It centers on Chiron, a gay black man growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood, and a variety of life circumstances specific to that experience: His mother is a crack addict, his father is absent, and he's forced to hide his sexuality throughout the course of the film for fear of his life. It's for this reason that I was as scared as I was excited to see Moonlight, the second film by Barry Jenkins, who previously directed the critically acclaimed indie feature Medicine for Melancholy. I know that I live at the intersection of both identities, but sometimes it can feel like being black and gay is to live in between two mutually exclusive wholes. But when white men mandate that 'No Blacks' message them on dating apps, I struggle just as much to see where I fit into the gay community.
When black men denounce one of the most prominent activists of the #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement simply because he's openly gay, I struggle to see where I fit into the black community.