Being active in uplifting all identities matters
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and during America’s reawakening to the inequities and injustices in our nation, and as we experienced one of the most dividing general elections of our time, I became CEO of a venture fund, as well as Interim Executive Director of Stonewall Columbus, central Ohio’s LGBTQ+ community organization and center. And most important, I became a dad. The notion of history having its eyes on me in 2020 was very clear.
I leaned into my three roles motivated by different reasons but confronted by concerns of my intersectional identity as a Black queer man.
The venture capital community is predominantly a white cis-male community, and so to consider saying yes to being the face of a venture fund that singularly is working to uplift and support queer identities and centered ideas tips the venture “board” table over. No, I am not the first Black person to do work to uplift this community.
However, what matters is how I show up as a Black person representing the intersectional identities I bring along.
The galvanized fight for LGBTQ+ rights was emboldened on the queer Black identities that sparked the1969 gay rights protest that launched a movement at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.
Central Ohio has had a long history of LGBTQ+ community education and advocacy with one of the oldest LGBTQ+ community organizations in the country, Stonewall Columbus.
Founded in 1981, it has the second largest PRIDE event in the Midwest with more than 800,000 people in attendance. Although the leaders of the Stonewall protest in New York were people of color, Stonewall Columbus has had only two Black executive directors in its 40 years.
The first started as executive director in December of 2018.
I stepped into the interim role in June of 2020.
While I am not the first Black executive director to lead Stonewall Columbus, however, how I show up as a Black person representing the intersectional identities I bring along matters.
I have always wanted to be a father, but as a queer cis-male, I never imagined that I would be able to figure out a way to do it.
My mother had always spoken of becoming a foster-parent “if she could afford it.” I now understand what she meant. Welcoming someone into my home who needed the assistance changed my life.
For three years of my now 4-year-old daughter’s life, she was my fosterdaughter. I am not the first Black person who went on the journey to become a foster parent and ended up adopting their foster child. However, how I show up as a Black person representing the intersectional identities I bring along matters.
The sad reality for many queer leaders of color is that they must leave the central Ohio community to gain the experience they seek before hoping to come back for the few limited opportunities of leadership which show up. While I have seen this happen to several community leaders and friends, it almost happened to me in 2018 as I sought opportunities for executive-level leadership here in Columbus.
Queer leaders of color are exceptional and exceptionally few. I believe my obligation as a servant-guide is to ensure that we are making space so that we, queer identities of color, are all afforded the opportunity to be exceptional so that we become exceptionally more together.
I am not the first and I know for sure I won’t be the last; but it is in moments like these that history is made. I am honored to join a lineage of those before me who understood the importance of showing up, representing and working to uplift all of the various identities in our community so that others can see themselves; so that others can know they can too.
Representation matters.
Densil R. Porteous (@densilporteous) is Executive Director of Stonewall Columbus and CEO of Pride Fund 1.
This piece is part of The Columbus Dispatch’s “In Black & White,” an ongoing series of columns and podcast episodes hosted by author and Denison University Assistant Professor of Black Studies Terrance Dean and “The Other Side” podcast host Scot Kirk.
The series seeks to define terms and concepts key to addressing systemic racism. Find the In Black and White episode featuring Densil R. Porteous on bit.ly/dispatchinblackandwhite