No Homo | No Hetero Documentary Film Project @ TWN

No Homo | No Hetero: Sexual Fluidity and Manhood in Black America explores the complexities, challenges, and beauty of being Black, bisexual and a man in the United States. Through interviews of cisgender and transgender men and their family, friends, and lovers, performance art, and archival footage, this docupoem invites the audience to experience the politics of living and loving authentically at the contentious intersection of racism, biphobia, and toxic masculinity. 

We've been working on the film since 2017 from pre-production, production, and now post-production. We're currently engaged in reviewing the footage, deciding upon the need for additional original and archival footage, and, of course, fundraising to complete the film. The work has been amazingly inspiring and transformative for us as we have met incredible Black bi+ men, cisgender, and transgender, and their friends, family, and loved ones. Each person we've met has confirmed and affirmed the need for this film.

When the community you are born into rejects or refuses to acknowledge the fullness of who you are, how can you live an authentic, full life by being yourself? Heterosexual and gay communities often dismiss bisexuality as a cover for homosexuality or an excuse for sexual confusion and promiscuity. The infamous appearance of J.L. King on the Oprah Winfrey show triggered heterosexual panic over bisexual men on the “down low.” This followed the bestselling release of Invisible Life, in which E. Lynn Harris portrays a bisexual character who selfishly exposed partners to HIV, while also hiding his sexual identity and HIV status. As result of these influences and other pervasive misrepresentations in the culture, the African-American community has developed a stigmatizing fear about Black male bisexuality--fear fueled by miseducation and misunderstanding.

For Black men who are bisexual, it is extremely challenging to find community, form authentic relationships, and share love. And it is hard not to let the negative opinions, thoughts, and feelings of others intrude upon their own self-identity and well-being. It oftentimes means Black bisexual men are an outsider within their own bodies and communities. So how do they grapple with these challenges to their health and wellbeing?

Bisexuals are the silent majority of the LGBT population in the United States. This is surprising, as bisexuals represent more than half of the people who identify as LGB according to the Williams Institute. Sexual fluidity is a controversial and misunderstood topic. In mainstream media and everyday conversations, sexually-fluid people (i.e. bisexuals, pansexuals, polysexuals, non-monosexuals, etc.) are labeled as “confused,” “promiscuous,” “hedonistic,” or even as “fence-sitting” individuals who cannot or will not make up their minds. Popular belief is that they want to both have their cake and eat it too; they are straight people who want to dabble in gay sex; or they are homosexuals who do not have the courage to fully identify as gay or lesbian. 

For Black people, these stereotypes regarding sexual fluidity can be extremely alienating and dangerous. Historically, Black people living in the United States have had to confront stereotypes about their sexual prowess and promiscuity as well as the pressure to conform to gender norms of white America. The Mandingo, Buck, and Jezebel are common racist caricatures of Black gender- and sexual expression. These dynamics contribute to the motivation to marginalize sexual fluidity among Black people, which has a damaging impact on the lives of Black bisexuals.

Because of these complications, many men that identify as both Black and sexually-fluid are isolated and in need of support from Black and LGBT communities. No Homo, No Hetero: Sexual Fluidity and Manhood in Black America will explore the lives of sexually-fluid Black men as they struggle to define what it means to be Black and what it means to be sexually-fluid amid external pressures, such as the straight/gay identity constraints, contested Black manhood, and racism.