My name is Jason Gray . I am a student at the Thorne Institute of Technology. It’s a small private college that’s like no other school on the planet. I’m a young black man who also happens to be bisexual. This is the only place where I’ve ever truly felt welcome. Lots of people and establishments claim to accept everyone regardless of race or sexual orientation. Lots of them are lying. That’s why so many good people get the shaft in today’s world, and not in a good way. I’m originally from Boston , Massachusetts . Yet I’m currently living in a small predominantly black town in Alabama , where tomorrow’s young black men are prepared for life in a challenging world.
The Thorne Institute of Technology is a private, accredited, technical college offering Associate’s and Bachelor’s of Science degrees in forty programs generally geared toward persons of color. It’s a historically black, all-male private college founded in 1989 by Edward Thorne, an African-American millionaire and former industrial businessman. Edward Thorne saw that lots of young black men weren’t attending college and were going down the path of criminality and perdition. So, he used every dime he had to create the Thorne Institute of Technology. An all-black, pro-male educational institution. He spent the next ten years turning it into the school of his dreams. The result was one of the best damn schools on the planet. Today, the Thorne Institute of Technology is a respectable educational institution. For an aspiring mechanical engineer like me, it’s the best place to be.
The Thorne Institute of Technology has sixteen hundred students and a faculty of five hundred people. It’s a very vibrant, dynamic place. Young black men from a variety of cities. Some of these guys come from all over the USA , and even Africa and South America . The year I came to the Thorne Institute as a freshman was also the year the school created its first Athletic Department, which resulted in several varsity teams. Sports are important to men, especially black men. If you look at the NBA and the NFL, you will see that some of the best players are young black men. Well, Thorne decided not to let its brothers down. The Thorne Institute of Technology Department of Athletics offered more varsity sports than most colleges and universities around the country.
The Thorne Institute of Technology varsity teams, also known as the Black Racers, competed in varsity Archery, Baseball, Badminton, Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Pistol, Rifle, Rowing, Rugby, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track, and Volleyball. For club sports, we had Sumo Wrestling, Boxing, Equestrian, Squash, Racquetball and Cycling. Twenty one varsity sports and six club sports supported by the Athletics Department. Jonathan Brown, the Athletic Director endeavored to make the Thorne Institute the envy of the world. The college president, Dr. James Luther shared his hope. Both of them were accomplished black men and alumni of schools like Morehouse and Georgia Tech.
I was really loving the place. Finally, a place where a black man could be himself. Most colleges were increasingly feministic, racist and downright anti-black male these days. Black males felt unwelcome, even when they had the knowledge, willpower and financial support to attend college. This school was all-black and all-male. Which is really cool. I wish there were more schools like that in the country, if not the world. I fell in love with Thorne. And it would always be dear to me because it’s the place where I met the love of my life. I met Jackson Kane my freshman year. He was attending Thorne and joined the all-new intercollegiate football team. This would be a first in history. An all-black intercollegiate football team ready to take the NCAA by storm. The Thorne Institute varsity sports competed in the NCAA Division One. We had a chance to take on the likes of Harvard, MIT and Princeton someday. Show them what the brotherhood could do. I felt so damn proud it’s hard to put it into words.
Back to Jackson Kane. Have you ever seen perfection? I didn’t know it existed until I saw him. A six-foot-five, broad-shouldered and muscular, mocha-skinned, long-haired and mustachioed black stud. He was a lineman on our college’s brand new football team. If you ask me, he could have been a Hollywood movie stud or a male model. He was that pretty. In a masculine way. I first saw him moving into the dorms with his brother, Lawrence Jackson . I knew Lawrence . He was a tall, skinny, jet-black nerd. The kind of guy who was talking about alien universes and superhuman races like Vulcan, Cybernetic Organisms, Than and the like. Yeah, he loved science fiction. Well, so did I. but I wasn’t obsessed with it. I will watch Sci-Fi Saturday and I love those miniseries but I don’t quote genetically engineered human dictators from Star Trek movies. No way. Too nerdy for me. Not Lawrence . He was a nerd and he was proud. He was also studying mechanical engineering. He had gotten accepted to Harvard and MIT, but opted to attend Thorne Tech because he couldn’t stand going to predominantly white, mostly female schools. He wanted the black masculine experience. I know the feeling. How could a sexy man like Jackson the football stud be related to Lawrence the nerd? Mother nature’s a mad scientist, isn’t she?
