Interview With Xavier Khalil About Homophobia in the Black Community
Xavier Khalil Pierce is a student coordinator for Diversity Initiatives, president of the Sigma Tau chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and vice president of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of USC Aiken.
Regarding his personal experience of homophobia within the black community, Pierce provided examples and his current thoughts on his progress. He has experienced casual, overt and physical throughout his lifetime, starting as young as the second grade.
“Having that label pressed upon you before you’re able to fathom what these things are, people sharing their ignorances that they’re learning at home. They don’t even know what they’re picking on you about, they just know what the stigma is at home. I’m learning to give grace because we were kids and taking what was learned at home” -Pierce on his childhood
Labels such as being gay in the Black community are not as widely accepted as in other cultures. The negative stigma attached to the label alongside the family environment can at times result in casual homophobia. People pointing out differences when he was a child made a large impact on his self-esteem.
“Whether it was a barber shop, at home, at school…wherever, boys are going to point out your differences…from my experiences, things like this made me insecure.”
Xavier speaks about going through an internal battle and gradually going down the route of prioritizing academics over his personality and sparking intellectual conversations with his peers over showcasing his sexuality.
“It was better being know as the smart kid than to be known as the gay kid…in some ways while building one part of myself, I resented it.”
“Though casual homophobia may be shits and giggles to others, it was very damaging.”
Coming to USCA took him away from the environment that he was in and introduced him to others who, like himself, were trying to find self-security. He said college forced him to be prouder of who he actually is and he’s found his place.
“There are good people who go, work, teach here. You just need to find your people…to someone who haven't come to their own realization, find your people, pray for the people that you want to be in your life…don’t be afraid to learn more about you, don’t be afraid to learn about your own power” -Pierce’s advice to students who possibly haven’t found themselves.
An issue for many LGBT students on campus is the lack of representation.
“We’re not in the rooms, therefore we don’t have the representation…I don’t think that there aren’t Black LGBT students on campus, I think that it’s more being in fear of being the only people in these spaces” -Pierce on why there is a lack of representation for this group
Pierce is one of the founders of the “Rainbow coalition”. This is a group for LGBT students much like U.N.I.T.Y. but has a focus on students of color.
