Living Out Loud with Darian

When this pledge for black gay men landed in my inbox from longtime loldarian.com reader Derrick McMahon I knew it would be the perfect way to start off the new year and to return to the blogosphere after my brief absence.


Derrick is a senior history major and budding young activist at Florida A&M University. He is also a contributor to the campus newspaper.


Derrick tells loldarian.com "he was inspired to create this pledge while thinking about all of the black gay men who struggle daily with their sexual orientation".


"It is my goal that black gay men will ground themselves in self acceptance and self love and will refuse to internalize the hatred of other people. This is a new day and this is our pledge", adds Derrick.


I've had numerous conversations with activists, bloggers, community organizers, and everyday black LGBT's about the apparent lack of self love, support, visibility and internalized homophobia that exists in our community. Some even debate if a "black gay community" truly exists.


We've become quite good at verbalizing the problems we face but very few of us offer solutions or look inward to figure out what we can do personally to create the kind of change we want to see in the world.


The words of the pledge alone are powerful, but I can only imagine how powerful words paired with action would be if we all committed to living out this pledge in 2010 and beyond.


Watch the pledge in the video below:





Thanks Derrick