I am a gay black man. I have been attacked. I am not lying.

A little over two months ago I was physically assaulted by the owner of the bodega at the end of my block due to homophobia. I remember my head being slammed into a wall and the ground repeatedly. I remember while it was happening saying over and over again “Why are you doing this? You’ve known me for years! You’ve known me for years!” I remember escaping the bodega, hysterically crying, running down the street towards a local bar in the hopes of finding someone — anyone. And, upon entering the bar, I remember seeing an acquaintance and crying in her arms as others looked on quizzically.

In truth, I didn’t make much of the event after the fact. I was inebriated at the time and chose to forget about it almost immediately. I didn’t tell anyone. It wasn’t until I ran into that acquaintance (now friend) two weeks after the assault and she reminded me of the event that the memories came back. But again, I didn’t think much of it. Yeah, it happened. Yeah, I wasn’t going to go to that bodega any more and I encouraged others to take their business elsewhere too. End of story.

Then, a few months later, Jussie Smollett happened.

My social media feeds filled up instantly with news reports, prayers, and well-wishes for Jussie, as is typical during incidents that garner this type of media attention. Was I sad for him? Of course. But was I surprised that what he had reported had happened? Not at all. And I am not going to say that I was one of those people that was “suspicious” of the story. I wasn’t. I took it at face value. I had grown up near infamously racist neighborhoods such as Mount Greenwood. I had personally been turned away from a bar in Wrigleyville because I had locs in my hair and was told that I “looked suspicious.” I knew that Chicago (while certainly a more liberal bastion than other places in the Midwest) still had racists and homophobes. Plus, of course MAGA supporters would be involved. Taking all of that as given, I was more frustrated with my peers who were posting on social media than the supposed assailants. I wanted them to actually DO something about acts of hate rather than be social media social justice warriors. I posted as much on Facebook and that was that. Strangely enough, only a mere few months after the event, I wasn’t reminded of my own attack. I’m still processing why that is.

A few weeks later, news broke that Jussie was under police investigation. His story appeared to be untrue — a hoax created by Jussie himself for reasons that had yet to be revealed. Upon this revelation, it seemed like the whole of Chicago went wild. Everyone had something to say. Social media was abuzz again with cries from the echo chamber lampooning Smollett for taking advantage of a historically charged symbol like a noose. Knowing that I strongly identify with the salient identities of being black and gay, family and friends were eager to offer their opinions on the incident and ask for mine. Folks who were once suspicious of the Chicago Police Department after Laquan McDonald all of a sudden took the CPD’s word as law. Lyft drivers shared their suspicions about the event. I even overheard patrons at my gym reflecting on how they knew “something was fishy” about the whole thing.

After coming home from the gym, I had a work call with a colleague from graduate school. She casually asked me how my day was going. I burst out crying.

I think it is absolutely horrible and inexcusable if Jussie Smollett took advantage of the sympathy of the nation in this current climate by lying about a racist and homophobic hate crime. If he is lying, he should be prosecuted to the full and fair extent of the law. As a human being, he should know better. As person from marginalized identities himself, he should know better. As a public figure associated with those identities and the public burden that they carry, he should definitely know better.

But, at the end of all of this, I could actually care less about Jussie Smollett. While I share salient identities with Jussie, I am not him. I do not know his struggle. I do not know what drove him to lie, if he did. And, because I am not Jussie, his actions do not represent me or any other person with similar identities. Just because he is black and gay and may have lied does not mean that the countless others who are black, or gay, or black and gay who have actually experienced or will experience harassment of any form are lying. We don’t say that the actions of someone like Rob Blagojevich or Jeffrey Dahmer represent all white men, do we?

I want to be clear: I am a gay black man. I have been attacked. I am not lying about it. But now, I worry that because of this situation, my experience of what sometimes feels like a daily onslaught of discrimination and prejudice due to my identities will be put into question. I contend that my victimhood in this day and age and in this country should never be questioned. I read an article that argued that in American culture “victimhood equals power.” Another article stated that we reward victims. Well, I am a victim and I can honestly say that I do not want power or reward because of it. I do not even want sympathy or retribution. I just simply don’t want to be a victim now or again.

If Jussie is found to be guilty of fraud for this incident, I don’t know if his victimhood should be questioned either. Again, I do not know what Jussie is going through, but I can say with certainty as a fellow gay black man that even if this particular incident did not happen to Jussie, other versions of it have been happening to him his whole life. That I do know for a fact. In a world that has shown little systemic sympathy for black, or gay, or gay black people, I can almost understand where the urge would come from to make a grandiose lie just so that people would actually care about your pain. I was assaulted and I didn’t even make a big deal out of it. We on the margins have been inculcated to normalize our trauma. No one should have to do that. No one should lie about it either.

