William parks the car in a secluded lot about a block from the Palace.Īs he breaks out some pot, I ask them if they heard about what happened recently at Morehouse College, where one black student beat another with a bat supposedly for looking at him the wrong way in a dormitory shower. To them, it is the safest identity available - they don't risk losing their ties to family, friends and black culture. And as DL culture expands, it has become an open secret.įor many men on the Down Low, including William and Rakeem, the DL label is both an announcement of masculinity and a separation from white gay culture.
Today, though, an increasing number of black men who have sex only with men identify themselves as DL, further muddying an already complicated group identity. While Rakeem and William proudly proclaim themselves on the Down Low, they wouldn't have been considered on the DL when men first started claiming the label in the mid's.īack then the culture was completely under the radar, and DL men lived ostensibly heterosexual lives complete with wives and girlfriends but also engaged in secret sexual relationships with men. His family wouldn't know, either, if a vindictive friend hadn't told them. He says he's ''an urban black gay man on the DL,'' which he says reflects his comfort with his sexuality but his unwillingness to ''broadcast it. SilverSingles | The Exclusive Dating Site for 50+ Singles.