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KILLG OF BLACK, GAY OLE MISS STUNT HAS SCHOOL'S LGBTQ MUNY 'TERRIFIED,' HIS FORMER ROOMMATE SAYS
The LGBTQ muny at the Universy of Mississippi is "terrified" followg what prosecutors say was the July murr of Jimmie "Jay" Lee, a 20-year-old gay, Black stunt, his former roommate told Insir. "For a lot of gay people there, we're sred, " said Braylyn Johnson, a Black former stunt at Ole Miss who intifi as a member of the LGBTQ muny. "Especially for gay Black men.
"There are people who don't want to e back to school ls that two weeks bee of how sred they are, " she the fear Lee's killg has ed, his ath has h particularly hard bee as a "Black, gay man Mississippi" who equently performed drag unr the name Jay Divaa, he was an spiratn to other queer people Oxford, where the Universy of Mississippi is loted, Johnson said — rememberg her iend as always drsed to the n a full face of makp. "He wanted to make Oxford his home, and for him to do that, was gog to take him to be that advote and to be that change to make fortable, not tolerated, for gay people to live here, fortable for to live here, " Johson said.
This is pecially te for Black queer people who face pound discrimatn due to homophobia and racism — a route threat of vlence that is personal and systemic, wh roots much eper than any one release also follows a story Mississippi Today published earlier this week based on acunts om 11 LGBTQ stunts, faculty and Universy of Mississippi alumni who said they no longer felt safe Oxford. “I fear for my safety and well-beg as an outspoken and proud gay person of lor. Earlier this year, he had spoken at a nference about his experience as a gay man who wears long hair, nails and eyelash, and how his genr inty is often misunrstood.