“Unchained: A Revolution of Love” is the theme for this year’s Philly Black Pride. Running April 26-29 with a kick-off parade on the 25th, PBP is a celebration for LGBTQ people of color and their allies. Throughout the year, PBP works to create multicultural opportunities that educate, inspire, improve and celebrate the experiences of LGBTQ individuals through programs, policy, advocacy, partnerships and relationship building.
Now it’s time to educate and celebrate, and this year’s Pride weekend is chock full of things to do. We spoke to Antar Bush, coordinator of the first-ever Black Pride Parade.
PGN: It seems that a lot of your life revolves around compassion and service to others. Where does that come from?
AB: I can tell you exactly where I got that from — I got it from my grandmother. She dedicated her life to the service of others. I grew up dirt poor in the Richard Allen Projects, and I was taught that what little we had must be shared with others in need. I’ve always taken that very seriously. If I am given an opportunity, I don’t look at it as something that will just benefit me, but try to ask whom else can I bring in with this opportunity, or who else can I use this to create opportunities for.
PGN: Give me an example of your grandmother’s generosity of spirit.
AB: Back in the ’80s, she knew that a lot of single mothers had to work very unconventional schedules. Not everyone had the luxury of working 9-5, so she would offer to babysit at low cost during odd hours, 24/7. We’d have kids dropped off late at night whose mothers worked the third shift. So I grew up around lots of different children.
PGN: What kind of child were you?
AB: Oh God, very precocious! I was always trying to get attention, so I’d memorize speeches and recite them. I was bullied a lot at first because I was such a gay child, but then I’d try to be the smartest one so they’d leave me alone.
PGN: Usually being the outspoken smartypants got you beat up faster.
AB: [Laughing] Yes, except that I was the smart kid who helped everyone else with their homework and tried to teach others what I knew. For example, I was the first kid in my neighborhood who knew how to read, and that was a big deal, so I was always asked to help the other little boys in the neighborhood. And I was a talker, so I made it work and it helped keep me in good graces with the other kids.
PGN: What would your grandmother
say was an early sign you were gay?
AB: I used to love her high-heel collection! I loved her church hat and heels and I’d put them on and walk around. I’d try to be sneaky, but she would catch me, because I’d get so caught up in the fantasy wonderland that I’d lose track of time. She’d catch me and freak out and some childhood trauma would ensue. You would think that would have been a big hint, but she says that she really knew for sure in 1990 when Madonna put out the Vogue single. We’d just gotten cable and when they showed the video on MTV I went nuts. I watched it over and over and over again. It was my “Frozen”!
PGN: That Madonna is responsible for outing so many men! When did you officially come out?
AB: That was in 1994. I was in the ninth grade. I was 14 and I fell in love with a boy and we were on the phone constantly. My grandmother and mother just kind of put it together. I remember my mother directly asked me, something my grandmother didn’t do but she later said, “Oh, I was just waiting for you to know it.” It wasn’t a big deal for her, but my mother needed some time to process it.
PGN: What did you end up studying in college?
AB: I originally went to school for business and administration and got my bachelor’s degree. from Pierce College. And then I realized, eh, I’m not really all about the money, I want to do something to help people. I went back to school and got a master’s in clinical psychology and social work and a master’s in public health.
PGN: And I understand that like another recent Portrait, you were also a Jonathan Lax Scholarship winner.
AB: Yeah, I really have to thank Gloria Casarez, who convinced me to apply. I was in her office crying about the fact that I had no money for school and didn’t think I’d be able to go. She walked me through the application process and though I was rejected the first year, the second year I was given a $20,000 scholarship.
PGN: When did you start doing work as an activist?
AB: I think I came out of the womb advocating for better birth rights. Joking! But I’ve been advocating for LGBT youth rights and transpeople for a very, very long time. As I’ve gotten older, my advocacy has definitely become more systematic in the way I go about it, though I love working with younger advocates because they just throw caution to the wind. I’m more strategic now, but I know that I’ll be fighting for oppressed and marginalized people until the day I die.
PGN: Do you remember the first cause you championed?
AB: Oh yes, I was 14 and attending the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and I felt that there should be condoms available to students in the nurse’s office. That was considered taboo at the time, but I felt it was important, and I won the battle. I got my first taste of activism and winning, and I haven’t looked back.
PGN: What’s your current job title?
AB: I am the education coordinator for the Department of Health in Philadelphia working on STD prevention. I manage a staff of health educators and social workers and do funding and planning for the department. I build curriculums and do training and capacity building with clinics and health centers. I’m also an adjunct professor at Lincoln University. That’s my passion; I love teaching. I feel like I’ve had a hand in teaching the next generation of advocates.
PGN: We’re going to need them after this administration is finished wreaking havoc.
AB: God, yes! But because of this, it’s a great time for advocacy work. It’s a young person’s game. I’m excited that young people now seem like they’re interested in more than just protesting and shaking things up; they’re coming up with plans to create policies that will protect us.
PGN: I think we’re similar in that you and I both like to work on making change from within the system.
