Having a large number of openly gay black male students is neither a dilemma nor death sentence but a common reality that schools across this nation—including Morehouse College— must embrace. It is no surprise that the gay population at Morehouse is outright noticeable—not any more than the cliques of homosexual students that stake claim at any other urban or rural HBCU or traditional multicultural university across the nation.

In the now seminal text, The Mis-education of the Negro, black historian Carter G. Woodson describes his perception of the bane of the black existence: “the Negro’s acculturation into the doctrine of inferiority as propagated by the Euro American hegemonic order”. Woodson termed this self-oppressive brand of socialization “mis-education”.

“If you’re not a Gator, then you’re Gator bait.” How can a phrase filled with so much joy be stained with animosity? That slogan is yelled by so many, glorified by the pride and spirit that lies within so many Gators. You can hear the shouts and screams of the phrase at every sporting event, roaring like a hurricane out of thousands of mouths dripping with the blood of its past. Like most southern colleges, the University of Florida’s past was built in the South and based on the many ideologies of the time. The oppression, segregation and inequality of minorities were the norm.