It was August 24th, 2011, that we launched this website (then under the name Discreet City) to represent our point of views and lifestyles as Black gay men.

What started out as a just a blog for Ocky Williams and I to vent (and rant) about all of the things that annoyed us relating to the representation of masculine gay men in the community, quickly grew to a cool hangout space for gay men from all over the world.

Even with our fair share of controversy, we weathered the storms and now sit as the longest running Black Gay Blog/Website to ever exist on the Internet. And we did it without porn advertisements splattered all over the place.

Just two guys, a couple keyboards and a Squad full of fellas shooting the shit and freely saying what’s on our minds.

For years I’ve said that even if everyone leaves for the greener pastures of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Cypher Avenue will still be here for as long as I’m able to keep the site going. I truly believe that this site has helped the many gay men, from those who visit it everyday to the ones that randomly discover it and spend hours digging through all of the old articles, essays and comments sections.

We had a good run with interviews and podcasts (that surely would get us cancelled nowadays), we’ve reviewed and highlighted films and web series that all other media sites had ignored, we’ve helped introduce many people to Black gay musicians and creative artists that would have otherwise gone unknown.

And can I repeat that we did all of this without porn?

So many of “our” websites have primarily focused on pornography and being a hookup/dating venue that it gives the false impression that we’re only about getting laid, nothing more. Our goal has always been to break those kind of stereotypes.

I think I can speak for my site partner Ocky as well in saying that creating this space is truly one of the things I’m most proud of in my life. And we could not have done it without all of the readers, commenters, contributors and supporters that helped make it what it is today.

So thank you to all for a very dope and memorable 10 years of our lives! Can’t wait to see what this site looks like in another 10 years!