On Sept. 27, the Dr. Patricia Robinson Pride Center at ETSU hosted the first seminar in its new Facet Series, a sequence of discussions led by area professionals and centered around intersectionality in the LGBTQIA+ community. This week’s topic was race and queer sexuality, was led by Khia Hutchins-Smith and Bernard Flythe.
Khia Hudgens-Smith is a queer woman of color, wife, mom, advocate, force of nature and clinical therapist at the Journey Center for Healing Arts, amongst other things. She began her portion of the discussion with a rich, raw and emotional retelling of events from her childhood that centered around race.
For example, she recounted a particular instance where a young classmate had left a paper in her desk that was emblazoned with racial slurs. As a little girl, Hudgens-Smith remembered thinking “we were supposed to love everyone” and could not understand why her classmate had done that.
“From that point on, I tried to shield my blackness,” said Hudgens-Smith. After discussing the occurrence with her mother, she came to a conclusion: “being Black was not safe.”
Throughout her adolescent years, Hudgens-Smith endured ridicule for adapting to the ways of the place she was raised, mentioning that others made fun of her for “talking white” and “stereotyping into the Tennessee culture.” As she got older, she learned that some groups of people saw her as being “too Black” and others saw her as being “not Black enough.”
She went on to explain how some groups held up a paper bag to her skin, and if it was lighter than the hue of the paper bag, she would not be able to join the group. Hudgens-Smith also touched on how she faced judgement from her peers for marrying white partners: first a man, then a woman. Now an adult, her goal is to inform and educate audiences on the importance of racial and queer equality, pleading with those who are unfamiliar with the topics to be willing to sit down and learn.
“I am a triple threat,” said Hudgens-Smith. “Queer, Black and a woman.”
Bernard H. Flythe, the other featured half of the seminar, is a 51-year-old queer Black man who is also deeply religious. As many before him, Flythe struggled with his sexuality in the church as he grew up.
“I would pray to God and Martin Luther King Jr. that I would never be gay,” said Flythe.
Being one of the only Black people in his class, young Flythe felt uncomfortable with his body and quickly fell into a severe depression. He was arrested for stalking one of his peers, lost a spot in the final round of the United States Air Force Band to a classmate and was pushed to go to shock treatment for being gay by his mother.
He, like Hudgens-Smith, struggled with ridicule for dating outside of his race. However, in his adulthood, he has grown in both his faith and his sexuality, and he now uses his platform to inspire other queer religious individuals.
“To me,” said Flythe, “I think everyone’s beautiful.”
To learn more about the ETSU Facet Series, visit www.etsu.edu/students/mcc/programs/lgbtq or follow the Pride Center on Instagram at @etsupridecenter.