In the end, I was more triggered by folks reactions to Jussie as a liar than the assault itself. This reaction from folks, including peers and friends, showed me that people were more eager to focus on Jussie as a liar than the fact that this type of thing actually happens to people all the time. The fact that people care more about a media frenzy than the hate that undergirds it truly breaks my heart. There were two black transwomen that were murdered in October 2018 in Chicago: Dejanay Stanton and Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier. I bet most Chicagoans don’t know their names. I had to look them up myself. A suspect was just charged in mid-January for the murder of Stanton. According to Windy City Times, if he is charged, “it would be the first murder of a transgender Chicagoan that has been solved in about 20 years.” Maybe that was why I chose to not tell anyone or take any action when it came to my own assault. Maybe that was why I had forgotten about it in the first place. Maybe I thought that since other stories similar and more extreme than mine were ignored all the time, why would anyone do anything to support me or bring my attacker to justice? If my peers didn’t call me when something like the murder of Tamir Rice or Pulse or happened, why on earth should they call me when any kind of hate happened to me?

My charge for you, reader, is this: ask your black, your gay, and your gay black friends if anything like this has ever happened to them. They will tell you yes. If you want to do something about it, stand up everyday when you see racism or homophobia in any form — be it flagrant and blatant or a microaggression in a conversation in a rideshare (if you can do so with physical and emotional safety). Don’t just wait until something terrible happens to someone who is somewhat famous. You can literally Google how to be an ally. Take a few steps back from this incident and incidents like it and figure out what the actual problem is and where your attention should be focused. I can assure you that your attention shouldn’t be on Jussie and his alleged lies. It should be on people who don’t have the power or privilege to protect themselves. It should be on dismantling hate and supporting and loving those on the margins.

What is the Meaning of Pride for this Gay Black Man?

When was the first time that someone called you beautiful and you believed them? You really heard them and took it in. Do you remember?

I remember it was in 2011 when I was 23. I had just moved to Boston after having come back from living out of the country. It was the first time that I had lived in America as an adult. I was in a new city and I was ready to explore what it meant to be gay even though I was not fully out. I did not have any gay friends in the city, so, wanting to get started on my adventure, I went alone to the first gay bar I ever went to when I was in college–a place called Paradise. It was early in the evening, much earlier than one should ever show up to a gay bar I would learn. I sat at the bar, ordered a drink and stared at my phone, dejectedly. After a few minutes, I heard a voice say “You’re very handsome.” I turned to see who it was, my heart racing, and noticed an older white man who was sitting at the corner of the bar not too far from me. I scoffed. I wasn’t being dismissive as much as I was embarrassed. I didn’t know what to say. “What, you don’t believe me?” “I’m not sure,” I said. “Well, I’ll tell you. You’re really, really beautiful. You should know that.” And for some reason, for the first time, I believed that he was telling the truth. I’m not sure why. I ended up becoming good friends with this older gentleman. He was a regular at the bar and I saw him there over the years that I frequented Paradise. I always gave him a hug. We sat and shared stories. He gave me a lot of advice about the gay community from his many years of experience. He told me about the way things were “back in the day.” And, while I never told him how much those words meant to me, I never forgot what he said. For that, he and Paradise always have and will have a special place in my heart.

Fast forward four years to New Year’s Eve 2015. I was on the dance floor in the basement of Paradise with a group of friends whom I had brought together during my time in Boston. My crew. We were dead-center and dancing like our lives depended on it. I was in the middle of my graduate school experience and, as a result of growing up a little, I was in a point in my life where I felt more confident and self-assured than I ever had felt before. We were nearing the countdown to 2016.  Lights were flashing, parting the fog. Practically everyone was shirtless. And, as I looked around through the darkness, I started to notice that all of my friends are paired up with someone whom they were undoubtedly going to kiss when the clock struck. In fact, it seemed like almost everyone in the basement had someone to kiss. In truth, I wasn’t there for that and so it didn’t bother me too much. But…I’m beautiful…right? Suddenly, it turned into one of those moments where time stopped. As the countdown began, I looked around the basement and noticed that there was something different about me. There was something itching at the back of my mind that might explain why I was the only one who was alone…

I realized I was the only black person I could see in the room. 3…2…1…Happy New Year.

____________________________________________________________________________________

I focused the bulk of my coursework in graduate school on race/ethnic identity. Through my studies, my eyes were opened for the first time to the idea that everything in our country is impacted by race. Consequently, I started to see everything through race- colored glasses. It made me very sad and very mad. It still does. As I look back on my experiences as a gay man, starting at that first night in Paradise, I can’t help but see how the intersection of my sexuality and my race have colored so many of my experiences:

I remember how often I was the only person of color in queer spaces in Boston. I remember how often I heard in conversations with white guys that they thought I was handsome “for a black guy” or that I was cute but they didn’t “date black guys.” I also remember hearing the opposite: “I’m really into black guys” or “I only date men of color.” I remember how neither seemed to bother me that much at first.

I remember when I first got on dating apps, I noticed how people would put “no blacks, no Asians” on their profiles. I would ignore it and pursue any way. There was a time that I didn’t list my race on dating apps because of it. I messaged a guy on an app and when he asked me what my race was I lied. He stopped the conversation because he knew I wasn’t telling the truth. He told me “you should never have to lie about who you are to get anyone to like you.” I have no idea who that person was, but thank you for saying that to me all those years ago. I always list my race now.

