Gay football player Michael Sam didn't make an NFL team, but he will play for the Dallas Cowboys practice squad. Wrer Michael Arcenex says that's an important step forward for gay black men.
Contents:
- AMERI NEED A GAY, BLACK MAN TO TOP S UNTRY CHARTS. PROTECT LIL NAS X AT ALL STS
- LIL NAS X MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT CMA AWARDS
- BLACK, GAY COWBOY: MICHAEL SAM STEPS UP
- THE GEO PHOTOS FROM A GAY ROO WILL TRIGGER YOUR INNER COWBOY
- GAY ROOS ARE QUEER SPAC RAL PLAC
- BLACK, GAY COWBOY: MICHAEL SAM STEPS UP
AMERI NEED A GAY, BLACK MAN TO TOP S UNTRY CHARTS. PROTECT LIL NAS X AT ALL STS
Lil Nas X beme the first openly gay black mician to w at the Country Mic Assn. Awards for his h "Old Town Road." * black gay cowboy *
Although other popular mic genr also rerce misogyny, rape culture, vlence, dg age and homophobia, the populary and -optg of hip-hop allows to be the spegoat for societal hip-hop is viewed as "black mic, " this narrative not only disurag black kids like me om branchg out but also puts a posn of sufferg a siar fate to Jordan Davis, 17, and most recently Elijah Al-Am, 17, who were both young boys of lor killed for listeng to rap Davis, murred 2014, was shot three tim his r by 45-year-old whe Michael Dunn who was annoyed by his "thug" mic. More:Lil Nas X on backlash after g out as gay: 'Oh, I'm already gettg 'A uple of days ago, on the 4th of July, 27-year-old Michael Pl Adams sl Elijah Al-Am's throat statg that "anyone who listens to rap mic is a threat to the whole muny. "Lil Nas X, the gay, 20-year-old, black, wboy-hat-wearg rappg rock star wh the hottt song the world, is important bee he's changg that narrative.
LIL NAS X MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT CMA AWARDS
* black gay cowboy *
Outsi of his mic, Young Thug is a rpected hip-hop artist known for his appreciatn (or appropriatn) of queer culture, spe the ia that hip-hop and the black muny uniquely have a homophobia problem. Actual black openly gay artists, specifilly succsful black cis-men, like Frank Ocean and Tyler the Creator, and now Lil Nas X, have seen the creasg support for their sexualy wh the black mic muny, however the backlash and vlence still exist.
Also:After teasg pani llaboratn, Lil Nas X and Gordon Ramsay get okgThe heterosexist and homophobic ments that he's receivg should give an ia of the everyday vlence that LGBTQ+ people experience om people fightg to mata a heteronormative culture om which they benef. (Matt Wkelmeyer / Getty Imag) Lil Nas X ma history Wednday night at the 53rd CMA Awards when he beme the first openly gay black mician to take home a w om the Country Mic h “Old Town Road, ” a llaboratn wh veteran untry sger Billy Ray Cys, was named the mil event of the year. 14, 2019An earlier versn of this article rrectly stated that Lil Nas X was the first openly gay artist to w a CMA Award.
He is the first openly gay black artist to do so. Country sgers Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, both of whom are whe and openly gay, shared the 2014 song of the year CMA Award wh Kacey Mgrav for “Follow Your Arrow.
BLACK, GAY COWBOY: MICHAEL SAM STEPS UP
As everyone has heard many tim by now, he will be the first openly gay player the league. That's not jt for the NFL, but for so many gay black men, who know all too well what 's like to be sized up based on our sexualy.
My first imag of gay men on televisn were Blae Edwards and Antoe Merriweather, the flamboyant crics who ma up In Livg Color's famo "Men on Film" sk. They were more or ls ritur, and as someone who had a very early klg that I preferred the pany of boys to girls, they signified what meant to be gay for me — and I wanted no part of . Though there's been more diversy the pictn of gay men mass media sce then, there is a lgerg imbalance the reprentatn of gay men of lor.
Look no further than many of the gay black men sttered across realy televisn, most of whom play the role of jter. Still, while I celebrate dividualy, I do not re for stereotyped pictns of any subgroup the gay muny. They show gay children that they are tly equal to everyone else, spe their sexual orientatn.
THE GEO PHOTOS FROM A GAY ROO WILL TRIGGER YOUR INNER COWBOY
And Sam specifilly n help challenge misnceptns about gay male athlet. ESPN uld've given that story some reemg value by rightfully skewerg the ridiculo ia that beg gay means you're actively tryg to pounce on anyone of the same sex at any given moment.
GAY ROOS ARE QUEER SPAC RAL PLAC
Intertgly enough, Febary, Michael Sam himself said, "I jt wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player, stead of Michael Sam the gay football player. Gay black men have to show that we are as nuanced the way we love, drs, behave and, y, play, as everyone else.
BLACK, GAY COWBOY: MICHAEL SAM STEPS UP
It would be awome if we lived a society that was open or even different about sexual orientatn, a society that was ee of the sizable number of people who believe that to be gay is to also be perverse.
But the same way Michael Brown's killg and s aftermath remd that racism is a stubborn societal ill, the back and forth over Sam's fate the NFL mak all too clear that to be gay is to also be nsired a problem — particularly when enterg a space believed to exemplify manhood.