By Crimson Jordan
For some in the Black community, the LGBTQ experience is a touchy subject—for others, it’s an untouched issue. Our silence and suppression has taken a toll on both of our communities, leaving many of our people un-affirmed in uncomfortable gray spaces or even entirely in the dark when it comes to questions of identity. “Black Like Us: A Candid Conversation About the LGBTQ Experience,” an upcoming facilitated community dialogue that will be held in collaboration with the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work on February 26, aims to combat that silence and division.
“For many of the Black people I know, seeing is believing. Interaction is important,” Harrison Guy, co-chair of Mayor Turner’s LGBTQ Advisory Board and host of “Black Like Us,” says in reference to the importance of reaching people through visibility. “They can connect with trans people once they know someone who is trans, heard that person speak, and saw that they were Black. This humanizes us in a way that most people don’t get until they know someone in that experience —which is unfortunate, but necessary.”
The event is intended to put a spotlight on and give a voice to Black members of the LGBTQ community, while also giving a seat to anyone who wants to be a part of the conversation. It is Guy’s hope, along with many others, that the seats are filled with various members of the Black community—straight, gay, cisgender, trans, old, and young. The goal is to create true dialogue, and to do so, all sides must be present.
The idea for “Black Like Us” was formed in response to a situation that occurred in November 2017 when controversial minister Wesley Muhammad was booked to speak at the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center in Houston. The LGBTQ community was rightfully outraged that a minister who was quoted saying that “homosexuality is against the well-being of the Black nation” and “[homosexuality] is not and has never been normal for Black people,” was scheduled to speak at a space that provides empowerment programs for the Black community. After many of Houston’s LGBTQ community members met with the leadership of S.H.A.P.E. and explained the problem, the lecture was cancelled. However, from my personal perspective as a queer Black person, the mere fact that the problem had to be explained to a culturally-significant community center implies that a conversation such as “Black Like Us” is essential in preventing something like the Wesley Muhammad debacle from happening again.
“When we do have these conversations, they often end up going in a negative direction because there are no LGBTQ people involved in the discussion,” Guy says. He elaborates that often, because of the disconnect between the black and queer communities, these conversations are based off of hypotheticals and have no true end goal. “Black Like Us,” on the other hand, aims to talk about actuality over assumption. The community dialogue thoughtfully and intentionally initiates what the organizers and panel participants hope to be a long–term conversation.
Another goal of the discussion is to bring a personal approach to what is normally considered a detached idea. “Sometimes it’s hard for people who don’t identify with us to really meet us,” Guy says. “What I’m learning is that we have to make those things happen, create those interactions, and arrange those introductions, because if we leave it to chance, who are we to say that we’re mad that it didn’t happen? We’re providing a platform to put communities together and saying that you’re going to meet some amazing people at this event.”
The fact that this discussion is being held during Black History Month is no coincidence, Guy says, noting that the timing is imperative. “Once we know more about our culture and history, we can work on improving issues,” he says. While these are conversations that we should be having all year long, it would be a missed opportunity not to hold such a discussion during a month when Black achievements are highlighted, the state of our community examined, our potential recognized, and our issues acknowledged in order to achieve a better understanding of our past, present, and future.
“Black Like Us” will consist of opening remarks made by Guy, a panel discussion featuring members of Houston’s LGBTQ community, a screening of htx people project’s short film c r e a t i n g s p a c e, and a keynote address by queer writer and activist Darnell Moore.
Guy wants attendees to know that creating true change is an ongoing effort and that this conversation is only the beginning and an opening for further dialogue. This event is not an attempt to solve all problems that exist between these two communities, but an effort to acknowledge their intersections and to humanize the people within them.
What: “Black Like Us: A Candid Conversation About the LGBTQ Experience”
When: Monday, February 26, 2018, 6-8 p.m.
Where: University of Houston Student Center, SC Theater
Details: Event is free and open to the public. RSVP at https://goo.gl/g1S3JG. Visitor parking is available in the university’s Welcome Center Garage.