I took a break from dating apps for a while after my New Years experience but have since returned. Now, I entirely dismiss people who list any race-based criteria. But I’ve noticed that I still have to stop myself from swiping on people of color without actually looking at their profile. Mainstream standards of beauty in the gay community–white, fit, young, hairless–have inundated me just like they have so many others. It is something that I try to consciously work against all the time. I try to slow down and look at profiles to see if I really am attracted to the person, whomever they may be. Still, I am surprised when someone whom I find attractive actually finds me attractive back. I worry that if he is white, he swiped because he is fetishizing me and my blackness. I am not as surprised when a person of color finds me attractive. I worry that people of color swipe on me simply because I am black and not because they actually want to get to know who I am. I worry they too are fetishizing me for my blackness. I may quit dating apps again soon.

I remember the first time that I went to an event hosted by The Welcoming Committee in Boston. It’s a group that takes over traditionally heterosexual spaces for a night and makes them into queer event spaces. It was the first time that I felt at home at a queer event. I had the honor of being a volunteer for the group and eventually I helped to run it for a short time. TWC was my first queer family and was where I made my first black gay male friend. While we are not as close as we used to be, the mentorship and advice that he gave me all those years ago has stuck with me. I still think of him as an example of what it looks like to fully live ones truth. TWC was the reason I eventually had the courage to fully come out on this day four years ago.

I remember finally fully coming out to my parents and my dad saying “You’re 24, you’re not ugly, and you don’t date; we knew you were gay.” One of my favorite dad quotes to this day. I remember my parents making it clear to me that all they have ever wanted was for me to be happy, to be true to who I am, and to be safe. I came out to my sister first. Over Thai food I stumbled though the words, “I’m gay.” She looked at me blankly and said “Nothing surprises me anymore.” We laughed and continued lunch. I remember thinking I wish I had come out sooner; the people who I was most afraid of turned out to be my biggest advocates, as they always had been.

I remember moving into a new place in Boston and having a gay roommate for the first time. He was a slightly older, extremely muscular Nigerian man and he acted as my first gay sage. I was in awe of his attitude about the gay scene. He was confident and took no bullshit from anyone. They either wanted him or didn’t. He surrounded himself with good people. I wanted to be like him.

I remember meeting the individual who would become my first gay best friend. I had never had a close friend with whom I could talk to about what it was like to be gay. We went everywhere together. He helped build my confidence in ways I never imagined were possible. He was hilarious. We were a mess together. Eventually, we had a falling out over things that gay boys seem to always falling out over. Looking back, they were silly mistakes. We have since made up but I doubt that we will never be as close as we were for many reasons. I look at who he hangs out with now, a wonderful group of guys…but they are all white like him. I don’t hold it against him, but I wonder if he notices. My current best friend is another gay guy. I don’t know anyone who can make me laugh as hard or gross me out as much as he can. He is Latino. And, despite all the time that we have spent together, we rarely talk about what it means to be gay men of color in a white dominated gay scene. I wish we would more. Maybe we are both too scared and too scarred face the reality amidst our joy.

I remember my friends asking me “Why do you always seem to go after pale, skinny, white dudes?” and me not having an answer until I came home to the predominantly white neighborhood I grew up in and looked around. And then I thought about where I went to high school and college; both elite white institutions.

I remember the only two serious relationships that I have ever had. They were both with white guys. The first one was the first time I was crazy about someone. He was goofy and ambitious. He loved to eat and had good taste. But he wasn’t fully out. I never met his straight friends or parents. He always jokingly talked about how much he liked Latino men. Despite the incredible amount of time we spent together, he told me that he wasn’t ready for a relationship. But, I Iiked him so I was okay with all of that. We ended up “breaking up” after a full summer together right before I started grad school. He said it wasn’t fair that he wasn’t ready for a relationship and that I deserved someone who was. I was heartbroken, but he was right. A few months later I learned that he had started dating someone officially. When I found out who it was, I was surprised to learn that the guy wasn’t Latino. He was white too. He is now more out than ever, albeit still not fully. And despite his claims of liking men of color and having friends who identified in that way, all I ever see him in pictures with are white guys. I can’t help thinking that my skin color had something to do with why we couldn’t be together.

I was a bit more balanced when it came to the second of the two. I had a few more experiences under my belt and approached the relationship in a more jaded fashion. I fell pretty hard for him too. He was extremely smart, passionate, and compassionate. He also had fantastic taste, this time in music. Unfortunately because of extenuating circumstances, we had to end our relationship as well. A few months ago,  he lampooned me for having “Ivy League grad” in my dating profile. I tried to explain to him that I felt compelled to have that detail my profile because without it people would look at me and assume I wasn’t smart. On top of that, I was proud of what I had accomplished. Looking back, I see how problematic my thinking was. I know people shouldn’t associate the color of my skin with being anything but excellent and if they do I shouldn’t be around those people anyway. I have since removed that part of my profile where I can. Still, I wanted him to understand why I felt compelled to have it on my profile in the first place. I wanted him to understand that black people are seen as lesser than and these apps exacerbate that discrimination. He proceeded to compare the judgment and dismissal that I receive for the color of my skin to the way he gets treated because of the size of his penis. I was crestfallen and, in an odd turn, couldn’t find it in myself to continue the conversation. He didn’t understand why that comment was so problematic. We haven’t talked about that subject again.

