Whether I want to cross the finishing line or not 2013 is almost over. I cannot stay stuck here. I must move ahead.
Moving ahead is not progress. You can stand or sit still and progress. You see, we have it in our heads that as long as we are moving we are making a difference, but I disagree. Movement is motion. Progress is improvement and that improvement is often coupled with a desire for change.
In 2014, I do not want to be called at 4am by teenage gay males and females asking their Uncle Ezra for money or a place to stay because their parents or siblings have threatened to kill them because of their sexual preferences; I do not want to be pulling on my clothes to make a trip to the Emergency Room because someone’s “dad thought he could beat it out of [him].” I want to be pulling down prejudices and kicking in closet doors. I also want to have the facility to afford these young males and females shelter. How? I have no idea yet.
In 2014 I am going to be blacker and gayer than I have been in previous years. I am going to inspire more outrage than I ever have before and I am going to put myself out there to be ridiculed, denounced, picked on and persecuted. Why? Because that, not my sexuality, is a choice I am making.
Silence is proving to be poisonous. Silence has infected our communities for too long. Silence is a cruel cultural disease that encourages taboos and stands on the side of teen suicide.
In 2014, I promise you that I will be working alongside other openly gay males and organisations to make not just a difference but a dent.
2014 is not my year, it is our year – The Year of The Queer.
God bless.
