*DeRay Mckesson, one of the prominent voices for the Black Lives Matter movement, was among hundreds of people arrested at demonstrations across the country after the Baton Rouge police shooting of Alton Sterling.
Blogger SandraRose.com noted how following news of his arrest and subsequent release from jail, some news media questioned why Black Twitter didn’t throw their full support behind him.
READ RELATED STORY: DeRay McKesson on His Sexuality and LGBT Community in #BLM
Twitter user @starrytoronto thought he had the answer to such questions. He said black males in particular don’t support McKesson because he’s openly gay.
“I wish deray wasn’t a homosexual male.., he would have had more support from blackmen.. its hard for us to take instructions from a gay male,” @StarryToronto tweeted.
Starry’s Tweet provoked debate and anger among his followers. He later deleted the Tweet.
What do you think of his statement?
Last year, Mckesson took the stage at a San Francisco GLAAD gala and opened up about the complexities of being black and gay. He was invited to the stage by actor Jussie Smollett from the Fox television “Empire.”
“He is a black man, he is a gay man, and his voice is changing the world,” Smollett said in his introduction.
During the gala, DeRay spoke about the dangers of living with an “either/or” mentality that doesn’t acknowledge being both black and gay.
“When loving myself only looks one way, when protests are in the street or not at all, this puts constraints on the way that we express ourselves and the way that we can get free,” he said.
Meanwhile, McKesson vows to continue demonstrating because he’s convinced that the authorities want activists to be “too afraid to protest.”
Do you agree that gay black male activists don’t receive the same respect that straight black males receive? After all, it’s not like these crazed killer cops are asking these males what their sexuality is before they execute them in the streets.
If Black lives truly matter, what does ones sexuality have to do with it?
