Silence is my weapon, silence is my shield.

Silence kills the soul; it diminishes its possibilities to rise and fly and explore. Silence withers what makes you human. The soul shrinks, until it's nothing.

My struggle has allowed me to transcend that sense of shame and stigma identified with my being a Black gay man. Having come through the fire, they can't touch me.

When nobody speaks your name, or even knows it, you, knowing it, must be the first to speak it.

It is necessary to constantly remind ourselves that we are not an abomination.

Silence is my weapon, silence is my shield.

As long as I have work then I'm not going to die, cause work is a living spirit in me - that which wants to connect with other people and pass on something to them which they can use in their own lives and grow from.