Dear Gay White Men: Stop Acting Like Black Women

That's what University of Mississippi senior Sierra Mannie wants, and it blew up the internet this weekend. While it may seem like Mannie's seen a few too many episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race, her grief comes from a real place. Unfortunately it's a very subjective place and her article that was posted everywhere from Time to Slate was offered up without interpretation.

Read the article here

The subject of re-appropriation of black culture is nothing new. South Park covered it years ago. But Mannie didn't stop at white suburbanites using the terms "hizzy" and "jawn," she singled out gay white men who joke about weaves.

It may be inappropriate and disrespectful, but if Mannie actually spoke to these men she might find she has more in common with them than an appreciation for Beyonce. Having grown up and gone to college in the South, as a gay white man I've seen exactly what she's talking about. Sassy men who refer to themselves as Shaniqua and quote Shirley Q. Liquor. It's obnoxious. But the South is a hateful place, a hotbed of racism and homophobia. Gay men in the Deep South have little to laugh about within their own community so they seek out others who understand discrimination.

Mannie shows her inexperience in life by suggesting that gay men can hide while black women have to wear their minority status. Claiming the truth, "white people are not racially oppressed in the United States of America" she ignores the fact that gay white men are oppressed. Because in her America, hiding your sexual orientation is the only option gay men have.

The men she's referring to clearly don't want to hide, nor should they want to. They're seeking solace in other marginalized communities, trying to embrace women who don't care that they're gay. Could they go about it a better way? Of course. They could simply be themselves. But in the South, a gay college senior is coming off of eighteen years of being despised for being himself. Maybe if she sat down and spoke to some of these men she'd understand why they're so desperately trying to be someone else.