Life as a Fag in High School

Next year marks my 30th year since graduating high school, but some things you never forget, like being called faggot, or a retard.

There were no gay guys in our school. That hadn't been invented yet--in people's minds. There were just some suspected future perverts and unathletic sissies. I was one of them. How do I know? Two different jocks told me so.

See how two different days in high school affected my life far beyond those formative years, now and forever on Randy Boyd's Blocks:

Can We Be Faggots Together?
The Day I Died in 9th Grade Gym Class

Hoosier Favorite Sports Team?

An avid sportsman and fan of his hometown Indiana Pacers, Randy lives in Southern California and has a dog named Boomer, named after the Pacers mascot. Read Randy Boyd's entire bio.

A Straight-Boy Adventure

The following article originally appeared in the June 2000 issue of XY Magazine, a publication for young gay men, in conjunction with my second novel, Bridge Across the Ocean.

A Straight-Boy Adventure
Randy Boyd sets teen novel in Mexico
by Benjie Nycum

Derek Mayfield is having the best year of his life and the hardest year of his life. He's just found out he's HIV positive, and is transforming from an overweight, closeted, sexual compulsive into a lean, self-loving, out, proud black gay man.

But the journey to healthy living has been very draining.

To take a break from it all, Derek takes off to Cancun, Mexico, for one week of peace and solitude. In Cancun, Derek meets Rob, a 16-year-old, straight-identified white boy who reminds Derek of the “godly” athletic jocks he worshiped in his youth. But Rob is also naïve beyond belief. He worships Derek as a hip, athletic, “cool black guy” who knows so much about life, while Derek is drawn to Rob's innocence and unspoiled beauty.

"How could I fit him into my life?"

Keeping his sexual orientation to himself, Derek befriends Rob, Rob's 13-year-old brother, Skeeter, who also looks up to Derek, and Roberta, their portly, single mother who thinks of Derek as a good role model for her boys.

Derek, Rob and Skeeter embark on a week of friendship and youthful adventure, hanging out at the beach, wading in the ocean, sailing, playing sports, looking for aliens in the tropical night sky, faking shark attacks and basking in the hot summer sun. The week is like something out of the adventure fantasies of Derek's boyhood, three boys in search of innocent fun in one magical summer place.

The more time Derek, Rob and Skeeter spend together, the more inseparable they become, and the more intense Derek's feelings grow, so intense that Derek knows he must tell the family he is gay, and tell Rob that he is attracted to him.

When the truth is revealed, the true adventure begins. And none of their lives will ever be the same.

That was the official promo text for Randy Boyd's new book, Bridge Across the Ocean.

Randy Boyd is 6'4”, 200+ pounds and black, which is why people always come up to him and ask him what team he plays for. But while he does love sports, he says, “usually the only assumption they have right is that I'm black. When people see me they make assumptions based on what I look like and they're usually pretty surprised that I'm a writer, and more surprised I am gay. I guess that's the way society works, with all its stereotypes.”

But Randy draws from this experience, claiming his life of polar opposites inspires the conflict and tension in his writing.

Bridge Across the Ocean is semi-autobiographical. “I was in love with this kid,” Randy says. “He captured my heart and soul and I was trying to think how I could fit him into my life. The image of a bridge kept coming to mind.”

In Cancun, of course, water is central to anything that happens really, so bridges make a nice reference, but the book is more about bridging divides like black/white, gay/straight, mentor/apprentice, hope/despair, and worldly/naive.

Bridge represents a departure from the genre Randy enjoys most--thrillers. His first book, Uprising, was a thriller and his next book will be too, although Uprising fans will have to wait--he's going to write other things before any possible sequel.

Not only is Randy a star writer, he started West Beach Books because he was tired of publishing companies telling him what to write--they would always tell him to make gay roles smaller or even turn them straight! But, he says, West Beach's next book won't be written by him. That's because he's trying to launch and encourage new writers.

I ask Randy if, like Derek Mayfield, the lead character of Bridge, he has a thing for young white straight boys. His answer: “I don't care what age some is, or what beautiful shade of skin they have.”

He adds with a chuckle: “but I definitely like a guy with a great ass.”

• Originally published in the June 2000 issue of XY Magazine.

Least Wanted: Black Gay Men

Most gay men won't date black men, so says a new survey in the journal AIDS and Behavior (and many a black man who's done time in the gay world).

As reported in HIV Plus Magazine, the survey revealed "blacks are deemed the least preferred as sexual partners by men of other ethnicities."

This prejudging of every black man alive as unacceptable for sexual intimacy “forces black gay men into closely-knit sexual networks that allow HIV to rapidly spread once introduced.”

HIV infection rates are disproportionately high among young black gay men. Now researchers believe one of the reasons is prejudice and racism.

Welcome to My Racist Gay World.

This is what it looks like in words:

The Hypocrisy of Gay Civil Rights
Rising Up Over Gay Racism
Dear Queers, Give Black People Blue Jeans!
10 Ways to Get Blacks To Support Gay Marriage
Poll Dancing with Blacks and Gays
Gay Rights and Civil Wrongs

This is what it looks like in pictures:

WHITES AND LATINS ONLY, a photo essay using gay men's online language in images reminiscent of the segregated Old South.

Not So Gay About Being Gay

When I was a kid, the world told me I was a Negro. When I was an older kid, the world told me I was a fag.

Now the world tells me I'm African-American, and that I should call myself gay. Or homosexual. Do I get a say?

You bet. Guess what world, I'm No Longer a Homo.

Why Me?

