“I would say being black is harder because it’s not something you can hide easily,” McDaniel said. “If you’re not black you’re never going to be able to really understand that.” “I can try my best but walking into a room and being the only black person is absolutely terrifying,” he said. “You’re not scared to get pulled over by police even if it’s a broken tail light,” he said.Īnd it can be difficult to explain that to some people who may not understand. One issue is people using the phrase “All Lives Matter,” and not understanding black people are disproportionately targeted because of the color of their skin. “It’s hard dealing with it because I’m very passionate about black issues,” McDaniels said. The black community and the Black Lives Matter movement is a different story. “It’s something that I’m very aware of constantly.”įor example, Elvis had to unfriend people because they made comments like “oh, you’re still with that black guy.” “It’s hard because there’s so many forms of racism,” McDaniel said. While his boyfriend’s family support McDaniel because he is gay and is “okay” with him being transgender, they have an issue with him being black. “I think it would have been easier to understand if that had been the case,” he added. His mother thought he was gay and liked women. McDaniel would dress as a boy wearing androgynous clothing and sometimes people would mistake him as boy. “I was absolutely terrified to come out,” he said. His mother is a conservative Christian and McDaniel said he grew up in the church and was taught it was not okay to be gay. “My own family didn’t accept me being trans so me being gay is a really big problem for them right now,” he said. McDaniel, who works at Kroger, said he feels like his identity and situation is a “double whammy” and he is struggling to find a family. “I guess right now, it feels likes I’m not wanted anywhere,” the 22-year-old said. Victor McDaniel is a black, transgender gay man who lives in Portsmouth with his boyfriend, Elvis, a white gay man, as well as Elvis’ family. “It’s either going to continue to happen where we have these movements every few decades…or the system can be made even to where we don’t have to compartmentalize ourselves.” Victor McDaniel and his boyfriend, Elvis. “There’s been a lot that has been done, and centuries of conditioning, to get to where we are now,” he said. During protests or media coverage, there has started to be even more representation of LGBTQ individuals in the black community which Pryor said will hopefully help make a change toward acceptance. With the recent political unrest surrounding the discrimination of black people in America, Pryor said more are also looking at the difficulties surrounding black gay men. Pryor said those conversations are slowly changing in the black community, especially with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. “It’s a lot to have to guard yourself on so many different fronts constantly.” “It all becomes compounded when you’re representative of some of those groups,” he said. Pryor works with HIV prevention efforts in the area and he said one goal is to help people learn empathy and understanding, instead of dividing a person into various categories.
#BLACK GAY MEN HOW TO#
Pryor said in his experience, part of this is because individuals aren’t discussing sexuality and prevention methods so many aren’t aware of how to protect themselves.īeing an HIV-positive black gay man in the modern day is a struggle because it’s yet another subset of a minority struggling for acceptance. Pryor has had even more of a social hurdle after being diagnosed HIV-positive.Īccording to the study, black men have an increased risk of HIV exposure due to complex factors of social environment, mainly being the stigma in the black community surrounding homosexuality.