From Navigation to Negotiation: An Examination of the Lived Experiences of Black Gay Male Alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Abstract

This research presents an examination of Black gay men and their lived experiences while undergraduates at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Based on 10 in-depth interviews with self-identified Black gay men, the author presents four emergent themes, which reveal the complex ways in which Black gay men navigate and negotiate the intersections of their multiple identities as related to race, sexual orientation, and gender at HBCUs. The findings of this research have implications for larger discussions of community, Black masculinity, and gay identity in predominantly Black and non-Black contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• race
• sexual orientation
• gender
• masculinity
• effeminacy
• stigma
• identity negotiation
• multiple identity development

Notes

1. The term LGBT is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.

2. The research participants were provided an alias to protect their anonymity. All participants signed consent forms in accordance to institutional review board policies. The forms outlined the nature of the research and ensured that participants would remain anonymous.

3. The term self-identified Black includes any category within the Black diaspora. The term Black is used in this article to refer to the participants’ racial identity. Terms such as race and racial identity are used in reference to Blackness.

4. The term openly gay Black is used only to indicate that all of the participants were out of the closet as gay men. However, all of the participants identified as Black gay as opposed to gay Black, though none of the participants assigned more importance to one identity over the other.

5. Gay sexuality and sexual orientation are used synonymously in this study.

6. This study uses the term masculine-identified to describe these participants, which denotes their exemplifying behaviors, traits, and characteristics that most people would consider stereotypically masculine or commonly associated with men.

7. This study uses the term effeminate-identified to describe these participants, which denotes their exemplifying behaviors, traits, and characteristics that most people would consider stereotypically effeminate, feminine, or commonly associated with women. Participants of this study also use terms such as feminine and fem, and these terms are defined in the same way.

8. This study uses the term gender neutral-identified to describe these participants, which denotes their avoidance to define themselves according to social and gender roles associated with masculinity and effeminacy.

9. The names of the HBCUs from which the participants graduated are not revealed to further protect the identity of the research participants.

10. This study uses the term Black to refer to the research participants because they share similar experiences and negotiations of identity due to the shared assigned tasks related to their racial or Black existence (Hunter, 2010; Woodward, 2004).

11. On the down-low refers to men who have sex with other men but who maintain a heterosexual public identity.

12. Closeted refers to gay men who have not disclosed or come out to others about their gay identity.

13. Hypermasculinity describes an exaggeration of stereotypical masculine behavior, with traits that may include beliefs that violence is manly or macho, callous attitudes toward those perceived to be weak, and exploitation of sexuality upon others.

14. Black masculinity describes an exaggeration of stereotypical masculine behavior in Black men, as related to hypermasculinity. Additional cultural nuances associated with Blackness also distinguish Black masculinity.

15. Same gender loving (SGL) is an affirming term in Afrocentric communities as an alternative to Eurocentric identity labels for homosexuals (e.g., gay, lesbian, queer).