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When the Jussie Smollet incident happened, I was initially taken aback and horrified. It was particularly triggering because I experienced being physically attacked as a teenager in Virginia, because I was viewed as being gay. I didn’t want to speak or comment from a place of pain, so I remained silent to gather my thoughts. Not to mention, I experience religion being used as a weapon against me from some family members to this day, as they tell me I am not saved because I am unapologetic about who I am and am open about my sexuality.
As more information began to surface, I became more disappointed, because from my perspective, I saw spiritual leaders and gospel musicians starting to have the gay conversation and giving moving statements of sympathy and support. There was a sense of remorse and self-reflection starting to happen in those circles. There was a conversation as to how certain institutions contribute to these types of acts and how we as a people could be better.
As the situation continues to unfold, I feel like this can still be used as a teachable moment for everyone, including myself. We need to stop only supporting people who are celebrities when they experience acts of violence, racism, or homophobia. There are numerous cases of violence and murder against LGBTQ people of color every day. They are our sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, and so on, who have been experiencing mental and physical abuse for years but have gone silent because we accept this treatment for religious beliefs, or it comes from people we respect. Popularity and fame do not make an act of violence any more traumatizing. It is traumatizing if it is the guy next door to you, who is called faggot, as he walks by a group of people standing on the street. It is still violence when you are standing in a group and your friends talk about how they don’t like sissies and you laugh. It is violence when you laugh at homophobic slurs among your boys or think someone is less of a man because he is not the standard of masculinity in society.
During this process, I hope that whatever the outcome is for Mr. Smollet, he gets the help he needs. If he did in fact lie, I hope he gets counseling and that help he is going to need from the backlash and loss of public support. He is going to go through a litany of attacks from the world for a mistake he has made. He is still a human with emotions, let us remember that. It is not a free for all or pass to attack him or be homophobic because he made a mistake. If it turns out that he is innocent, I hope he can forgive and move on stronger by this experience.
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