The idea that your skin color, let alone your sexuality, may have a grave impact on your life is something no young boy would understand – myself included.
The earliest time I can recall that I experienced racism and homophobia would be around grade school. I remember playing Double Dutch with a bunch of pretty girls one day during recess at my elementary school Spring Valley.
I was the only boy playing with them. Indeed, I would get picked on and get into fights with the other boys at school and so I played with the girls.
They were nice to me and I really wanted to learn how to Double Dutch. It’s a jump rope game that requires twirling two ropes at the same time.