FEATURE: BLACK, GIFTED AND WHOLE - NON-PROFIT LAUNCHES INITIATIVES TO SEND BLACK GAY MALE STUDENTS TO COLLEGE
From Afropunk.com
“We plan to award 5-8 scholarships to Graduating Black Gay Men who are interested in attending Historically Black Colleges. It is our way of ensuring we contribute to the intergenerational mobility of our community.”
As an openly Black Gay man, I have often found myself starved for fairer depictions of who I really am, in the media. Television has done our entire community a disservice by only portraying Black Gay men as accessories. Per the machine, we are merely relegated to #bestie, #fashionqueen, lace-front connoisseur or confused "down low" brotha'. In fact, we are MUCH more than the caricatures we've been privy to seeing on television. We are executives, policy makers, CEOs of our OWN companies, prolific writers, activists, artists, AND athletes. We are more than our sexualities and should be treated as such.
Read more at http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/feature-black-gifted-and-whole-non-profit-launches-initiatives-to
Black, Gifted and Whole: Creating a Voice for Gay Men
From Ebony.com
“Guy Anthony is a man who wants to make a difference. We all do to a degree, but Guy is taking his dreams a step further. ”
"I’ve never felt so right about something in my life and I feel right about this," he said when talking about his non-profit, Black, Gifted & Whole. "I prayed about this, I meditated and I just do the work."
The organization, founded just a few months ago, seeks to help young Black gay men matriculate to institutions of higher education, particularly HBCUs.
"I went to a performing arts high school in Detroit, Michigan," Guy said. "I was out of a very bad neighborhood, a very bad city. I really wanted to do things that were not necessarily cool to my friends and I wished that I had a mentor that reflected the life that I was living, you know like a gay man. As someone that was molested and sexually assaulted, I knew early on what my sexuality was. Growing up in a very religious family -- obviously homosexuality is not smiled upon, so a lot of the depression that I suffered and post-traumatic stress trauma that I acquired over the years became something."
Guy felt suffocated, and made the decision to attend the University of Michigan. He did not see people who "looked like him," and there were no coalitions that represented what he wanted to do for the LGBT community.
In his words, he knew he had to lead.
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/wellness-empowerment/black-gifted-and-whole-creating-a-voice-for-gay-men#ixzz3sSsgqnZb
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