To be young, black, queer, and from a township in South Africa is difficult. I am not saying this from a place of assuming a single-story knowing of others’ experiences, or seeking to invalidate the hardships of those who did not grow up in townships. I say this from particular and personal lived experiences of having grown up in Soweto, Meadowlands, and lived most of my life there. Furthermore, as a young black queer man from a township seeking to recover, locate, understand and place myself – my blackness, maleness, masculine performativity, and queerness (particular to my environment) – I have come to be met with numerous frustrations and incomplete representations of what it is to be “black, male, and from a township”.
People of Colour
My Story (Gay In Pakistan)
I am Malik from Pakistan, I am gay and belongs to a conservative Muslim family I was 14 when I discover that I have no sexual attraction towards girls, my male cousins mostly asked me about my likeness in my female cousins however I always says no and they thinked that its because of shyness. Life was passing through peacefully but now as I get 23 years old now and my my parents are forcing me to get married with my cousin. As in my family cousin marriage is being done from 3generation.
Our Martyrs, Our Angels
For many Chicagoans Market Days is the biggest event of the year. It brings together many wonderful features of what it means to be a Midwesterner. A sense of belonging, block parties, homegrown artists, entrepreneurs and restaurateurs come together to celebrate our town.
‘That’s it?’ – A coming out story
This is no ordinary coming out story. I was 21 and confused I started with a leading financial MNC in Mumbai, India. I was physically attracted to someone but that someone was a man and not a woman.
That someone has walked in those leather boots before him
I’m sitting here reflecting on the last ten years as an adult. As a teenager, I grew up watching Sailor Moon and DragonBall Z. I played a lot of videogames as a kid and I didn’t like physical games/sport. But I was also the kid that sat alone for lunch. I was the kid that no one would talk to.
Gay & Muslim: A Double Whammy!
I was born in the UK to Muslim immigrant parents. Although not religious, we were a conservative; culturally Muslim family. Saying it was hard growing up in 1970/80’s Britain, is an understatement! What the world viewed of Britain was the royal family and Monty Python. However, my reality was as far removed from that as possible. My upbringing in my industrial town, can only be described as downbeat. Racism, and the violence that accompanied it, was the backdrop to my formative years.
Why I stepped away from Dormant Homophobia
Two nights ago, I’d just come out of a venue, The Signing Tree Conference Centre, Deaf Cultural Centre in Ladywood, one of the most deprived communities in Birmingham, if not the UK.