Life happens. And so does AIDS. But what happens when you survive AIDS for over two decades, while many others you have known have not? AIDS Survivor's Guilt.

Is Violence Ever Justified?

Which side will you be on? Uprising, the suspense thriller by Randy Boyd, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Best Mystery and Best Small Press Title.

Get Uprising at Amazon.com
Read an excerpt
More about Uprising
More about author Randy Boyd

Still Coming to a Dream Near You

Dear Bearcat People,

Dino and the Brownster here. We're the two main characters in the next Randy Boyd book, the Bearcat Boyz on the Road of Life. We live in a town called Dreamville and go to Dreamville High. Together, we're gonna rule the school. Oh, and change the world as we know it.

Our creator once dreamed of us being on bookshelves, and in high school, this year, when he announced our birth on his blog.

However, we, the Bearcat Boyz, using Freaky Deaky Technologies, have ascertained that we, the Bearcat Boyz, will not be entering Dreamville High and taking over the entire world until 2010, the year of author Randy Boyd's 30th high school reunion.

So sit tight, Bearcat Peeps, the Bearcat Boyz are still coming to a dream near you, just not quite yet. And remember, you can always catch up with us in Walt Loves the Bearcat, the dream that started it all!

Sincerely,
The Bearcat Boyz, soon starring in the Bearcat Boyz on the Road of Life.

Happy Daze

Read all about it in Bridge Across the Ocean @ 20

Remembering Scioscia

Boomer and I will never forget the day we met Scioscia. The beach was quiet and eerily still. Boo was age three at the time, and needed a lot of dogercising, especially this particular morning. I was distracted and in a hurry. The goal was to quickly exhaust him so he would sleep the rest of the day.

We found ourselves alone at the shore until a dark mutt Boomer's size limped up to Boomer's nose. Politely, they exchanging pleasantries, tails wagging.

“They get along,” said a surprised young woman with an accent foreign to me. The two dogs launch into a seemingly pre-choreographed form of play, as if happy to finally meet.

"Boomer was the only dog Scioscia allowed in her house."

In the time it took to smell one another, my dog had a new playmate. Linda, Scioscia's owner, was a native of Sweden. Through our pets, I became good friends with her and her husband, who named their dog after baseball icon Mike Scioscia.

Scioscia the canine was rescued by Linda, an animal lover and aspiring dog trainer, who found the female puppy chained to a fence, abandoned and abused, with a very debilitating front club foot and uneven temperament.

Not the most social, prone to aggression and “she hates men,” said Linda the day we met.

None of which mattered to Boomer. The two dogs instantly bonded and became best buds during their time living in the same beach-side neighborhood. Boomer was the only dog Scioscia allowed in her house, the only dog to whom she was submissive, and the only dog cool enough for hanging at the beach or going on hikes and excursions.

Boomer and Scioscia got one another though challenges unforeseen and unimagined. Scioscia and her mom were there on more than one occasion during Boomer's initial bouts with seizures, a condition that eventually became chronic. And through Boomer, Scioscia was able to let down her guard and be a dog.

Scioscia even accepted me, or so I'd like to think. Either way, I'm grateful for the camaraderie, exercise and distraction she brought to Boomer's life. I'm also grateful for my friendship with Scios's owners. Linda became a dog trainer and inspired the character Linda the Swedish Dog Trainer in Walt Loves the Bearcat.

Approaching old age, Scioscia didn't fare so well. She had to be laid to rest.

Boomer and I will never forget Scioscia. Years have past, yet I can still say her name and evoke a reaction from my dog. I myself will never forget the day we met, and why I was so distracted and in such a hurry to exercise and exhaust my dog, having just awaken to the news of the day.

That day was September 11, 2001. 9/11.

• DATELINE: 9/11/10: My dog's eyes still light up with recognition upon hearing the name Scioscia. Boomer, age 12, still remembers Scioscia.

Best of the Blocks

From a new way to look at HIV, to a whole new way to take to the road, these are the Randy Boyd's Blocks that readers are reading the most:

It's a dangerous and scary world for anyone trying to find love and/or sex in the early part of the new American century. But no matter your preferences, you don't have to be scared or a victim. Arm yourself with some common sense and a little bit of knowledge. And find out from a longterm AIDS survivor: How to Stay HIV-Negative in an HIV-Positive World.

During the Los Angeles riots of 1992, I was approached by Frontiers Magazine and asked to write a piece about the violence and destruction that erupted after a jury acquitted four police officers on trial for the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Since I lived in LA, surviving, not writing, was on my mind. Fortunately, I did both. Shortly after the riots, I revealed to the world: Sometimes I Forget I'm a Nigger.

I coulda been a contender ... for a starting position on my school's football team. Instead, I thought I had to make a choice between being a fag and being an athlete. Since I couldn't stop myself from being a fag, I quit sports. What a shame. That's part of the reason homosexuality in sports is one of the things I write about most. And also why I wrote: College Football Players: Lighten Up on Your Gay Teammates!


Instead of sports, I pursued what I thought was the next best thing: someone who was still a participant. My older sister taught me about cheerleading when I was seven years old. By college, cheering was as natural as putting on my socks. I guess that's why I was able to become a cheerleader at both USC and UCLA. And also why, all these years later, people are still wondering: Whatever Happened to that Big Black Cheerleader?

When's the last time you felt like a kid while exercising? When's the last time you smiled while exercising? When's the last time you were exercising and it didn't feel like exercise? There's a new toy in town and it's probably the greatest non-electronic-gadget invention since ... well, ever! It's a life changer in all the right ways. It's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. It's .... The Trikke: Joyride of the 21st Century.