I still have never had an “official” boyfriend.

I remember that before leaving Boston, inspired by one of my graduate school classes and wanting to cocoon myself around other gay black men, I started a group called the Men of Melanin Magic. The group still exists today. We used the same model as The Welcoming Committee initially. The first event drew 40+ people. I was excited by being around other black gay men. I though it felt good. At the events, however, my friends who helped me start the group would always note how I wasn’t acting myself. They wondered why I wasn’t being gregarious and making friends with everyone like I usually do. “People find you attractive! Have you gotten any numbers?” they would ask. I hadn’t. I didn’t have the words for it then, but I know now that my reticence was based in my fear of being judged. In conversations, without knowing me or having any prompting–sometimes without me having said anything–guys at the events would say “You look like someone who only dates white guys.” I was afraid of not being seen as “black enough.” So, I stayed silent. I know that I cannot generalize these experiences to all gay black men, but it has always been hard for me not to. Even now, when among a group of people with whom I should feel kinship I feel like they are all strangers.

I have since made black gay male friends, but there have been many moments where I felt as though some of them were trying to provide with me unsolicited counsel. I felt as though they were trying to hold a mirror up to me to help me “see the error of my ways.” That they wanted to explain to me that there was a way that I should act and a kind of guy I should date. There was a kind of “wokeness” that I should be at. That I should have recognized “all of these things before” and that “I would get there someday.” I remember just wanting to do whatever I wanted to do and be me without any “shoulds.” Maybe they were just trying to help and that I was too afraid to admit that they were right.

I remember how excited I was to move to Chicago. By the end of my time in Boston, I felt like it was a insidious, hyper-racialized place. Moving to Chicago has been a great change for me. That is not to say that it is not hyper-racialized. But, because there are simply more people of color, the gay scene feels slightly different. All gay bars here have a few more black people in them. I’m not alone. In fact, there are gay bars that are heavily frequented by people of color. A year in and I have yet to have someone say to me “you’re cute for a black guy.” My new job has also afforded me the opportunity to travel the country and see new gayborhoods in Houston, San Francisco, and Atlanta. These are all places that have a wider range of queer spaces and more people of color than I was used to in Boston. I have felt much more appreciated in all these places.

I remember being in a straight bar with a new gay friend in the south suburbs of Chicago and being the only black person in the bar. I brought it up to him in passing. He said to me, frustrated, “We are all having a good time, why do you have to bring up race? No one else is thinking about that.” I was.

I remember a recent date I went on a date with someone in Chicago. Things were going well and we were holding hands as we were about to hop on the train. As we started to kiss, a black man who was sitting at the train station looked at me and said, “Man, do you really have to do that in front of me? Can’t you go somewhere else? I don’t want to see you two do that.” My date was livid and proceeded to call the man a “nigger.” I was mortified. He grabbed my hand and pulled me on the train. He commenced to rant about how he hated when people were homophobic. When I finally caught my breath, I asked him how he felt that it was okay to say “the n-word” at all, particularly in front of me. He said he didn’t mean anything by it. He would never call me that. That I wasn’t like that guy. Dumbfounded, I continued on the date, hoping for an opportunity to explain to him how wrong his thinking was. I never got it and I wish I had jumped off at the next stop.

I remember celebrating my first Chicago Pride as a full out gay adult this past June. It was a magical to be able to feel as though I could finally be my true self in a place I have always called home. The day was full of great views, energetic dancing, and love. So much love. I was surrounded by friends, new and old, throughout the day. I felt beautiful.

____________________________________________________________________________________

So what does this all have to do with pride? Most of these stories are sad memories sad, not happy and full of revelry like the celebratory LGBTQ month of June promises. I know that in many of these instances other factors besides or in addition to race were at play. There is always more than one side to a story, though I don’t know how much that matters. Impact trumps intent. I try not to hold grudges and I do not think that any of these people who made me feel the way I feel or felt are “bad.”  I know that there were many points in these stories where my leaving the situation or listening to signs that I picked up on would have saved me grief. Of course, it is easy to say all of that in hindsight. I acknowledge that these vignettes show many of my own insecurities, self-loathing, internalized racism, and blind spots. In many cases, I am complicit in the racism I am experiencing. At the same time that I may blame others for some of these actions and events, I am not trying to pass blame on anyone for my own flaws. I am trying to work on all of them daily. My journeys from being a gayby (read: gay + baby) to a gaydolescent and from not seeing color to seeing it everywhere have not been easy ones. They have been full of missed opportunities, heartbreak, and mistakes. I’m starting to think that’s okay. I’m starting to think that it’s how I learn best.

