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Posts tagged as “black gay men”

"The Prancing Elites Project" Gets Green Light for 2nd Season on Oxygen

By goodblacknews on July 10, 2015
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The cast of Oxygen’s “The Prancing Elites Project” reality show  (Photo: OXYGEN.COM)

Get ready to see more sparkly leotards and the fiercest J-setting dance moves because Oxygen just greenlit a second season of The Prancing Elites Project.
The docuseries explores the world of competitive dancing through the lives of an all-male dance troupe based in Mobile, Alabama. All five members are African American, and a majority of them are gay.
Variety explains how the Prancing Elites were a godsend for the network after it rebranded itself in 2014; the program had the highest-rated series premiere after the rebranding.
That the show has generated such a strong following is also important because gay men are an underrepresented group. This platform gives them an opportunity to tell their own stories instead of being the sidekicks and the “gay” voice of reasoning for hetereosexuals in other reality-TV shows.
Plus, black gay culture has been one of the most appropriated cultures in recent years, with the advent of the Housewives franchise and other reality shows featuring straight women lobbing slang words at one another—words that were created or, at the very least, popularized by African-American gay men.
Season 2 will premiere in 2016; Oxygen is broadening the original 30-minute format to one hour.
article by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele via theroot.com

After Brief Time with Rams, Michael Sam Signed To Dallas Cowboys Practice Squad

By goodblacknews on September 3, 2014

Michael Sam, who made international headlines last spring as the first openly gay athlete to be drafted to an NFL team, has been signed to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, having passed his physical exam, team officials said today.

Sam, 23, who was signed to the St. Louis Rams as a seventh-round draft pick, but got cut from that team over the weekend, came out to the public at the end of his NCAA season at Mizzou earlier this year.
After being cut by the Rams, no NFL team stepped forward to pick the defensive lineman up–until yesterday. Sam flew to Dallas on a moment’s notice last night, for today’s physical, and Sam will wear jersey #46 for the team this season.
“Michael Sam is just too good–he was the [SEC Defensive player of the Year] at Mizzou, there’s just no way he can’t play at the NFL level,” said Super Bowl winning, former Baltimore Ravens QB Brandon Ayanbadejo, a longtime advocate of LGBT rights.
After coming out, Sam’s draft ranking plunged, leading many observers to wonder if the NFL was really ready for an openly gay player. “the fact that no team took the opportunity to sign Sam after the Rams cut him, speaks volumes,” OutSports editor Cyd Ziegler observed, but added, “The Cowboys make a great fit for him.”

Although Dallas is in the heart of a state seen by the LGBT community as among the most homophobic in the country, Cowboys officials “welcome [Sam] to our football family, as we do every other player who signs with us.”Head coach Jason Garrett said Sam would be an asset to the club. “We just want to give him a chance to come in and help our football team,” Garrett noted. “That’s where our attention is (football). What people say outside the organization is up to them.”
The Cowboys joined NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s Respect At Work program, developed with the help of Wade Davis, an out former NFL player who now heads the You Can Play project.
The program is designed to create a “safe, welcoming environment” for gay athletes. Sam’s addition to the Cowboys’ practice squad also opens up opportunities for him to make the main team, whose defensive line has performed poorly in recent years.
Sam says the Cowboys were his favorite team while he was growing up in Texas.
article by Nathan James via gbmnews.com