Dear United States of America: I am tired of dying in order for you to move forward!

Dear United States of America:

I am tired of dying in order for you to move forward!

As a Black gay man, I am tired of having to die in order for you to move forward as a society. I am tired that it took thousands of people who were forced to come to this country, forced to work, and never receive compensation for their hard work to die before you recognized their humanity as Black people. (We still need that compensation!)

I am tired that it took many Black churches, businesses, and schools to be bombed before you recognized that discrimination is a problem in this country. (Even though many of you still don't see it as a problem).

I am tired that it took hundreds of Black men to die in Tuskegee, Alabama while undergoing medical care authorized by the U.S. Government, under the guise of "medical study", with no intention of curing these men when a cure was available before ethical protocols were put in place regarding academic and medical studies.

I am tired that it took nine Black people to die in a church before you realized that the Confederate flag is a symbol of oppression that needs to be taken down from federal property and that those street names and other symbols need to also be eradicated.

I am tired that it took hundreds of LGBTQ people to be arrested and some killed yet we still do not have marriage equality or the right to work in this entire country without the fear of being fired because of who we are.

I am tired of the hundreds of transgender and gender queer people who are killed and do not have their humanity recognized or their cases equally treated by law enforcement and by the legal system.

As a result of these countless and senseless deaths we have had the Civil Rights Movement, the LGBTQ Rights Movement, the Feminist/Womanist Movement.  These deaths have lead to progressive advancements for this country, but yet in spite of all these movements the United States of America collectively still dehumanizes People of Color, LGBTQ people, and women.

I refuse to pledge allegiance to a country that continually fails to advance towards full equality and recognition for all of its people.  The United States of America needs to wake the fuck up and start addressing the collective needs of those who lie at the intersections and those who have endured a history of oppression in this country.

While I am happy about today's SCOTUS decisions regarding the Affordable Care Act and Fair Housing, and I applaud the Supreme Court of the United States for advancing progressively, the rest of our country and society still has a long way to go before I can pledge allegiance.

Overall, I say to you, the United States of America, you have failed me as an American, and I refuse to pledge allegiance to you until you become a country that recognizes me, all who are like me, and all who I care about as humans deserving of equal treatment and freedom from oppression.

Not yours,
The BGM

B.G.M. Mourns the Lives Lost at Emanuel A.M.E. Church

Yesterday, I like many of you, mourned the lives of those who were brutally murdered inside of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina. I was speechless when I saw the initial coverage. I could not believe that a group of people who were just fellowship with each other were mercessily gunned down by someone. I felt that I was thrown back to living in the 1960s during the Bombingham area of the Civil Rights Movement when churches were bombed by Ku Klux Klan. I was happy to see that the person who is responsible for this heinous crime, Dylann Roof, was caught.

However, this incident once again proves that the lives of Black people are considered equally in this country. Witnesses at the shooting stated that Roof said "you rape our women and you're taking over the country." Roof felt he was entitled to take the lives of Black people, without the consideration that White men have raped Black women and men throughout history and took over this country from Native Americans.

What's even worse is that people are actually in support of Roof. Even to the point of establishing a Facebook group page calling for Justice for Dylann Roof

Dylann Roof does not deserve JUSTICE!!! THE 9 PEOPLE HE MURDERED DESERVE JUSTICE!!

This proves that we are not in a post-racial society. Race is still very important because of the Power and Privileges associated with Race. The fact that 9 Black People can be killed and there is no outrage about this on an equal level to similar incidences such as Sandy Hook, illustrates the inequities in our society. The fact that Roof is not considered to be a thug or equally as negatively portrayed as others who commit heinous crimes shows the devaluation of Black people. 

WAKE UP AMERICA!!! WE LIVE IN A RACIST SOCIETY AND I'M TIRED OF BEING DEVALUED!!!

I mourn today but we must all continue to fight for equality and justice for all people, and the first step is realizing that there is work to be done and we are FAR from POST RACIAL.

AMERICA IS RACIST, AND THE DEVALUATION OF BLACK LIVES NEEDS TO STOP.

B.G.M. Discusses Rachel Dolzeal and the Politics of Quantifying Race

I have kept quiet on the Rachel Dolzeal issue because I wanted to gather my thoughts. Now I am ready to offer my take:

RACHEL DOLZEAL REVEALS THE PROBLEMATIC NATURE OF THE QUANTIFICATION OF RACE.

When I talk about the quantification of race, I'm talking about two central questions:

1.  How Black are you?
2.  How Black enough do you have to be in order to be considered Black?

Now here are some of the problems that I see when it comes to Rachel Dolzeal.

Rachel was born with white privilege. She grew up phenotypically white and maintained the privileges of having white skin and coming from white parents.  She did not experience the racial experience of not having white privilege.  All people of color have that shared universal experience of being considered an "other" purely on the basis of the color of their skin.  Along with the othering comes the discrimination and prejudices associated with having a different skin tone that isn't white.  Rachel Dolzeal NEVER experienced that. She then chose to racially associated herself as Black. Race is not something that you can step into or out of. Just because she teaches courses related to the African American experience doesn't mean that she can authentically speak to the lived experience of being a Black person. She can speak of it from an abstract or hypothetical but not from a concrete experience. Also, I find it extremely problematic that she sued Howard University because she feels that she was discriminated for being White. Which are you Rachel? You can't be Black when its convenient and then retreat back to White privilege. Black people CAN NEVER do that. Therefore, Rachel Dolzeal, YOU ARE NOT BLACK.

