Football players for Morehouse College, the only all-male historically black university in the U.S., have been called out for homophobic behavior at a showing of Dear White People. The Morehouse College Maroon Tigers team was in town ahead of their game against Benedict College and decided to show their support for their film. However some of the team’s football players disagreed with some of the movie’s subject matter, primarily the homosexual content, and were vocal in expressing their displeasure.
Dear White People is a satirical look at college life on a college campus through the eyes of black students. Lionel, a gay black student, played by “Everybody Hates Chris” star Tyler James Williams, struggles with homophobia in the black community. Players from Morehouse were less than welcoming to Lionel’s appearance according to Free Thoughts Blog author Ashley F. Miller who recounted her experience watching the movie alongside the team in Columbia, SC.
Miller wrote that the “budding romance between Lionel and another man did not win the team’s approval.” Every time Lionel made an appearance in the film players hurled homophobic insults and comments at the character. Some of these comments said out loud consisted of “What is this gay shit?” Members of the team began belittling some of their male teammates for not turning away or leaving the theater during a same-sex kiss saying, “Man, you looked at that, I saw you!” The football team’s commentary further climaxed after Lionel gets into a fight with a white male and kisses him, and then gets repeatedly punched in the face. Lionel’s beating for being gay incited cheers from the football team. “It was terrifying. It was horrifying. It was depressing,” Miller said in her blog.
Morehouse College has not released an official statement in response to the football team’s behavior. Current students and representatives from Morehouse with knowledge of the blog began offering their own opinions on the night’s event.
Raynard Ware, a member of The Morehouse College Football team responded to Miller’s blog to dispel the negative comments that the school, mainly the football team, breeds homophobia. Ware’s response:
As a student and football player for the Maroon Tigers, I was disturb [sic] by the reaction of my teammates during certain scenes of the movie. The remarks and outbursts were upright embarrassing and prejudice. I am big on reputation and presentation. However, this is not a true reputation of our institution. We are sincerely apologetic that the loud embarrassing remarks were heard and not the intellectual discussion, which we also engaged in after the movie. Sorry to give off such a poor perception to the public eye, we ARE apologetic.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, some of my teammates needed to know the perception they give to people.
Marcus Lee, the President of Morehouse SafeSpace-Morehouse’s Alliance for Gender and Sexual Diversities, wrote an open letter in response to the litany of negative comments on the “Dear White People blog”. Lee mentioned that Morehouse SafeSpace has reached out to the President and the VP of Student Affairs, who plan on engaging the football team in dialogue about their behavior-think “sensitivity training”.
“I don’t think the football team’s reactions are inherent to them specifically. Instead, they are a product of a grooming process that begins in the world and is buttressed or goes uninterrupted at Morehouse, that’s checkered with heteronormativity and silence; inclusive spaces are forged here in spite of, not because of, the culture of the college,” Lee wrote.
Furthermore, Lee asked that instead of focusing on a solitary occurrence, those pushing for further diversity on the college’s campus should instead ask for inclusion for diversity regardless of race, sexuality, religion and other non-determinant factors for a student’s collegiate excellence. Policies like Morehouse’s dress code labeled as an “Appropriate Attire Policy,” which outlaws male students from wearing “clothing associated with women’s garb,” reinforce stereotypes that black male gender expression should be monolithic, Lee points out.
At the top of last year, Lee published an op-ed calling for a similar change in the school’s culture to a more inclusive and nurturing place for members of the LGBTQ community to study and socialize. The President of Safespace also points out that Morehouse’s location in Atlanta, GA is one of the leading cities with the highest HIV/AIDS rates among black men who sleep with men. Studies show the age group most at risk include gay and bisexual men ranging from early teens through college aged students. Studies cite fear of homophobia and stigma as two negative occurrences that prevent men from getting tested and accessing healthcare services. In his op-ed Lee detailed his optimism for long awaited recognition for the diversity among the predominantly black male student population. A year and half later, Lee is still pushing for some of those changes on the college’s campus.