I’ve never been too much into contact sports. But shortly after nerdy Lawrence introduced me to his brother Jackson , I found myself fascinated by football. Hell, I even went online and read up heavily on America ‘s favorite sport. I watched football on television. I really got into it. Besides, watching sexy men in motion was a thrill for any gay and bisexual man on the planet. No lie! Jackson was a very friendly guy. He was sexy as hell, too. We got to know each other that semester. Thorne Tech beat Alabama State University’s football team and we were going to the Division One playoffs. I really liked Jackson . He was cool. Sometimes, I hung out with him and some of the other football players in town. I didn’t look out of place with them. Most of them were over six feet tall and quite large. I was six feet one inch tall and weighed exactly one hundred and eighty pounds. I could be mistaken for a collegiate football player. I never corrected whoever made that mistake. I was proud of myself, my team and my schoolmates. We were all young black men leading productive, driven lives. Living on an all-black and all-male college campus. The only one of its kind in America . Shielded from the anti-male and anti-black sentiment present in higher education. We were the blessed ones.
All that was needed to make my seemingly perfect world even better was a good man by my side. I felt attracted to both men and women in the past. I still consider myself bisexual since I sometimes find myself attracted to women. However, I’m focusing on men these days. I want to make that masculine connection. I didn’t have that much luck with women anyway. I’ve dated three women and one of them was a psychopath, another was a man-hater and the third was a lesbian. If I wasn’t gay or at least bisexual, I might have been depressed. Instead, I embraced my masculinity and my sexual side, and other men’s masculinities and sexual sides, as well. I wanted to embrace Jackson ‘s sexual side. But I didn’t know if the sexy football stud was heterosexual, bisexual or gay. A sexy man like that had to have someone in his life. The question was, why not me?
When we hung out, I stayed close to Jackson . He was a tall, good-looking and manly guy. A real masculine man. Men liked him and women did too. He was a cool guy too. He always seemed at ease everywhere he went. Whether he was playing Division One football at the nation’s only all-male, historically black college or partying with friends, he was the man. He had legions of female admirers. Women from college campuses across America knew his name. He was even interviewed on ESPN and other popular media outlets. At the end of the season, our football team took first place at the state championships in its division. Jackson was declared Most Valuable Player of the team for his outstanding teamwork and sheer athleticism. He was photographed by dozens of reporters, interviewed by many more and his picture even ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated. How about that?
Yeah, he was a dream walking among the rest of us. Yet, I found myself wondering why such a sexy and good-looking, college-educated black football stud didn’t have a sexy woman by his side? One time, I asked him point blank about it. We were hanging out in his dorm. He smiled sadly and told me the words I would never forget. He didn’t have a sexy woman by his side because deep down, he would rather have a sexy man. I stared at Jackson , incredulous. He looked at me and grinned, before telling me that he was gay. I couldn’t believe my ears. America’s favorite, most famous and most popular, spectacularly good-looking African-American college football player was gay? Jackson slowly nodded. I gulped. He expected me to say something. What to say? Oh, yeah, I’m into men too! The words simply rolled out of my mouth. Jackson smiled, and raised his eyebrows, then told me how surprised he was that I was gay. I told him that I wasn’t gay, I was bisexual. He shrugged. Why can’t the world believe in the existence of a bisexual black man? They’re always boxing men into neat little categories such as good and bad, straight and gay. The world isn’t always black and white. There are shades of gray in all areas. Most men are straight, quite a few men are gay and some men are bisexual. End of story. But I didn’t tell Jackson that. Instead, I simply stared at him. Sorry, I know staring is rude but if you saw how hot he looked after confessing to me, you’d stare too. Unless you’re a sexless creep.
Jackson sat on his bed, and we continued to talk. He told me about his life. He grew up with his brother on a farm far away from here. They were raised by a military man and his schoolteacher wife. Jackson chose to attend our school because he grew up in a white town and longed to be around his own people. Not that he felt out of place around Caucasians but sometimes, seeing people of one’s ethnicity in large numbers is a good thing. I was pleased to hear that although Jackson loved his fellow black people, he wasn’t a bigot. I’ve met many bigots in my lifetime. The worst among them are the socially acceptable ones. I’ve met blacks who hate whites, women who hate men, and gays who hate straight people. Hello! Get a clue! Just because you were mistreated or oppressed in the past doesn’t give you the right to mistreat others in the present or future. We all suffer in this life. Get over it!
