Brian Broome

Brian is a gay Black man who grew up in small-town Ohio with his parents, an older brother, and a younger sister. Brian always felt different from the other Black children for both his homosexuality and his distinct expression of Blackness. Brian begins his memoir with his childhood trauma from his father’s physical and emotional abuse. His father was unwilling to have a son who exhibited even the smallest amount of feminine behavior and he saw it as his duty to beat this perceived weakness out of his son.

Brian’s family is emotionally disrupted by his parent’s hatred for each other and his older brother’s hatred of him. He does not feel at home in their house because he is constantly trying to hide his urges and natural tendencies to avoid his father’s violence.

As Brian grows and matures, he pulls...