To be clear, I have had many, many glorious moments as a gay black many in the years before and coming out fully four years ago. However, after this Pride month, I started to think more critically about what pride really means. The word and the month. When I started to reflect on my experiences, these stories rose to the top. Through putting the side by side I noticed something. Looking back on all of these stories, there was a threaded theme of being seen or not seen–for the right or wrong reasons. I have spent the large majority of my life not being out and running away from who I am. Now that I am out, figuring out what it means to be gay has not ended. My recent recognition of the racialization of my experience as a gay man has only further convoluted and complicated things. And while I am certainly not always sad, this recognition makes me sad a lot of the time. But, as a singer once said, “it’s okay not to be okay.”

So I share these stories, not because I want sympathy or I because want anyone I have mentioned here to feel bad. I relay these stories to say that that these things happened to me and, as a poet once said, “still I rise.” I tell my truth in an effort to be seen by those like me who have had similar experiences and feelings and have never voiced them before. I myself have never told anyone many of these stories. I want those who feel invisible in similar ways to me to know that I see them. I want to understand. I want to find a brave space. I want to help and be helped. I want to help those who don’t see to consider opening their eyes. I tell these stories to be seen because deep down I AM proud of who I am, where I come from, and where I am going in spite of my struggle. For me, pride–the month and the feeling–is about being visible. Unabashedly so. Through the good and the bad. And, on this the fourth anniversary of my coming out, I wanted to write it all down so I wouldn’t forget.

I remember going to the final block party of the Boston Pride celebration the day we all woke up to find out that the Pulse massacre happened in Orlando in 2016. I remember crying and crying, not only because my gay family had been attacked out of hate but because this event reminded me that gay people of color can’t even find safe spaces within the walls of their own community. None of us were safe and I felt even less so as a man of color. Still, we raged on. I remember running into one of my professors from graduate school at the block party. He admitted that he was a bit out of place, that people his age did not typically attend this event. He explained that after he woke up and cried in his husbands arms, he called his friends and told them that they had to show up to this event regardless of their age or their fear. He repeated to me what he said to them: “We have to let the world know that they can kill us and we will still be here.”

I’m still here. Can you see me?

On Being in the Closet at St. Ignatius

I distinctly remember one gay teacher while I was a student at St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in Chicago. Or, at least we all thought he was gay. He taught Spanish and was unapologetically flamboyant. I never had the pleasure of having him as a teacher, nor did I ever have a teacher who was openly gay until graduate school–I cried when she said it in passing on the first day of class. I don’t know if the Spanish teacher ever came out to students or ever said that he was gay. Frankly, it was none of our business. Even without the “official” confirmation, the students loved him. It was said that he was one of the best Spanish teachers in the department. In particular, the students loved that he was gay. However, students weren’t seemingly obsessed with the fact that he was gay because it was some kind of celebration of identity. They loved that he was gay because of the novelty of it.

I have vivid memories of male students making a sort-of-game out of approaching this teacher. He gave any student a hug when the student asked, and I remember watching male students dare each other to go up to him to get a hug. The male student would always approach timidly and reluctantly while his pack of friends stood back and giggled behind their hands. I wonder now as I wondered then if that teacher knew the spectacle those students were making out of his identity. I saw this exchange happen frequently during passing periods in the hallway. I have one particularly clear memory of a male student getting a hug and then promptly brushing off his clothes and skin as if to say he was wiping off the contact he had just had. He was a popular student, making his actions all the more “important” and the embrace all the more “egregious.” Everyone thought it was hilarious. The message that action sent has stuck with me over 10 years later. I can see that student’s face as he grimaced, wiping away this teacher’s homosexuality like it was contagious. I still know that student now. At one point that student was a teacher himself. I hope he gave hugs to kids that wanted them when he was a teacher. I hope no student ever wiped off his identity, his love.

I never got one of those hugs. I both thought it would be weird since I was never a student of this teacher (though he would hug anyone who asked, pupil of his or not). Moreover, I tried to avoid anything that might lead to the assumption that I myself was gay since I was terrified of the truth that lie latent within me. I now wish I had gotten one. That hug could have been affirming for him and affirming for me in a time when I felt like something was wrong with me; a time when I felt suppressed, confused, and invisible.

I have other vivid memories of a time when this particular teacher was sick. He was out of school for over a week and many students were dismayed. His class was highly liked. “Did you hear about [the teacher]?” I remember being asked by a classmate. “Yeah, he’s out sick, right?” I said, wondering why my classmate brought up this teacher to me in the first place–we took French together, so my classmate knew I wasn’t in his class. “Yep,” my classmate now whispered. “People are saying it’s because he has AIDS.” My heart dropped. Back then, I knew so much less about HIV/AIDS than I do now. We certainly weren’t educated about it fully as students in our limited sex education classes. Regardless, the rumor spread like wildfire. We never found out the truth of it, and, again, it wasn’t our business in the first place. But I remember that all students–boys and girls, who were usually lined up to hug this teacher–were more reluctant to get hugs from him after he finally did come back. There was a little less joy and love in the hallway then.

