A Belated Thank You: E. Lynn Harris

July 27, 2009 by blackgirlgrown
Filed under books, movies, and music

I remember reading my first E. Lynn Harris book, Just As I Am, in college. Color me shocked and wanting to put the blinders back on. E. Lynn Harris opened my eyes to a world I didn’t even know existed! And I hated him for it.

There it began, the “eyes wide open” outing of black men on the “down low.” The concept didn’t make sense to me. I was familiar with homosexuality. But I had yet to come across a black man (that I know of) who was openly gay or whose sexuality had even been questioned. So I kept reading, trying to decipher the tell-tale signs.

Unfortunately, the “Top 10 Ways to Know if Your Man is Gay” never materialized.

Of course, now there seems to be an entire section at the local book store on “down-low” brothers, more crass and stereotypical than the titles a year before.

I guess I should be grateful to E. Lynn Harris for opening my eyes. And I am. Awareness is everything.

More Services

Tags: books, RIP

Lisa Johnson

Wow indeed. I read every one of his books. Does anyone know what he died of? Hope it wasn’t HIV.
K Woodard

A dear male friend of long ago, who Iived in an apartment upstairs from mine and who was “quasi-openly gay,” gave me the book and implored me to read it. I say “quasi-openly gay” because, for the most part” he lived his life as a gay man to many others; yet he never came out to me or his parents. After I moved to Texas we eventually lost touch but I think of him often. Anyway, I devoured the book in two days. I was stunned beyond belief but, like you, my eyes were suddenly and shockingly wide open, and I was introduced to a world I didn’t know existed. I, too, am thankful to the author for exposing the “down low” world. I agree there’s really no tell-tale signs and even E. Lynn Harris failed to explain what those signs are, but I’m eternally grateful to my friend for giving me the book and introducing me to Harris. (Subsequently, I bought and read most of his other books, which were sometimes hard reading.) I think the message my dear friend was sending is just because a man isn’t out doesn’t mean he isn’t gay. This seems so obvious now but it wasn’t in the mid-1990s. Godspeed, Mr. Harris.