Another huge problem that I am seeing is that Rachel's voice is now being considered more so than African American women who have lived the Black experience from birth. Who the fuck is she to tell any Black person what it means to be Black. Also, just because she has done work on behalf of the Black community through her role as President of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP does not make her an authority on the Black experience or make her more Black than others.  I really find it appalling when Black men such as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Don Cheadle, and others cosign her because of her work. Why are they not elevating the voices of Black women who are doing the same racial justice work AND can speak truth to their own power through their lived experience as a Black person. They and those who point out Dolzeal's racial work as a proxy for the lived experience of Black people are contributing to the minimization of black lives.

Now on the lfip side what this exposes for me are the two central questions that I posed at the beginning:

How Black Are You?
This has been a questions that we as a society have addressed incorrectly in so many ways.  From the onset, it was the One Drop Rule, where if you have one relative from the African Diaspora, you were considered black. Then it was how do you appear? From this, we got the Paper Bag Test, where if your skin was lighter or darker than the color of a brown paper bag you were subject to some form of discrmination. Then it was how do you talk? From this, we got the notion of "Talking White" where if you did not speak in Ebonics, you were considered to be engaging in Whiteness. Then it was what activities you engage in? From this, we got the policing and coding of certain activities as being participating in whiteness and other being coded as engaging in Blackness. We have been policing and quantifying the notion of Race for a long time and we collectively as a society have also bought into that quantification. That buying into that quantification leads to the other question of How Black does anyone have to be in order to be considered Black enough?

Personal Experience
I have personally experienced this throughout my entire life. I have been told that I am not Black enough by White and Black people. According to the One Drop Rule, I would be considered Black because both of my parents are Black. From the Paper Bag Test, I would be considered Black because my skin is darker than a paper bag. From the talking test, I fail and have been accused of Talking White. From the activities test, I have been accused of acting White because I prefer theatre over sports. However, none of these tests can attest to my lived experience as a Black Gay Man. I have been called a Nigger just because of the color of my skin. I have experienced my intelligence being called in to question due to my race. I have to worry about when I walk out my door that I will be considered dangerous simply because I am Black. All of this comes from my authentic lived experience and not from an abstract or cultural association. LIVED EXPERIENCE.

We need to elevate the lived experience of Black people overall, but more importantly of those Black people who are at the intersections, specifically Black Women and Black Transpeople. We need to STOP THE USAGE OF THE WORD TRANSRACIAL. You cannot step into or out of Race. Gender is a different socially constructed construct and therefore should not be conflated with Race. It is a disservice and disrespectful to the transgender community by even suggesting that Rachel Dolzeal is similar to the experience of transpeople. SHE IS NOT. Also, we need to not give this woman any more attention. I am calling on the media to not give her any more airtime. She does not need a reality show. She does not need a platform to spread her lies. Instead, elevate the voices of those who have truly lived the experience of being Black in America. Blackness is not a monolith, but it does come from an authentic lived experience and not from lies.  Stop devaluating the lives of Black people by elevating a fraud.

Blackness is not a monolith, but it does come from an authentic lived experience and not from lies.

Yours always,
The BGM

B.G.M. Discusses My Work on Effemiphobia in the Gay Community

Greetings Everyone!

In addition to my regular job and my community activism, I am a sociologist. My work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, and sexual orientation. During my time at Texas A&M University, I worked on a project called Effemiphobia in the Gay Community.  Effemiphobia is defined as the “fear of effeminacy by gay men towards other gay men”. I don’t like using the fear aspect of the definition. I prefer to focus on it as the treatment of effeminacy by gay men towards other gay men. I illustrated the way that effemiphobia manifests itself within the gay community through online profiles such as Adam 4 Adam, Grindr, and Jackd. When you see statements such as “No Fats, No Fems” or “Straight Acting only” or “Must be Masc or Masculine” these are statements that promote a negative treatment of effeminacy. My argument is that the large-scale usage of these terms demonstrates that the cisgendered gay male community has an issue with effeminacy and it in terms impacts how we interact with each other but also how effeminate individuals see themselves within the gay community. I was going to continue on to the Ph.D. level with my work but I chose not too because I do not like the publish or parish nature of academia and I also don’t like how academia wants to keep research within the Ivory Tower and not bring it out to the community. I am very much a community minded Sociologist and I want my work to be used and discussed within the community so that we are aware of the social constructs and social issues that impact our community and come up with ways to address those issues. I also want my work to reflect the lived experiences of the people who are directly impacted by my work instead of speaking about them simply from a theoretical standpoint.

