That was the show that I saw the clip of. They just performed recently at the Hollywood Bowl and I wanted to go so bad. People want to have fun with their own identities and not take themselves so seriously, and the queer community has really embraced it as a whole. After doing some research and hanging out in some communities, I started to make like, "Why do lesbians love board games? Why do they stay in and play board games?" And they were hits. Like, "Oh, why don't we have one about us? We want one about us." I was thinking, how would I go about making one of these videos if I don't have that experience? You don't want to offend someone, but you want to make sure it's accurate. And then as those started to pick up on TikTok, there were a lot of bi, queer, lesbian interests. I first started out with things from my own experience as a gay man. Would you say a large portion of the viewership is queer people resonating with it and sort of understanding the stereotypes that these are based on? They understood the ridiculousness of it, and so I kept doing it and having fun with it.
Black sexy gay men series#
And initially it started with the video about iced coffee, not really thinking it would be a series of any sort.
In this moment of profound darkness and racial reckoning, it is affirming and empowering to see the light of so many Black gay/queer men shining so bright.I thought I would put them in the context of a video where I made them 100% real with fake science. “I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.” - James Baldwin It’s no coincidence that Baldwin used his voice and visibility to call out systemic and structural racism, challenge white supremacy, and read with a tongue as sharp as a sword. It’s also a double entendres because this is a lesson in the beauty, boldness and brilliance of Black gay/queer men.Ģ020 was also the 65th Anniversary of James Baldwin’s Notes Of A Native Son which is the inspiration for the Native Son movement, community and platform. It is 101 because we believe that the extra person in our community can create change.
These are the Brothers who pushed through one of the most horrific years in history and made a difference, created something new, and broke barriers. The Native Son 101 is a list in alphabetical order of the Black gay/queer men who made an impact in our community and in the world in 2020. Honoring Essex Hemphill and Joseph Beam who gathered Black gay writers in the anthology Brother to Brother to “tell the story that laughs and cries and sings and celebrates” of Black gay men in the wake of the AIDS crisis, we present the Native Son 101. I say this because I come from a legacy of courageous, creative and politically and socially conscious Black gay men who believed in pushing back against oppression, built communities to support their own, and took trauma and created magic. You see, that is the only option because it is part of the Black struggle. The immense catastrophe this pandemic is having on the Black community at every intersection - especially my own.Īnd while I am triggered by the similarities that this virus has to the AIDS Crisis of the ‘80s, as a Black gay man who is HIV+, I soldier on.
As I sit in solitude contemplating the last 12 months - 10 of those in isolation - I am saddened by the devastation of Covid-19 and the loss of 300,000 Americans and counting.