Jackson told me that he liked my way of thinking. He also asked me to stay and watch a movie with him. I nodded. He put on a Spike Lee movie. Mo’ Better Blues, I think it was. I liked it. I’m a fan of Spike Lee. He’s a graduate of Morehouse College, an all-male, historically black college much like the one we currently attended. As I watched the movie, I especially licked my lips over the scenes of the sexy Mr. Washington . He was one sexy man! Jackson went to take a shower. I focused on the movie, trying not to stare at his magnificent athletic body as he stripped, and went into the bathroom. I kind of got really into the movie for a while, then I heard Jackson’s voice calling me. I got up and asked him what he wanted. He told me to bring him a towel, that he had forgotten to pick one up. I went to his drawer and pulled out a long blue towel. Then, I marched into the bathroom. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. There he was, the sexiest black man who ever lived. Naked as a Greek statue, only hotter. He smiled and beckoned me to join him. I only hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then, he grabbed me and pulled me into the shower, clothes and all.
There I was, standing as close as could be with the man of my dreams. The sexiest man alive. Jackson , America ‘s favorite college football stud. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. And I kissed him back, with all the passion I could muster. He undressed me, and I threw away my shirt and shorts. We stood naked before each other. When our lips parted, I smiled and took a good look at him. At that body that Olympian athletes would envy. His handsome face, that fantastic, muscular chest and those well-cut abs. His washboard stomach, slender waist and those strong, muscular legs. I ran my hands all over him, partly because I wanted to make sure this was not a dream but also because I simply wanted to. I craved him. I touched that fine, sexy body of his. The man who personified masculinity and sexual power in the eyes of many. Jackson smiled at me, and placed my hands on his sex. I gasped when I held it in my hands. It began to grow right before my eyes, expanding until it reached its maximum potential. The man was packing well over ten inches of black man power.
Gently, I stroked him. Jackson smiled at me and we kissed again. I wanted him so badly. So long I dreamed of being with him. Seeing him at the football stadium, surrounded by legions of female admirers and male sports fans, I felt so jealous. Not of him but of them. I wanted him to myself. And now, my dream was coming true. And we began to make love. That’s when the magic happened. Two sexy naked black men making love under the warm waters of a dorm room shower. Giving into our primal, most forbidden, masculine passions. Jackson entered me, and I welcomed him. I wanted to feel him deep inside me. And feel him I did. He thrust into me passionately, eager to possess, making me his. I screamed in pleasure and gripped his torso even tighter. We merged into one, in the most passionate of unions. Then he came, releasing his pleasure. Shortly after, I came as well. We held each other as our bodies were gripped in the throes of passion. I looked into Jackson ‘s eyes, and saw a look of awe in them. I smiled, and kissed him. This was but the first of many such nights for the both of us.
There you have it, the story of how I met Jackson Kane. We would go on to have a relationship and many years together. We were secret lovers throughout college. Thorne Tech was our home, and we loved it. I got my degree in mechanical engineering and went on to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta . It was one of the best schools in the country. Jackson graduated from Thorne Tech and went on to play in the National Football League. Through it all, we remained together. In the eyes of his friends and family, we were but good friends. Very good friends. In spite of career pressures, we remained together.
Jackson played for the NFL for several years, made lots of money and became quite famous. When he retired, we moved in together in a nice house in a suburb of Alabama . A decade after graduating, I returned to the Thorne Institute of Technology as a professor. The school had changed over the years. It was still an all-male college, but it was no longer exclusively black. There were lots of White and Asian men around, as well as Latinos. Oh, well. Diversity is what it is. I still enjoy teaching these young men and preparing them for a better tomorrow regardless of race. And I think they like me for it. Jackson is now out to family and friends. He coaches football at Thorne Tech these days. Recently, he became the Athletic Director. We adopted two brats from Africa , James and Jessica. They’re wonderful and Jackson is quite the devoted daddy. He is already planning for James to attend Thorne Tech when he comes of age. He wants Jessica to attend either Georgia Tech or Spellman College. He’s already started a college fund in their name. I love this man. And our life together. After twenty plus years, zero regrets.