My work has been featured in the GLADD Media Award winning article, “Why Can’t You Just Butch Up? Gay Men, Effeminacy, and Our War With Ourselves?” Check out the article here. I have presented on this topic at the National LGBTQ Task Force: Creating Change Conference twice and have received high evaluations. I have presented at Rice University, Texas A&M University, the University of Houston, and other institutions of higher education on the topic. I have been profiled for my work by publications and other blogs.

I mention all this to say that I know what I am talking about when it comes to discussing the intersections of sexual orientation, gender presentations, masculinities, and race. However, my work has not been appreciated or widely accepted by members of my own community, specifically the Black Gay/SGL Community. Often, I will see other presentations and discussions facilitated in my own city from people who know that I do this work, and they won’t even ask for my participation or contributions. When I present at colleges, universities, and conferences the attendance is often devoid of my fellow Black Gay/SGL men. I have submitted applications and abstracts in order to present at conferences specifically geared towards Black Gay Men/Same Gender Loving and to date I have not been accepted or invited to speak at any of these conferences.

For me this shows where the support of my work is coming from. It shows who is ready to have these conversations in a deeper way, rather than maintaining it at a general and surface level. I'm not gonna lie that it pisses me off that my work can be supported by others who are not like me but those who are like me don't value my work in a substantive way. I'm pissed about it but make no mistake, I don't NEED your validation. I know my worth and I know the significance of my work. 

I am going to continue to do this work and I thank everyone who has supported my efforts in a substantive way by coming to my presentations, by encouraging my work, and by offering me the space to be able to effectively facilitate these conversations.  However, to those who claim they support me in the background, please read the following message.

When you are ready to have the conversation, I am here. If you would like for me to facilitate a discussion on effemiphobia, or the intersections of race, gender, and sexual orientation, you can email me at bgmseeks@gmail.com.

Yours always,

The B.G.M.

B.G.M. Discusses Caitlyn Jenner

Yesterday Caitlyn Jenner broke social media and the Internet!

Vanity Fair released the cover of its next issue featuring Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner. Immediately following the release my social media timelines were innudated with posts featuring the cover and other photos featured in the magazine.

I completely support and applaud Caitlyn for using her celebrity to announce her transition to the world. Even before the issue hits the newstands on June 9th it has already caused people to think about the transgender community and issues surrounding gender identity. Here are some of the larger issues that I feel needs to be addressed based on the reaction to the article.

Transgender Visibility in the Media
I always applaud increase diversity in representations in the media. When we see ourselves in the media, we are able to increase the visibility of others within our communities and society. However, I feel there needs to be an even greater increase in terms of transgender visibility throughout our media. Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, and Janet Mock have all used their celebrity status to bring greater visibility to the transgender community, but we need more representations outside of the area of celebrity and entertainment. My hope is that our media spaces will use the reaction and attention that Caitlyn Jenner has brought to bring more representations of transgender people. Men's Health and GQ should feature transmen on their covers and articles. We also need a greater diversity in terms of race and socioeconomic classes among transgender representations. Most transitions are not going to be glamorous because of the costs involved in gender transition. The average cost of gender reassignment can range from $24,000 to $50,000.  Therefore, there is a cost prohibitiion when it comes to transitioning. Therefore, there are privileges involved when it comes to being able to transition, and then those privileges get amplified by images of individuals who have access to those privileges.

I applaud the Root (shoutout to Samantha Master!) for contributing to the expansion of transgender visibility by featuring 8  transwomen of color who are impacting our world.  Please check out that article.

The Negativity Towards the Transgender Community
While most of the messages I saw on social media were in support of Caitlyn, there were also some negative messages that show that some work still needs to be done.  First,  I saw a lot of memes that were falsely equating Jenner's transition with the struggles of other individuals such as military veterans and other people who have undergone medical procedures. These false equivalences are not necessary.  Everyone's experiences are valid and should be treated as such. Caitlyn Jenner displaying herself to the world is brave. The military service of our servicemen and women is brave. They are both equally brave and equally as valid. There is no need to falsely conflate them with each other in order to delegitimize.

Also, people need to realize that these negative memes and misgendering Caitlyn by calling her him or Bruce are forms of microagressions. Collective microagressions can cause damage to people. When someone sees a lot of microagressions coming from people within their community, it sends a message that certain people are not considered to be members of that community. So when African Americans consistently send misgendering messages and memes related to Caitlyn Jenner, it creates the message that transgender people are not welcomed in the African American community. I say this because most of the negative social media messages I saw were coming from members of the African American community. Now, if community wants to not be portrayed as homophobic or transphobic than we need to stop these microagressions. Your negative meme or misgender might affect someone in an unintended way. Too many people have committed suicide because they felt that they could not be who they are because of the microagressions hurdled at them from people within their communities.

Conclusion
Ultimately, we all want to be seen and heard. My hope is that Caitlyn Jenner leads to more transgender people been seen and heard within media and overall in our society. I hope that she causes people to learn more about transgender people. We need to uplift and encourage all gender expressions and identities and not demean each other. My existence does not stop you from existing, and you shouldn't prevent mine or anyone else from existing in their fullness.

Yours always,
The B.G.M.