They Call Me Cinnamon: The Right to Love the Right to Live (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781478736875)

Terrence Upshaw, (affectionately known as Terry) is a fair skinned, good looking, young man in his senior year of college and looking forward to graduation come the end of spring. On the outside he seems as grounded as any other young person his age, but inside he was being torn apart. Terry had been molested as a young boy by a trusted relative, and was left confused, and longing for a normal life. He kept his abuse secret from his mother who was always working trying to provide for her three children, and usually relied on friends and family for child care. Terry internalized his fears, and the guilt, he placed on his mother as well as himself. When Terry entered his teen years he remained confused about his sexuality, and with no father in his life to show him how to mature into manhood, he took to dressing in women's attire every now and then in his leisure time. He also began going on internet connected dates dressed in full drag. He had no idea what he was doing. To him it was excitement, and he could be a different person whenever he chose, to him, he was free. Unfortunately, one evening, Terry was walking home after an uneventful and uninteresting date went sour; he was dressed in full drag. He is approached by a group of thugs, at first he thinks it's nothing but harmless flirting, until a gut feeling signals that he is in real mortal danger. Before he can think of something smart to say, he finds himself running for his life. Terry lies in a hospital bed, raped, and beaten, as his life hangs in the balance. When he comes to, his body is racked with pain, and he is torn both physically and mentally. There, he comes face to face with the coldness of society. Nobody cares if a gay man is raped is all he could tell himself. The police helped to insure that his suspicions were true. If you're perceived to be anything but heterosexual then you're a monster, and a freak of nature. Terry decides he wants nothing to do with the police, no matter how badly h

Author: Starlett Fisher
ISBN-10: 1478736879
ISBN-13: 9781478736875
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Language: English
Published: 07/29/2014
Pages: 220
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.46d