I really have tried not to say much about folks finding things to celebrate in this moment, but I must admit it's weird AF to see all these congratulatory posts about @RitchieTorres becoming one of the first Black gay men in congress, and here's why:

In 2015, Torres looked the other way during fellow councilman @CoreyinNYC's witch hunt against Bayna El-Amin, another Black gay man who was presented by Johnson & much of NYC's gay elite as a gay-bashing homophobe for defending himself against a white gay man at a Dallas BBQ.

At a talk we did together 3 years ago, I confronted Torres with the facts of this case. He claimed he didn't know Bayna was gay or attacked first—which, of course. These types don't usually give Black people in conflict the benefit of the doubt.

They certainly don't honor them with the time it takes to research what really happened before calling for their heads, even if these types are Black too. But I patiently rehashed my reporting on El-Amin's case then and there so he'd have no excuse: https://www.mic.com/articles/147556/what-bayna-el-amin-s-assault-case-says-about-racism-in-the-lgbtq-community

In public, Torres promised to look into it & stay in touch about how he could help reverse course after El-Amin had already been successfully railroaded, called a "hulking brute" w/o much pushback, & one who was motivated solely by animus toward "girly men" by the prosecutor.

I took Torres at his word, as I would want folks to take me at mine. He, of course, never took the time to respond to any of my multiple follow ups or updates.

Last week, Bayna told me that his final appeal had been rejected, and he will likely be serving out the next 4 years of his nine year sentence... all for hitting a white gay man who hit him first and being Black when he did it. But representation matters, I guess?

I'm all here for joy, & yes, we have to make more space for it. But I don't think the joy you get from seeing someone who looks like you on TV or in office is worth even one family never again being able to see someone who looks like them—their son, sister, mother—in their lives.

What to speak of the many others who are sacrificed for the few "success" stories in this political system. And if it's so threatened by us saying so, is it really joy at all?