kara Keeling

I write to Enter These Names
indelibly in the record books
of this university

I write because
Audre Lorde warns that
my silence will not protect me
any more from the anti-gay forces
than it will from the anti-black forces

I write to stand up
for the millions
of brothas and sistahs
whose area codes do not begin
with 919, 252, 704, or 336

I write Because
homophobia is not over on college campuses,
in America,
despite what the straight people may write,
that black gay college students are rejected the most,
and that now is not the time to turn our backs on black gay college students.

I write so that
black gays and lesbians in college
can create our own organizations
to support our own needs
without having to answer the tired old question
why are we "separating ourselves?"

I write because black straight college student’s priorities
are not always black gay students priorities,
but all of our priorities are important
and should not be casually dismissed

I write because
denouncing homophobia
and sexual orientation education
are part of my agenda

I write so that
a black family can get a home loan
and a black gay man can simply get home,
alone, without getting assaulted or arrested

I write because
I cannot stand the word "queer"
and feel excluded from the word "gay"

I write so that black leaders
will not forget us
and white gay leaders
will finally learn to work with us

I write so that
white gays
and straight blacks in college
will no longer make decisions
that affect us
without including us

I write in a culture
that devalues our love
to say that the act of self-love
is an act of revolution in itself

I write to declare
that black men loving black men
is no longer a revolutionary act
but an everyday thing

I write to tell you
that I refuse to be
the only black person, straight/gay,
in any meeting,
at any time,
at any point
ever again

I write because
Alice Walker reminds me
that no person is your friend
who demands your silence
or denies your right to grow

I write because
nobody else can speak for me
but me

I write to help
repair the breach
that has divided us
black from white
straight from gay
male from female

I write to help
repair the breach
that has excluded the voices
of youth and seniors,
the poor and middle class,
bisexuals, and transgendered people,
people with disabilities,
and all people of color

I write with hope
because Dr. King reminds me
that only when it is dark enough
can you see the stars

I write so that
Dennis Rodman can wear a wedding dress,
that Carl Lewis can pose in track shorts and high heels,
and that Little Richard can simply be himself

I write so that
the famous rappers and runners and writers
and Hip Hop heroes
on the DL
may one day decide
to write as well

I write so that
all black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered college students
will one day be allowed
to live peaceably in their dorm room.

I write because
we must broaden the movement
to see the intersection of
race, gender, class, religion, sexuality, and ethnicity

I write not to get
my place at the table
but to demand a whole new table arrangement
that welcomes all those who have been excluded

I write not to gain privilege
but to challenge the whole concept
of privilege itself

I write to invoke the Lessons of
Rodney King,
Abner Louima,
Amadou Diallo
James Byrd, and
Patrick Dorismond
lest they be forgotten
or thought to pertain strictly
to some other community

I write because
we cannot prevail
against the Prop 22s
if we do not also fight
the Prop 187s and Prop 209s

I write because
June Jordan tells me
that freedom is indivisible
or it is nothing at all
besides sloganeer-ing
and temporary,
short-sighted,
and short-lived
advancement for a few

I write to say, unequivocally, once and for all,
that blacks and gays are similar but not the same,
that racism is not the same as homophobia,
and that the civil rights struggles are not identical

I write because
it matters not
which group is most oppressed,
or which was first oppressed,
or whether they are identically oppressed.
What matters is that no group or class of people
should be oppressed

I write in the hope
to the UNC black community
and dream it will not be
just another circuit party
and that real people
may learn real lessons here at UNC

 

I write because
the personal is political
every time we are not ashamed,
to go beyond our boundaries,
to express our love,
to come out
, to volunteer,
to make a donation,
to write a letter,
to forward an email,
to register to vote,
or simply to speak

Finally, I write to offer a choice
between fear and love

I write because
fear is negativity,
scarcity,
and
falsity

I write because
love is positivity,
abundance,
and
truth

I write because
fear is unnatural and learned
and love is natural and innate

I write so that
my faith may be used as a tool for love,
and not a weapon of hate

I write because
I refuse to worship
at the altar
of religious bigotry
and self-righteous piety

I write to Pray
for Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell
that they may learn
the true meaning of unconditional love

I write so that
one more black gay man or woman may find the courage
to rise up in church today and challenge a minister
who spews out the vicious bile of religious-based homophobia

I write so that
Eric and Jordan
and Kristen and Afiya
may one day understand
that God is love
and love is for everyone

I write because
I have no power to make these dreams happen
unless someone, somewhere hears these words as her own
and decides to act on racism and homophobia

I write
as a proud African-American
same-gender-loving
Christian-identified man
unashamed of who I am
unwilling to be divided into identity camps, and
unbowed by the demons of hatred that would incite me
to fear instead of love.

I write because Audre Lorde tells me,
"When I dare to be powerful,
to use my strength in the service of my vision,
then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."

What am I doing about Race Relations?

I Write Today
As One Proud Black Gay Student at UNC

Marcus D. Harvey
(919) 402-9664
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