AB: There’s a place for disruption and protest and bucking the system and a place for working from within — both sorely needed but I fall on the “catch them with honey” approach.
AB: Yeah, I am definitely that person. Last summer, I read Hillary Clinton’s book “What Happened.” She talks about not just shaking things up, but that you have to have a strategy behind your actions. I’m so glad that a lot of the groups in the streets are starting to create more policy and planning along with protest, because it’s not enough just to make noise. It’s good to get attention but then it’s important to follow through with definitive action.
PGN: You’ve been working in HIV/AIDS prevention for years. What are some of the changes you’ve seen, and what was your most moving moment? People don’t seem as concerned as much as they once did.
AB: Things have changed a lot. With the advent of medication, it’s not the death sentence it once was, but I don’t think a lot of young people realize the impact it still has on your life. Part of that is because back in the day, when I was coming out, you actually saw the ravages of what HIV does to a person. I remember a time where you never saw a porn film without people wearing condoms. Now they stopped showing people wearing condoms. People are certainly living longer and having fuller lives, which is great but it can give a false sense of safety. Young people have a sense of invincibility that leads them to make all sorts of risky choices. It’s up to us as educators to make sure they’re educated and informed of the consequences, even today. Growing up, I had a lot of mentors who knew better and taught me how to be safe. I don’t think we have those kind of relationships as much these days. The most memorable moment was when I was working doing testing on one of those Penn vans. We were parked by one of the clubs trying to convince people to get tested. There was one young guy visiting from Ohio, he’d just come here to visit his friends and have a good time, and I really pressured him to get tested before he went into the club. He tested positive, and I felt so terrible having to give him the news. I’ll never forget the look on his face when I told him. He was only 21, and so young and carefree. He shouldn’t have to worry about a chronic disease for the rest of his life. No one should have to bear it.
PGN: You have a good point with the mentors. A common theme for me in this column is that though queer youth have a lot more acceptance, and our issues are mainstream now, as we assimilate into straight culture, it takes away a sense of community. I hadn’t even thought about that mentorship that’s missing around the HIV/AIDS issue.
AB: True, there are good and bad sides to the fact that we’ve become such a part of the general population. We’re part of the national conversation in every area, but we do lose some of that community which was ours alone.
PGN: So you mentioned your mom not reacting, as well as your grandmother, to you coming out. Was it a religious thing?
AB: No, frankly, I don’t think she had a problem with me being gay so much as worrying about people’s reactions to it more than anything else.
PGN: What do you do outside your service-oriented activities?
AB: I like to write; it’s something really important to me. I do video production and I enjoy working out. I teach boxing to young gay black men, I think it’s important for them to be seen and heard and to have a voice, and I do that through mentoring them in the gym.
PGN: So you let people punch you in your pretty face?
AB: Yes! Being black and gay in the projects, it was very important to learn how to defend myself.
PGN: How did you end up at the White House?
AB: I was the social researcher and did some casting for a BET.com documentary called “Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church.” President Obama invited the cast and crew to come to the White House. It was a big moment for me, though unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet him. The actor Jussie Smollett was at the White House at the same time, and they didn’t have time to do a meet-and-greet for both, so he got precedence.
PGN: Let’s talk about something coming up soon, Philly Black Pride. What’s going to be happening?
AB: A lot of things. We’re excited to be kicking it off with the first-ever Black Pride parade on Wednesday, April 25. We’ve been working with Amber Hikes and Jack Drummond from the Mayor’s Office. The event will start with a rally at 1 p.m. in front of the Aloft Hotel at 101 N. Broad St., and then we’ll march to City Hall, where we’ll raise the gay flag and then have a reception inside. On Thursday we’re having a few panel discussions including one called “Bias & Stereotypes” that will be held at 5pm in the LGBT Center at Penn. On Friday we’re having our opening party. There’s too much to name here but it’s going to be an exciting year. (For a full schedule of events, visit here: http://www.phillyblackpride.org.)
PGN: I’ll be there! Let’s wrap up with some random questions: If you had to gain 10 pounds, what would you eat?
AB: Strawberry shortcake.
PGN: What tradition from another religion do you admire?
AB: Muslims making the time to pray five times a day. That’s amazing.
PGN: Dumbest argument you ever had?
AB: [Laughing] Whether we should turn right or left. This was with a partner when we were trying to find a party in D.C. This was before GPS and we got into a huge argument over it. Dumb.
PGN: If you could name the city you lived in, what would you call it?
AB: Promise Land.
PGN: Best movie line?
AB: From “The Color Purple” —
“See, Daddy, sinners have souls too.”
PGN: Favorite toy as a kid?
AB: Barbies. I’d steal them from my little sister. I did a better job of dressing them.
PGN: What time period would you want to travel back to?
AB: The 1930s Harlem Renaissance.
PGN: Last book you read?
AB: It’s called “Night” by Elie Wiesel and it’s about the Holocaust. I read it with my students.
PGN: Who would you want to go on a speaking tour with?
AB: Oh! I’m going to see her this week! Iyanla Vanzant.
To suggest a community member for Family Portrait, email [email protected].