The culture around homosexuality itself was virulent. We were never taught anything about sexual orientation. The word “fag” was thrown around cavalierly by many students from neighborhood, who made up a sizeable population of the student body. I did everything in my power to not be considered gay. So, for a long time, I didn’t have friends from my own neighborhood as a result of my fear. In fact, I never really had close male friends from my neighborhood in my class. I was always too scared. Instead, I preferred to hang out with students a year behind me or ahead of me. Many of my friends were from the suburbs or the Northside. They seemed a bit more “progressive.” My bias as the Northside of the city being a more “gay-friendly place” still remains today in part because of this trauma.

I still remember all the crushes I had on my fellow male students, whose affections I knew would never be reciprocated. I recall being depressed for a good portion of my sophomore and junior years and not knowing why. I had no desire to dance with my female dates at some of the first events I went to. In fact, I was scared to. I still feel bad about making my dates feel rejected when really I was rejecting myself. I didn’t learn how much I loved to dance until later in life. I now take classes from time to time. I know the guy I would have asked to prom (though my prom date, who was a wonderful young lady, was the absolute best). He would have said no, of course, but it would have been nice to have felt as though I was in an environment that would have supported my action.

Years later, I have heard from some queer friends about how they were able to come out during their time in high school. They would tell stories of how included they felt or, if they weren’t, how they learned to carve out their own space. In doing so, they were able to date at a much younger age and make authentic friendships with people who knew them and loved them for who they were. I didn’t have that experience then and I wonder how I might be different now if I had. I wonder how much bolder and more confident it might have made me at an earlier age.

You know that you have truly been inculcated when even you are afraid to come out to yourself because you are convinced it’s bad or wrong. I will never fully know or be able to quantify it, and I am not blaming the school for the ills of society at large, but I do wonder what role St. Ignatius played in keeping me in the closet for so long. I definitely know the culture and community at the school played some role, or at least staff could have done more to make me feel supported. Yes, I know that the incidents I named that are so firmly burned into my memory were perpetuated by my fellow students, but that culture was only allowed to happen because there was no explicit messaging from the school against it. It is just as important to note what is taught explicitly as it is to note what is taught implicitly or not taught at all.

The recent article on the firing of a St. Ignatius teacher has brought these memories to the forefront of my mind though I have reflected frequently on what it was like to be in the closet at St. Ignatius. I do not know all sides of the story to explain why the teacher, who seemed to be well respected by staff, well-liked by students, and was on his way towards tenure, was fired. He claims that his firing had to do with his sexuality. The facts in the article state that a student found the teacher’s dating profile on OkCupid, spread around pictures, and that student, along with other students, harassed this teacher on social media. There were more developments, but when the issue was said and done, the students involved received small disciplinary slaps on the wrist. The teacher ended up canned.

I understand that I do not have all of the details and I plan to seek them out from all sides before jumping to conclusions about this being a wrongful and discriminatory termination. I understand that religious schools have exemptions from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which allows religious institutions to discriminate in regards to the hiring and firing ministerial staff (or, in this case, staff that teaches religion), so even if this teacher was fired because of his sexuality, the school may be within their right to do so. I understand that Catholicism does not condone or endorse homosexuality (though the pope, a Jesuit himself, has expressed the need for more tolerance and less judgement of individuals who identify as gay or lesbian), and that we live in a country where individuals and institutions have the right to believe whatever they want to believe. But I also understand as a former educator and proud, fully-out gay man the importance of modeling for young people. The failure of the school to model proper behavior in this situation is what I am most concerned about. Modeling can literally save lives.

Data from the most recent report from the CDC on risk factors for youth shows heartbreaking statistics on how much worse rates of bullying, physical dating violence, and suicide attempts  are for high school youth who identify as LGB versus youth who identify as heterosexual (about 2 times, greater than 2 times, and greater than 4 times, respectively). There is research that shows how having an adult who is a role model can help to lower rates of risk factors for LGBT youth. There are data that show that explicit anti-discrimination statements and gay-straight alliances also help to reduce suicidal thoughts and attempts for queer students. St. Ignatius, to my knowledge, does not have either. And now, this incident–whatever the reasons behind it–shows all students, but in particular those students who may be struggling with their sexuality at St. Ignatius, what could potentially happen to people simply because they are gay. It also shows how there are little to few repercussions for those who perpetuate discriminatory actions towards gay people.

What kind of modeling is this for young people? For a school whose motto is “men and women for others,” these actions by the students and the response by the school do not seem to uphold these values. As I said, it is totally within the rights of a Catholic school to not condone homosexuality. You can believe whatever you want to believe. But as an educational institution that holds itself to the standard of teaching God’s love, the school is obligated to teach respect for all people, to decry bullying, to promote justice, and to protect its young people, regardless of beliefs or identities. This is a failed teaching moment. Or, at least, the lessons taught were not ones of love.

This incident brings to mind other questions and comments that I have around the difficulty of being a gay male teacher in general, but for me, that isn’t the focus here. Despite how problematic this situation might be in regards to HR and publicity, I imagine that this teacher will be able to land on his feet. I do not say that to diminish the gravity of his accusation or the pain that he, his loved ones, his peers, and his students must be feeling right now. I say it because I can tell he is a good teacher. I can tell that because of his public response which focused on the kids and their learning, despite all this other noise. He will most likely get another teaching job if he so chooses, and I really, really hope he does.

