Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I came out at 16 years old as a proud, gay man. My last girlfriend in high school - when I was 15 - became pregnant with my child but did not tell me.
Encourage your friend and family member who are queer parents of color to post their stories and share it with the world. It's time for us to be seen.
By no means am I excusing homophobic rap lyrics, but as a product of the same environments that birthed hip-hop, I fully understand why those lyrics existed.
So often, we take photos on our iPhone, and then they're gone in a year, and we don't even remember them. I like to experience life and disconnect from that.
We must do our part to make ourselves visible to the world. Let everyone see that being a queer parent of color is normal and happening right next door to them.
There's so much toxic masculinity out there. I grew up with the notion that the more masculine you are and the less you show emotion, the more of a man you are.
The marginalization of African-Americans within their own community based on sexuality is a construct that is more complex than the idea that 'blacks just hate gays.'
Historically, hip-hop is about a generation of artists rapping about the realities they see in their neighborhoods or the 'truths' they hear growing up in their homes.
When people hear my story, my hope is always that they start to believe that the life they want is possible for them, because I am living the life I've always dreamed.
Facebook Algorithms have got us all screwed up, where we only listen and talk to people with the same views as us, and I think it's not helping us as a culture to grow.
I think that's one of the greatest gifts that I have: that I can get someone to open up, and all you have to do is ask a question and not feel like you need a response.
The worst thing about our political system is that people debate; I wish our politicians were able to talk to each other rather than scream while trying to gain sound bites.
Life experiences with oppression and homophobia often become internalized and can have detrimental effects on the development of positive sexual identity for Southern black gay men.
I hate when I see someone who speaks English speaking to someone who speaks a different language, and they're screaming as if going louder is going to help the other person understand.
The perpetuation of family and cultural pressures to conform to prescribed masculine behaviors is what creates social isolation and distress in many young gay and trans people of color.
While the Internet has allowed for some extraordinary progress in creating conversations about diversity, it also allows uninformed comments that one has made in the past to live forever.
I can be walking down the street, and someone will stop me and ask me for one of my hugs. They feel like I'm their friend, which I love - though sometimes my kids get a little weirded out by it.
People always look at reality shows and think, 'How do they fall in love so quickly?' When you are quarantined with the same people, the emotions you normally feel after a year come within a week.
We, as communities that are marginalized, need to open up our minds and realize that we should be asking and advocating for more of everyone. Let's get more gay black men; let's get more trans women.
We're so divided as a world that we don't often have the opportunity to sit down and talk to people who are different to us. We're so ready to always be right that we sometimes forget it's OK to listen.
I always encourage people to get out there, travel the world, see new things, experience new people, experience new food, experience new culture. What happens is that helps you to grow and be your best self.
Celebrities have a platform, and people listen to them. And there's a lot of people that we are able to touch, who aren't watching activists and aren't watching the news, that are watching what celebrities say.
My family is Jamaican and Cuban, but we would go to see our Jamaican side every summer for three months and every Christmas. One of the things I used to love was climbing trees and picking ackee fruit for breakfast.
No matter if someone has personal feelings about my sexuality or how they view me, it's all of our job to continue to show up in spaces where we can say, 'You know what? I can figure out how to try to work with you.'
We have to start making sure that churches start to talk about... black queerness in a way that's affirming. Because a lot of young black men are in the church, and that's where they start to learn this self-hate behavior.
Homophobia, racism, and sexism are all rooted in the same oppression that causes a group of people to internalize the oppression they've experienced and then continue the cycle of abuse. Simply put, hurt people hurt people.
In 2007, I discovered I was a father to a little boy who I did not know about. After being on MTV's 'The Real World' and traveling the world, I was greeted by a stack of papers on my doorstep informing me that I had a child.
The black community can be competitive and cautious when it comes to those we want put on display for the world to see and judge. We are a prideful people who believe that anything that will make us seem 'less than' should be hidden.
A lot of times, we look at people who have disabilities as, 'Oh, we can't invite these people here or there.' And I hate that, because it's inappropriate. It's so weird to me when people say they don't have friends who have disabilities.
I was on MTV's 'Real World' at the time when 'Queer Eye' came out. I remember, the first time I won an award, I got the award, and they were like, 'It's a tie! With 'Queer Eye!'' I never thought that I would one day follow in their footsteps.
The funny thing is, we teach - as a culture, we teach people that it's OK to talk about your fitness goals... Like, I want to be more physically fit, I want to drop 10 pounds, but no one's talking about how I can spend 10 days to get happier.
In our country, being from immigrant parents, growing up black in the South, coming out at 16 years old, being a teen parent... you would assume that my life would amount to nothing. And here I stand today. So, if I can do it... you can, too!
My father loved me and was devoted to me until he knew I was gay, and then our relationship went south. So I always make sure that I let my sons know that I will love them, no matter what they do or who they become, for the rest of their lives.
Being an openly gay black man, unfortunately I've had experiences working with individuals who've tried to exploit my blackness or my gayness in a way that doesn't make me feel comfortable, or they try to manipulate me into being a caricature of myself.
Bangkok is one of those places where it's so rich and full of tradition, but they're so open to different people - different gender expressions and gender identities. As a gay man, I never once felt uncomfortable there. As a black man, I never once felt uncomfortable.
Bomber jackets, for me, are the new blazers. They're something I can wear with suit pants or slacks - or I can go really urban with it. I think, as men, we don't have the little black dress that women do to go from day to nighttime, but the bomber can be the LBD for men.
We all are scared. First of all, as a culture, we're constantly told that if you start to express yourself or express your needs, you're needy. You're too emotional. And they put all these negative connotations on it. That has started since we were kids, especially for men.
What defines someone as a 'man' should not be the clothes they wear or how deep their voice is. It should be the content of his character, his strength in the face of overwhelming adversity, and his ability to still love and help others when the world has turned its back on him.
Literally, I look back on it now, and I often think to myself, 'Karamo you should have done better.' But that's the thing: when you're in that dark space, you can't do any better. And it's for people around you to say, 'You know what? I need to check in with you and be there to support you.'
I would like to encourage hip hop artists to invite those of us who are in the queer spaces in, so we can have those conversations. I love hip hop. If you bring me in the studio, I know how to act. And we can talk about what's not cool because, clearly, there's still homophobia that penetrates in all these areas.
As one of the first African-Americans to be out on a reality program, MTV's 'The Real World: Philadelphia,' I understand the courage it takes to live your truth on a national platform, the importance it holds to LGBT communities of color, and the power it has to create a greater conversation within American culture.
Although someone's vote may hurt me by supporting the structures in place that hold people of colour, women, and LGBT+ people down, some people just don't realise that these structures exist. The way someone votes doesn't make them a bad person; it just means that, at the time, this was the best decision they thought they could make.