Homosexual Minority Profile

In my media writing class we had to a write a profile piece on a person who we considered a minority. It was very sobering as well as interesting to hear Philip tell of the trials he went through because he was a homosexual.

Here's my work:

He remembers the day vividly. He was 11 years old walking home from elementary school, sobbing as he made his way down the busy main street, his backpack dragging behind him on the ground and through his front door.

“That was the first time someone called me a ‘faggot’,” Philip Perry a 21-year-old general studio art major at Winthrop said, “That word would determine the beginning of the rest of my life.”



Perry grew up in the small rural town of Clinton, SC. In the heart of the Bible Belt there is little tolerance for a “homosexual with refined tastes”

“homosexual with refined tastes”

as Perry calls himself. Having also been raised in a Presbyterian church, Perry was well aware of the church’s view on homosexuality.

“I grew up knowing that everyone around me thought that homosexuality was a dirty sin, and to some, worse than murder,” Perry said.

Perry faced daily accusations and bullying through middle school and high school. At times the physical harassment would become life threatening. Perry describes his days in junior high as “What you see in the movies: I was thrown into lockers, beaten up, and shoved headfirst into toilets. It was hell.”

Perry denied being homosexual throughout most of middle school and high school. He spent many days eating lunch alone in his high school’s art room where he found refuge from the constant sneers, catcalls, and harassment he received from his peers.

Today he no longer hides in art rooms, but instead works through them to be noticed. His plan is to attend the Fashion Institute of New York next fall where he will major in male fashion design.

After “coming out” to his school, friends, and family his senior year, Perry said he finally felt like himself. Although bullying has not been a problem for Perry since he has attended Winthrop he still feels to be a minority in a majority heterosexual world.

“The media tends to portray gay men as the stereotypical flamboyant tease,” Perry says that this representation is unrealistic.“The main problem with the media’s view is the lack of ‘real gay men’ role models,” he said.

“The main problem with the media’s view is the lack of ‘real gay men’ role models,”

he said.

Perry’s view of the media is that if the movie, show, or story does include gay men they will often make a caricature of an actual gay person.

“A straight man can be cast in a movie as anything, “ Perry said, “but put a gay man in movie, and you’re going to get a high pitched man with a flair for rainbow scarves.”

Regardless of the majority of the public’s views, Perry is glad to see that things have progressed since he was growing up.

Perry looks over his rough childhood as a time for growth,“Everything shaped who I am now. This is not an ugly perverted thing, but it is a beautiful thing, and it is who I am. “

“Everything shaped who I am now. This is not an ugly perverted thing, but it is a beautiful thing, and it is who I am. “