ABSTRACT
In 1999, I started my first undergraduate semester at the University of Texas at Austin. I remember heading to the “liberal dot” of Austin, Texas with high hopes of living my life in a way that I could not before due to clear oppressive messaging from my church, family, and high school peers. The message I received was that being gay was wrong and that I was not Black enough. I was confident that at the UT-Austin campus I would find a community of folks who shared my identities and that there would be space for me to live my full Black, queer life authentically and unapologetically. The first month on campus, my hopes were crushed. My Lebanese roommate consistently expressed her clear discomfort and hostility with my Blackness, often manifested as passive-aggressive notes and escalated to verbal confrontations. My resident assistant, who knew of our conflict, was unresponsive and merely suggested that one of us move out of the room. I cannot speak for my former roommate, but I suspect we were both too stubborn to move out, and neither of us wanted to signal defeat of our “right” to live in the space.
