As co-creator of this site, I am always on the lookout for anything relating to homosexual / bisexual men of color in the media.
I came across two stories today as to why a website like this was created…partly because there is no real representation of masculine homosexual / bisexual male characters of color in media and our voices are rarely if ever heard.  Not only this, I personally feel that masculinity (not male chauvinism) is being marginalized and over shadowed by metro-sexualism and fabulous-ness.  There is no balance at all.Besides the barrage of feminine men of color on Reality TV (RuPaul’s Drag Race, America’s Next Top Model, Atlanta House Wives, American Idol (LOL), Lafayette on True Blood etc)…Masculine gay men of color in media are for the most part nonexistent. This is why I can’t wait for the TV Drama LA Complex to hit our shores come April 24 on the CW.

Now back to the two stories that somewhat raised my ire…

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 On the new cable TV series House of Lies Don Cheadle is the father of a gender nonconforming 12 year old son named Roscoe (pictured).  In the debut episode Roscoe goes out for the female role of Sandy in his school’s depiction of the musical Grease.  Roscoe gets the role and some parents complain that the role should be for a girl.

Keep in mind (which I will somewhat repeat again below) this has nothing to do with people being true to themselves or accepting who they are.  Nor does my rant have to do with not respecting our fem brothers…please…they are people and deserve respect like everyone.  My rant has to do with basically f–king ZERO representation of masculine homosexual / bisexual male characters of color in media.


Picture Picture The second story I came across today concerns Lenny Kravitz giving an interview about his character in the upcoming movie The Hunger Games. 
In the movie Kravitz plays a stylist named Cinna.  Fans of the books say Cinna is gay while others say he is bisexual.  This is what Lenny says…

“I’ll be quite frank with you — I didn’t know about Hunger Games — so when I’m telling kids and they say, ‘Who are you playing?’ and I say Cinna, they go, ‘Oh you’re playing the gay guy.’ That was an actual answer. I’ve never brought that up yet. That’s how they perceived it.”

“So I thought about it, and I read the book and I don’t see that he is or isn’t [gay]. He’s a designer, he’s a stylist, he has gold eyeliner…that doesn’t mean anything either way.”

“The question was how far do we go with him,” continued Lenny. “The idea was to pull it back and create a character that’s more like a Tom Ford or an Yves Saint Laurent so he wouldn’t be too outrageous. He’s classic, he’s got his gold. I kind of played him in the middle.”

Lenny goes on to say that he consulted he bisexual friend on how to “middle” the character of Cinna…

“I actually have a friend who is a dancer who is bisexual, and he was a lot of inspiration for my speech pattern and my rhythm, and kind of the way I sauntered in and out a little bit.”

Wearing gold eyeliner doesn’t mean anything either way…WTF?  Now I don’t know about you but I don’t know any dudes that wear gold eyeliner or any eyeliner. Maybe this is odd to me because I am not a celebrity rock n’ roller…I mean I have never owed or wore a pair of high heel boots either.

Now I know that this movie is set in a fictitious day and time. The attitudes concerning sex may mirror that of ancient Greece or Rome and this has nothing to do with his acting or what a great movie this may be.

My overall point is to me this is yet more examples of masculinity being marginalized and over shadowed by metro-sexualism and fabulous-ness in the media.

What do you think? Feel free to leave your comments.

-Octavius