Author: Darnell Moore

Darnell L. Moore is a writer/activist whose work is informed by anti-racist, feminist, queer of color, and anti-colonial thought and advocacy. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. This essay was originally presented in the form of a public presentation as part of a panel titled “Exploring Queer Shame,” which was graciously hosted by the Kelly Writer’s House at The University of Pennsylvania on October 2, 2012.

Authored by Darnell Moore

The Queer Shamed and Shame Queered

Darnell Moore

Sex work, which I knew nothing about while standing with deep longing and trepidation moving in my body, was not what I intended to provide. No, I wanted to perform love work and traveling to the netherworld of ambiguity was, in my mind, well-worth it. I sought after liberation: freedom from the anxieties of heteronormativitity. And, if I am honest, I wanted to have boundless sex with another man in a “world” that did not create me, but in one that I created. And isn’t it the case that we, queers, are often in search of other worlds because we have been shamed in this one? Read more

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