Who I am worried about is the student like me who is walking the halls of St. Ignatius feeling even less supported and loved than they felt before because of this incident. That student who is even more scared about being bullied. That student who doesn’t know if St. Ignatius is the place for them. That student who is wondering if there is a place for them anywhere. That student who wishes there was a teacher like them who could give them a hug and tell them that it does get better (and, if that student is reading, it does get better–I promise).

I want answers for that student and I plan on holding the school accountable. I want to not only know more about this incident but more importantly what are the next steps? I don’t go there currently and I am hurting, so I know members of the community more directly involved must be as well. How does the school plan on rebuilding a community that is broken over this? What kind of professional development is in place to help staff appropriately and proactively mitigate situations like this? What curriculum is in place to teach students to not just be allies but “upstanders” in situations of bullying and discrimination? How is everyone being taught to have dialogue and work across difference, particularly when it comes to issues that are not aligned with one’s beliefs? There needs to be explicit programming around teaching students and staff respect for all people, including individuals who identify as gay.

To be clear, I loved attending St. Ignatius. Despite the concerns and negative experiences I have expressed here, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the institution. It is a fantastic school that provides a high-quality education and was full of caring, passionate teachers. I write this as a concerned alum who wants to see the school I love grow and reflect the values it espouses. As such, I plan on being a firestarter and a resource for change. If you are interested in following up with me, please feel free to reach out. I want St. Ignatius to do better for that kid like me. Because, at the end of the day, creating an environment where that kid feels safe, valued, and loved is the type of work that truly embodies what it means to be a person for others.

Andrew Rayner
SICP Class of 2006

Note: Members of the SICP community have written a petition to the administration asking for policy and structural changes at the school to promote a safer environment for people who identify as LGBT and for people of color. If you feel so inclined, please sign the petition found here. Thank you.

Fatigue from Building Bridges between Segregated Spaces, or Why I am Not Rooting for the Chicago Cubs

Border crossing, as my grad school professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot calls it, is a part of all our lives in some way or another. We have all had to cross from spaces where one norm or belief that is held by the group or most salient is shocked and challenged through the process of transcending into another space. This could be moving from one neighborhood to another, changing jobs, visiting a new place or country, or even experiencing an activity in a different way. I have always taken pride in my ability to cross borders. W.E.B. Dubois calls it the “seeing through the veil.” Rudyard Kipling calls it “walking with kings and keeping the common touch.” And in truth, I believe that the ability to transcend borders and unite people is the noblest endeavor that we can embrace in the battle to build coalitions of diverse minds, attitudes, origins, demographics, and beliefs. I truly enjoy engaging in the fight to close the gaps. Through facilitating conversations about race at school, helping to design workshops around race for work, and planning events within the queer community in the hopes of bringing people of different backgrounds together, I see the work as challenging, fulfilling, and rewarding.

Except when it’s not. Because it frequently isn’t.

Despite the best efforts of many equity and equality warriors, spaces still remain distinct. Rivers remain un-forded. Due to forces greater than the sum of the efforts of those trying to build bridges, divisive systemic structures seem too deeply rooted to unearth. I don’t believe this to be a cause to give up or stop the work, but it can be incredibly frustrating and invalidating. Some scholars characterize the feeling of being exhausted from the plight of building bridges across difference as a sort of “fatigue” (I am most familiar with this term when it is referring to “racial fatigue”). I have seen some of the greatest equality warriors and racial advocates I have had the honor of knowing needing to sit down and back off from encounters due to their fatigue. In the past, it has always somewhat confused me. How can we aspire to make a difference by bridging difference if we find ourselves tired of having the conversations and doing the work? I liken it to teaching, which at many points felt like a fruitless, uphill battle. Regardless of your fatigue, you had to show up to work every day and give your all.

Recently, an article I read refocused my attention on an idea that I had forgotten while in the trenches of doing the work of bridging gaps. In the article, Marlon James writes about how problematic it is that when attempting to work across difference the rhetoric always turns to expecting or wanting the marginalized or out-group to do the work to meet the in-group halfway, when the burden of the work should really be on those in power. “If QPOCs are so concerned about why gay bars aren’t more diverse, then why don’t they come to the bars more often?” “All the black kids don’t have to sit at the same lunch table if they don’t want to; why don’t they come sit over here with us?” “It’s totally fine for gay people to come into this venue. I don’t get why they feel so uncomfortable.” “Yeah Chicago is segregated, but the Northside is just better. I don’t get why more people aren’t trying to move up here and leave the Southside.” All of these statements are ridiculous and insulting. They ignore and erase the perspectives of those marginalized and take no accountability for the systems that marginalize in the first place. In working to bridge gaps, we have to stop expecting one side to work harder and reach further. Moreover, it is way past time that we acknowledge that those marginalized are frequently asked to stretch to reach those in positions of privilege, and those who are in positions of privilege have not been reaching back.

Enter the Chicago Cubs and their fans.

