W0020 |
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Object Description
Interview no. | W-0020 |
Restrictions | In-library use only. Access through the Southern Historical Collection. |
Project | W.2. LGBTQ Life in the South: Sweet Tea Interviews by E. Patrick Johnson |
Project description | Interviews, 2003-2006, conducted by E. Patrick Johnson with black gay men from the South including men from many Southern states regarding their experience of growing up gay in the South with particular focus on such topics as the influence of the church in upbringing, coming out experiences, gay vernacular, college and career in the South, gay life in small towns, segregation, gay social life, and whether the South is hospitable to gays. These interviews form the basis for Johnson's book, “Sweet Tea: Black Gay men of the South,” published in 2008 by University of North Carolina Press. |
Date | July 20, 2005 |
Interviewee | Bryant. |
Interviewee DOB | 1967 |
Interviewee ethnicity | African Americans |
Interviewer | Johnson, E. Patrick, 1967- |
Abstract | Bryant is a black, gay man born and raised in Dublin, Georgia, and living in Atlanta. His childhood was strongly shaped by both a large extended family as well as the church. His grandmother reared him and his twenty-four brothers and cousins until he was school-aged, and he would spend almost all of Sunday at church as his grandfather was a preacher. There was a strong homophobic atmosphere both in and outside of the church environment. He came out to his family in college via a long letter. His coming out process was fraught as his parents initially seemed to accept him but then expressed their shame and hurt at his sexuality, frustrating him. After about eight years they seem to have fully gotten over it, accepting his partner completely and encouraging them not to stay in hotels when in town but at the house. He speaks of the South with a sense of how it led him to trust people more, but moving out of the South is a priority for him, as he feels like Atlanta is a bigger version of Dublin. The everyday overt and unconscious racism he experiences wears on him both in public and in his work, yet he has a healthy life surrounded by at least four other gay couples on his street and a gay-affirming church. This interview is part of the E. Patrick Johnson collection and was conducted for Johnson's book, “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South”. |
Citation | Interview with Bryant by E. Patrick Johnson, July 20, 2005 W-0020, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. |
Description
Interview no. | W0020 |