HUFFPOST:

The following essay and stunning photographs come to HuffPost Gay Voices courtesy of Trent Kelley, a Texas-based playwright. Kelley, who says he collected most of the photographs on eBay, in flea markets and in estate sales, writes:

Afro American same-sex loving gay men who where coupled with one another in the distant past walked the streets, ate at the dinner tables, and generally participated in their larger ethnic community out in the open, their relationships known only to those who were consequential to their everyday lives. In this respect, they were out in the open but hidden to those who didn’t know about their sexual proclivities. Hence, the title of this series of pictures dating from the mid 19th century to the late 20th century is “Hidden in the Open: A Photographic Essay of Afro-American Male Couples.”

Some of these images are sure to depict gay couples, whereas others may not. The end result is speculative at best, for want in applying a label. Not every gesture articulated between these men is an indication of male-to-male intimacies. Assuredly, what all the photographs have in common are signs of Afro-American male affection and love that were recorded for posterity without fear and shame. Friendships where men often wrote romantically to one another, walked arm in arm were not uncommon to straight and gay men alike during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Depending on economic situation, many even slept together and this may have precluded or included physical intimacy between the sheets.

But there were past generations of Afro American gay men who lived and love bravely. They exist in these photographs. Like today’s gay male of African descent, the majority of them were never victims who whined nor required rescuing. Their presence here defy a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community often wanting to make them an impotent footnote absent of any self-empowerment within gay culture and those vocally homophobic pockets within a black community wanting to write these men out of the narrative to Afro-American history.

WATCH THE SLIDE SHOW HERE!

CHECK OUT KELLEY’S FLICKR COLLECTION HERE!

Watch Trent Kelley Interview After The Jump

“Sarcasm with a dash of whimsy, served over shredded intellect. Whiskey-slinging film nerd. Seeker of gills and wings.”

Robbie Banfitch is a very funny & clever fellow … he’s also super sexy. Watch these three videos and see if you fall in love with him as much as I.

Learn how be optimistic about certain rejection at the bar (Valentine’s Day or every fucking day).

You want to know what love is? Let Robbie show you!

“Watch as I demonstrate how to successfully convert a supposed “homosexual” into a God-fearing, righteous heterosexual. This technique works wonders for those believing they were “born that way”.”

Oh!  Pink Triangle Day is Canada’s only Annual gay Holiday?

Well it is. The fact that You are now saying “What are you talking about??” is a very clear indication of level of observance and awareness of this event. In the late 70′s an national organization of Canada’s lesbians and gays existed called the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition (CLGRC). Delegates from across Canada met once a year to network, pool resources, workshop, rejuvenate each other and plan and coordinate strategies. The 1979 conference was held in Ottawa and those delegates were celebrating the first major legal victory, for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights movement. That victory was the acquittal of the officers of Pink Triangle Press (The Body Politic & Xtra’s parent). Those officers had been charged with obscenity for the publication of an article called “Men Loving Boys Loving Men” which dealt with child sexuality.

CLGRC wanted to commemorate that victory and since the court’s decision had been handed down on February 14th, they decided to declare an Annual Gay Holiday to be held every year on that day. Although the 14th was usually commemorated as Valentine’s Day , the delegates wanted to take this opportunity to challenge what Christopher Isherwood has called the “heterosexual dictatorship” by affirming for ourselves and for the world, the existence, the strength, and the beauty of gay love.

more info HERE