Wait, I Said That?

So I think I said something kinda intelligent in an interview I did with the folks at the Brave Soul Collective this week. I'm sure it's been said in some form or another by other folks at other times. Still, I'm amazed.

"This (my writing) is important to me because often times, we're asked to leave our sexual orientation at the door with our black and latino communities, or we're asked to leave our ethnicity at the door with the larger gay community. My writing characters who are proud of their ethnicity and being gay is part of that effort to tell young gay people of color you can be all who you are without being ashamed or leaving parts of you at the entrance door."

Check out the rest of the interview here.

So, something like that is what I would say to some of the folks responding to my interview with the Feast of Fools Gay Fun Show earlier this week, who are criticizing black and latino people for throwing their own pride events, or who are accused of segregating themselves.

It is exactly the history of racism in the U.S. that prompted groups to decide to include and celebrate themselves, in a setting where they didn't have to be questioned, or made to feel different or wrong because of their ethnicity or other features. These festivals are about pride and inclusion, which often didn't/doesn't happen in larger mainstream settings.

But... there will always be people who put the burden to end racism on people of color... and that means there will always be opportunities to teach and challenge that way of thinking.

Which is why I do what I do.
fs