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Turning Anger to Acceptance
"For me, my homophobia wasn’t all borne from watching rap videos and hearing Baptist church rhetoric. The bulk of it came from me trying to run from who I thought I was. "
By Quincy Mosby
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Youth Radio's Quincy Mosby was seven years old when he found out his father was gay. He has struggled to come to terms with other people's sexual preferences, including his dad's, over the years. Although Quincy's not entirely comfortable with his dad's sexual identity, he has learned to be more accepting of his father's choices, and to not discriminate based on sexual orienation.
I remember my first glimpse of homophobia. I was walking down the street with my dad when I was about seven years old. Some dude yelled at him – “Hey faggot”, and my dad just walked away.
My father would later tell me, “Quincy...I’m gay okay? And a lot of people are going to say things about me to you.” It seemed like everyone, from my peers to my dad’s associates, wanted to classify me. Like father like son.
The constant harassment made me angrier and angrier... I was confused about what I was and who I was. And to make things worse, the phone wasn’t exactly ringing off the hook with calls from girls.
For me, my homophobia wasn’t all borne from watching rap videos and hearing Baptist church rhetoric. The bulk of it came from me trying to run from who I thought I was.
I’m not uncomfortable being around gay people, but I’m not exactly overjoyed when my father jokes about me being the one to give him away at his wedding.
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