By Amber D. Dodd
Michael Elroy knows a thing or two about being excluded for being gay. “Depending on the generation, there’s so much shame around our community,” McElroy said. “We’ve done such incredible things but at the same time, we’ve replicated and behaviors that were done to us. How do we stop that?”
McElroy, who created and directed Sonnets & Soul, asks these very questions in his production. An original musical, it was showcased as part of a alumni reception and panel discussion, entitled “Howard University and a Queer Black Presence” on February 22, 2024.
“To have the first fully realized production here at Howard University, at an HBCU, means everything and it feels like everything has been leading us to this place,” McElroy said.
Michael Elroy knows a thing or two about being excluded for being gay. “Depending on the generation, there’s so much shame around our community,” McElroy said. “We’ve done such incredible things but at the same time, we’ve replicated and behaviors that were done to us. How do we stop that?”
McElroy, who created and directed Sonnets & Soul, asks these very questions in his production. An original musical, it was showcased as part of a alumni reception and panel discussion, entitled “Howard University and a Queer Black Presence” on February 22, 2024.
“To have the first fully realized production here at Howard University, at an HBCU, means everything and it feels like everything has been leading us to this place,” McElroy said.
In 2022, Howard was named the most inclusive HBCU by CampusIndex.com, citing policies, protocols, and safe zones part of campus measures to uplift the queer community. However, participants of the panel agreed that, though the place of queer Howard community members have changed, there is still more work to do to ensure inclusivity does not ring hollow.
King, the new director of the LGBTQ+ and Intercultural Affairs Center, spoke to the current climate of Howard’s queer inclusion, stating that advocating for students is a mandatory practice for the center, alongside its mission of being a safe space.
“We want to make sure that, with our office, we are curating a space here you all feel seen, advocated for, and celebrated too,” King said. “We can develop programing and initiatives in that office from or perspective, but it needs to come from what the [Howard student body] wants.”
Fostering Inclusion
While McElroy expressed the need to create a queer space for himself, Mobley also stated that not accepting queerness or embracing queer students has dangerous consequences that leave the population more vulnerable if they are in silos and without community nor resources.
“If we don’t have these open conversations about gender, gender identity, sex and sexuality, you’re literally leading your kids to slaughter,” he explained. “Whenever I’m in a room of HBCU presidents or administrators, [I ask] how old are Black queer youth? When do they first get infected with HIV? Around 18 to 21. How old are your students?”
Mobley also pointed to the social infighting between Black communities that are measures by other harmful, anti-Black cultural standards. “Our homophobia, transphobia, any of these intraracial tensions, are direct byproducts of white supremacy,” he said. “Anti-Blackness is quiet a byproduct of white supremacy.” Mobley is the creator of the Queer and Trans Student Identity Development & Affirmations model that details how HBCUs can create campus-wide policies that uplift their queer communities. This research was conducted with Leslie Hall, a Howard doctoral student in his final year.
Anti-intellectualism that drives queerphobic misconceptions was another facet of the conversation.
“I always go back to the literature historically, and in contemporary moments to say ‘Here are folks that have do this, they’ve written about it,’” Long said. “I didn’t create this but I’m just someone who will facilitate as a professor.”
As a cisgender Black woman and LGBTQIA+ ally, Austin-Hillary, the president and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus reminded those to “demand their seat at the table” and for students to center their queerness. From the legal perspective, Austin-Hillary also said that lawyers must stand on the side of oppressed groups for their freedoms.
“Charles Hamilton Houston, a former dean of our law school…has this quote ‘Lawyers are either a social justice engineer or a parasite to society,” she explained. “This is not a fight for one community or another. This is a collaborative fight. This is a collaborative effort to pull on communities where equity and acceptance are limited.”