Negro gay

VICE: These photographs take the intersection of black masculinity and queer identity as their subjects. This is a list of Black/African Americans who are also members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or intersex communities. Look at the way he runs across the court!

It makes sense thinking about Brandy being my role model growing up.

Es hora de volver : In the words of African American literary critic Henry Louis Gates Jr

One standout is Brush Your Blues belowa picture of the bare backs and freshly faded heads of two young black men. I personally did both.

But at the same time, behind close doors I was subverting a lot of that because I looked up to Brandy the negro. It was difficult because I was trying to figure out how to survive in my community, but also trying to learn how to be.

I performed around these boys to try to fit in, but never really met the standard of what it meant to be black and masculine and ended up in isolation. Feeling guilty, you ask yourself questions, in the privacy of your bedroom. To protect your spirit, desire, and body, you feel you have to mimic the masculinity of black men on TV and in the streets; less Michael Jackson, more DMX.

But whenever you slip up, the critiques come back. The pose conjures the Afro surreal, familiar in its tenderness yet alien to mainstream assumptions of how black men and boys are suppose to be. Did you find in that isolation examples of black boys, men, or women who allowed you to feel accepted?

I was surrounded by a very specific black masculine performance. I told you he was a fucking faggot! Shikeith Cathey: I grew up in North Philadelphia. When will I ever be comfortable in my own skin? Usher was someone I tried to emulate.

From 'Paris is Burning' to 'Mama Gloria', these films have shed light on the intersection of race, sexuality, and identity in the Black queer experience. I had the opportunity to catch up with Shikeith and talk about the power of expanding existing notions of masculinity through photography, his foray into sculpture, and how his childhood informs the work in his solo show.

In what ways does growing up black and queer inform who you are? To fit in, you might try to be even harder, teasing the kid who is more effeminate than you. We see the men in a mystical, dream-like pose. It comes in short fits of outrage: Take it like a man!

But American history is Black history, and is Black gay history. For black and queer boys, the policing of masculinity is ever-present. A lot of the boys I went to school with rejected anything they considered feminine or homosexual or outside of what it means to be a black man in their imagination.

But still, many Black gay men are gay, and erased from history, with their accomplishments being washed away.