Let me start this part of the conversation by making it clear that I reaaaaally don’t care about baseball at all. I think that it is the most boring major professional sport on earth. In fact, the shame that I have in America is less rooted in our foreign policy or our lack of never having had a female president (yet) and more rooted in the fact that baseball, of all sports, is our “national pastime” when there are so many other cool sports like football (soccer) or jai-alai. With that being said…

Chicago has always been said to be one of the most segregated cities in America. Chicago’s rank on most segregated lists varies depending on where you look and the methodology used, but it is always in the top 10 (Drumpf keeps stating that it is THE most segregated city, and the report that many currently turn to say that that is not true as of right now; however, the visual still tells a sad, sad story). The borders to be crossed in Chicago are blatantly and explicitly geographic. This is reflected in all types of demographics, but particularly in race and class. The Northside is predominantly white, upper-middle class, and white collar. The Southside being predominantly black and Latino, middle to lower class, and blue collar.

There are consistent and constant efforts to distinguish the Northside and the Southside of Chicago from both parties. I, myself, am a Southsider (though, I must be honest and say that I grew up in a neighborhood that was predominantly white and upper-middle class, making it an exception to the rule on the Southside). Going to school up North, I was constantly plagued by the fact that my Northside friends never wanted to come down to the Southside. “There is nothing to do there” or “It’s really dangerous” they would say. That there is nothing to do is not entirely true, but one can look at distinctions between the violence and existence of gangs in the neighborhoods, the availability of restaurants and other amenities, or even attractions that exist in the city to see that there is a clear bias in resources in Chicago towards the Northside (even this Chicago-as-Game-of-Thrones article completely ignores the existence of the Southside ). In media, the Southside of Chicago also has a terrible reputation. Chicago rappers like Kanye and Chance the Rapper talk about the plights of life on the streets. The nickname “Chi-raq” has become popular in recent years and was cemented by the Spike Lee film of the same name. Add that to things such as food deserts, Southside school closures of recent, and housing discrimination of yesteryear; it’s clear to see why the Southside of Chicago is known worldwide as some kind of destitute, barren, violent wasteland. As a result, the rivalry between Northsiders and Southsiders is a real and tangible thing. Anecdotally, I’ve experienced that Northsiders disassociate themselves with the Southside almost as if it was a different city. Growing up, my Southside friends had no interest even in interacting with Northsiders and vice versa. Even now, as an adult, most people from one part of the city stay in that part of the city and rarely travel to the other.

The cusp around which I have seen the Chicago rivalry rear its head most vitrulently has always been baseball (since no one wants to explicitly talk about race or class, smh). Each side has its own team, and each side claims that’s that team as the end-all-be-all. The Cubs are the Northside team. Their stadium, Wrigley Field, is nestled in a neighborhood known as Wrigleyville. The White Sox are the Southside team. Their stadium, U.S. Cellular Field (name soon to be changed to something unspeakable) is located in Bridgeport. Sources contend that for the most part the teams’ fans follow the same demographic breakdown as their geographic affiliations. As a result, this rivalry, which actually spans over a century, has become more than league competition. Woe be unto you if you walk into Sox country wearing Cubs gear and vice-verse. Fights literally break out over this

So, it is strange to me that fans are now calling for the city to come together and support the Cubs as they enter the World Series for the first time in 71 years seeking a trophy they have not had since 1908. This fight, to me, is an example of so much more than just sports (and sorry to suck the joy out of something that is supposed to technically be fun). The Cubs abysmal track record for winning this coveted award is a common butt of jokes in comedy and now that the team is closer than they have ever been in my (or many other’s) lifetime, Southsiders are asked to band together with the North. We are being called to come together as a city and “Fly the W.” Again, I am not a baseball fan at all, but I was in high school when the White Sox won the World Series in 2005. I remember the vitriol from Northsiders. I don’t remember any camaraderie at all. I do remember walking outside that night on October 26^th when the White Sox swept the series. I remember hearing the shouts and the clanging of pots and pans. I remember kids and adults alike running around the streets of Beverly celebrating because the Southside, the little guy, the side without, finally won. We had something (else) that the North didn’t.

So, despite being someone who believes in building bridges, and despite being someone who tries not to let “fatigue” get to me, I am going to go on record to say that I am, in this purported instance of bridge-building, tired. I am taking an ideological stance. I, as a Southsider, will not reach a little bit further to bridge gaps with the North simply because we are being asked to do so. I think the burden is on them. Again, the little guy, the marginalized Southsiders are being asked to work a little bit harder to bring our city together and I don’t think that is fair. After  years of degradation and even recent erasure (ESPN literally failed to note the White Sox had won the World Series in 2005), I will not be supporting the Cubs*. I will cherish in my Southside roots. On this, the day of the 11 year anniversary of our World Series victory, I will relish what we have and they don’t. Here’s to hoping that a loss will finally force the North to value the other side of their city a little bit more.

*Let me also be clear that I wouldn’t be able to support the Cubs even if I didn’t care about the North/South rivalry because their owner donated $1 million dollars to the Trump campaign; I also wouldn’t support the Cleveland Indians because of their racist mascot. There are really no winners here…