Archives for November 2017

The Disposability of Black LGBTQ Lives: When Buzzwords and Hashtags Aren’t Enough

November 27, 2017 by Angry Black HoeMo

This is the 3rd of a multi-part series, where I highlight how this system often works against men/boys who live in the intersection of Blackness and Queerness. In the first part, I discussed the murder of Giovanni Melton, a 14 year-old boy killed by his own father. The second part goes over the case of Gemmel Moore, murdered by an affluent white Gay man. Here, I’ll be discussing the overall theme, of how the general disregard for Black LGBTQ people enabled both of these tragedies.

I decided to focus on the murders of Giovanni and Gemmel because I felt like both cases, together, highlight conflict that all Black Gay men (and Black LGBTQ folks, overall) face. There’s risk of discrimination, erasure and violence in most any space that we’re in. There’s anti-Blackness in many LGBTQ spaces, and anti-Queerness in many Black spaces.

Black LGBTQ folks are constantly put in a position of having to choose between race and sexual/gender identity. Worse, not only are we expected to “pick a side,” but it never is to benefit us. WhiteGayze™ expect us to fight for Gay/LGBTQ causes through a white-centered lens, with no regards to race. Black people (primarily cisgender & heterosexual) expect us to fight for Black causes, but through the lens of cishet men (i.e. “Race first”**), with no regards to sexual/gender identity. And any time we try to fully affirm ourselves, we’re labeled a “distraction.”

Truth of the matter is, the goal isn’t to advance true liberation by subverting white supremacist, colonial systems. The real goal of many people is to see Black cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied men and/or WhiteGayze™ sit in the position that white, cishet, able-bodied men currently hold. And they want us to happily and quietly take every bit of their abuse in the process. [Read more…]

The Disposability of Black LGBTQ Lives: Gemmel Moore

November 14, 2017 by Angry Black HoeMo

This is the second part, of a 3-part series, where I’m going over instances of fatal violence against Black Gay/Queer men, in order to highlight ways that the system often works against people who live in the intersection of being both Black and Gay/Queer. In the first part, I discussed the murder of Giovanni Melton, by his own father. In this piece, I’ll be discussing the Gemmel Moore and the systemic factors around his case.

[Trigger/Content Warning for anti-Black murder]

UPDATE: In the wake of issues coming up around an article on Gemmel Moore, published by The Root (which I’m not linking), I find it pertinent to include additional information, where facts around Gemmel’s case were clarified. Particularly since, even though I do not present myself as a journalist, and Angry Black Hoemo is nowhere near as visible as The Root, there may be folks who are learning of this case from here for the first time. Although issues around sex work very much intersect with this case, it’s important to clarify that sexual contact didn’t take place. Ed Buck’s fetish was specifically injecting Black men with meth. Please be sure to check out Jasmyne’s response to The Root’s article, and keep her website and social media bookmarked, as well as Justice 4 Gemmel, to be able to keep up with the most accurate and up-to-date info.

On July 27, 2017, a young Black Gay man, named Gemmel “Juelz” Moore, died due to a meth overdose. This would be a tragedy, in and of itself, but the kicker is that this overdose occurred in the home of affluent democratic party donor, and white Gay man, Ed Buck. It was initially deemed an “accidental” overdose, but is now being investigated as a possible homicide.

Gemmel was in the home of Buck, on an appointment as an escort/sex worker. Ed Buck has a very specific fetish, where he likes to inject copious amounts of methamphetamine into men. He specifically targets Black men to carry out this fetish. Jasmyne Cannick has been one of the few people (that I’ve seen) consistently working and reporting on this story, and she’s been able to find several other Black men who reported very similar experiences with Buck. Gemmel Moore’s encounter just happened to end more tragically than the several other Black Gay men who have been targeted by Buck. [Read more…]

The Disposability of Black LGBTQ Lives: Giovanni Melton

November 9, 2017 by Angry Black HoeMo

In the wake of several instances of Black Gay/Queer men and boys who losing their lives due to interpersonal and systemic violence, I decided to do a 3-part series going over a couple of particular cases that have stuck out to me, the systemic factors that led to them taking place, and the overall response to them. I’ll start off with one of the most recent cases (as of this piece being written).

[Trigger/Content Warning for anti-LGBTQ violence/murder]

On November 2, 2017, a young Black Gay teen named Giovanni Melton was murdered by his own father. This happened because Giovanni’s father “disagreed” with his sexual identity and couldn’t handle having a Gay son. There are so many layers to this that it’s hard know where to begin. And I don’t believe I’ll even be able to touch on every aspect. But one central takeaway from this whole situation: Black Gay/LGBTQ bodies are undervalued and left behind. Even in this era of so-called “Intersectionality.”

First, I believe that the widespread notion that LGBTQ identities are a simply some idea that be “disagreed” with heavily contributes to this. All of the propaganda in church of “hate the sin, love the sinner.” The posts on social media casually asking baiting questions like “what would you do if this was your son?” The way people relentlessly debase men who do anything that doesn’t fall in line with this colonized idea of masculinity. Making AIDS “jokes” at the expense of Gay/Queer men. All of these things are factors, and all of the people who contribute are complicit. [Read more…]