I do not want to disappoint God, Mississippi, or home with this letter, but I have to disappoint God, Mississippi, and home with this letter. I am currently succumbing to evil.

As a Black queer teacher with over 10+ years of teaching across various cultures, including in the Midwest, East Coast, Appalachia, and at an HBCU in the South,  I wanted to provide a road map/examples of how teachers of all sorts can intentionally create spaces where Black queer students thrive. 

While ample attention has been given to book bans, especially recently, one aspect is, oddly, glaringly absent from the conversation- how are minority children who desire to read these books impacted by these bans?

Instead, it was a post that read “They’re having a best gay movie off” and it featured two films - Call Me By Your Name and Red, White & Royal Blue. Individuals, particularly Black queer men like myself, were stunned as the film Moonlight, which won an Oscar, was glaringly absent from the discussion (a topic for another day).

It is incredibly dehumanizing, discouraging, and demoralizing to be a 1st generation, neurodivergent Black queer man who flourished academically while others, including friends, seemed to be relegated to the shadows.

While it is important to highlight fatherhood and those who shepherd their children into adult life, we frequently forget to ask a critical question: who gets the opportunity (and privilege) to be a father if desired? For many men who identify as queer, there is a delta between wanting a child and having one.

Despite waning attention, HIV is still around, and most new cases are found in gay men ages 13-34. Of note, we know Gen Zers are between the ages of 13-27. Thus, an unfortunate and impactful storm is brewing, but we must predict the weather and prepare.

At barely 10 years old, Pierce Hand Seitz already had a leg up on other 5th graders: After getting a taste of legal proceedings during a mock trial, he was pretty certain he wanted to be a lawyer when he grew up

I want to highlight my long but important journey to being diagnosed with ADHD and how I am continuing to grow my flowers. The diagnosis was not the rain; instead, it was the sunlight needed to illuminate how and where I could grow. 

It has been just over a month since Jerrod Carmichael launched his groundbreaking series, the Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show. Unlike his 2015 scripted show, featured on NBC, this new series was packaged as an authentic and transparent view of Carmichael’s (who is Black and gay) world.

In October of 2023, a coalition representing 110 networks of people living with HIV met to discuss a deep-rooted but under-discussed issue in HIV advocacy - molecular surveillance. 

Seventeen months ago, Byron Perkins, a Hampton University football player, was in a dark place. After a promising 3-0 start to the season, his team lost two games in a row —  including a likely discouraging, 32-point beatdown at the University of Delaware. 

In 2000, I wrote an introduction for a new edition of Essex Hemphill’s magnificent collection "Ceremonies." I pointed out what I believed to be that work’s purpose: remembrance as the only way to begin the process of healing the wound that white supremacy, poverty, homophobia, heterosexism, and most recently HIV/AIDS had inflicted upon us as Black Gay Men. (Cover image of Essex Hemphill by Barbara N. Kigozi, June 1994)

On Essex Hemphill's birthday on April 16, 2020 CNP hosted a virtual reading of the artist’s work. Since the founding of CNP, we have honored the life and legacy of Essex. Our organization is a love letter to him. (Cover photo of Essex Hemphill by Dr. Ron Simmons © Ron Simmons TA2019.38.1.1.1.8)

It is no surprise or secret that X (formerly known as Twitter) is an archive for critical cultural commentary. In fact, since the start of the new year, Black Twitter has been the center of multiple conversations relevant to the Black queer experience.

As anyone who’s ever had a fulfilling hookup app experience can attest, even the most contrived and artificial scenarios can yield moments of genuine connection and intimacy. Jerrod Carmichael has plenty of those moments in “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show,” his new Max project chronicling the comedian’s biennial whirlwind.

Considered a brilliant organizer with an aptitude for detail, he’s the exacting architect of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, an unprecedented demand for civil rights which drew a quarter of a million people to the National Mall -- and catapulted Martin Luther King Jr. into national prominence.

When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer late last year, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin joined the 280,000 Black men annually identified with the disease. It’s so common, studies show, that 1 in 6 Black men will develop it during their lifetime. 

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter, now known as “X,” there were immediate concerns about how his leadership style and company would hinder “Black Twitter.” While not technically a separate platform,  Dr. Moody-Ramirez, author of From Blackface to Black Twitter: Reflections on Black Humor, Race, Politics and Gender, explains that Black Twitter is not a separate digital platform or space.

At the start of 2024, like every year, resolutions and bold proclamations are being sprinkled throughout daily conversations. From desires to maintain physical fitness to claims dedicated to creating and implementing boundaries, the start of a new year often allows time for reflection, resolution, and growth.

Each February, via Black History Month,  our nation has the opportunity and privilege to reflect on the legacy of Black Americans. From Google Doodles to corporate banks to federal proclamations, reaching far beyond slavery, observing Black History Month allows us to celebrate the substantial contributions that African Americans have made to The United States of America’s history, culture, vibrancy, and soul.

It was with these words that poet Audre Lorde began her groundbreaking 1982 work “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name”, in the process launching earning a reputation as a master poet and black lesbian literary icon that has endured years after her death.

On this episode of The Reckoning, we are honoring National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (#NBHAAD) with Dr. Deion Hawkins.

I’ve now made a career out of being an award-winning debate coach and HIV advocate. Like the foundation of a home, being an advocate is a core part of who I am. Asking me to stay silent is like asking the ocean not to wave – it's against the very nature of its existence.