Orlando & Texas

My Facebook wall yesterday was filled with tributes regarding Orlando, except from a my friends in Texas. Specifically, my black friends--both college educated and not. It was an observation I couldn't overlook because the magnitude of the tragedy should have evoked more thoughts than, "Granny shole put her foot in those mashed potatoes," or "I'm in here watchin TV with my boo."

To give you some context, I'm an in-the-closet bisexual guy. Maybe two friends in the whole state knows that I go both ways, but it is something that I keep to myself and don't really make a deal over. I've lived in 5 others places, including DC and Atlanta, where thought is a bit more progressive. Since I"ve been back in Texas, I've observed how painfully slow we are to catch up with everyone else's progress but this observation was a bit troubling given that I have friends that I thought were a bit more sympathetic to tragedy, regardless of who the target of the tragedy was.

I've never considered myself LGBT, don't go to gay clubs, parties, trips, events, and am, by my own and most other definitions, a regular, nice lookin educated black guy. I don't consider myself a part of the "community." But I also recognize that I easily fall into the category of people who are attacked and demonized because of how I choose to express my sexuality...and the only thing protecting me from such attacks is the fact that I choose to not disclose my sexuality and can more easily choose not to associate myself with what is associated with being gay.

I guess what I"m saying is that, it coulda easily been me as a victim in that club last night. It's just kinda sad to think that folks I know and love would likely care if I were a victim, but seem to care less otherwise.