Miami Herald - February 21, 2007
Steve Rothaus, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

"We've come a long way, but unfortunately the Tim Hardaway incident reminds us we have a long way to go," said Xavier, 35, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who'll conduct a series of spoken-word workshops for South Florida gay teens today through Saturday.

Last week, former Miami Heat star Hardaway caused a national furor when he said during a local radio interview that "I hate gay people." Hardaway quickly apologized, but he lost an endorsement contract and the NBA banned him from its All-Star Weekend.

"I'm glad that the NBA stood up for the gay community," Xavier said. 'It's one thing for the word 'faggot' to slip from someone's mouth; it's one thing to say, 'I do not understand homosexuality.' For someone to come out and say they absolutely hate -- will not work with gays -- is a whole 'nother thing. There is no justice for that kind of homophobia."

Xavier expresses himself through words. From A Simple Poem:

I want you to continue writing

because I will not always be around

With lips that will never touch mine

read your poems out loud

so that the words are left engraved on the wall

make me feel your voice rush through me

like a breeze from Oya

I want to hear about Puerto Rico

about sisters with names like La Bruja

about educating youth about AIDS

I want to hear about life in the Boogie Down Bronx

surviving on the Down Low

don't leave out stories about men

you have loved and still love

Hundreds of students from school gay-straight alliance clubs will participate in Xavier's workshops, said Robert Rosenberg, associate director of Tigertail Productions.

The events are co-sponsored by Tigertail (through its teen WordSpeak program) and GLSEN South Florida, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

"The goal is to use the spoken-word medium, which bridges poetry, theater and the hip-hop worlds, as a way to encourage teenagers to express themselves and develop their reading and writing skills," said Rosenberg, who founded the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

He describes Xavier as "one of the leaders in the gay, spoken-word field."

Xavier, who escaped an early life of sexual abuse, drugs and prostitution, said he aims to "inspire and motivate" the young people.

"It's important to give voice to their experiences. The world at-large can see that we share universal experiences, even though we're defined by our sexuality," said Xavier, who came to prominence in 1996. "What I hope to accomplish is to instill in a younger generation that it's perfectly OK to be openly gay and thrive.

"Spoken word is about expressing oneself. And poetry can be very healing."

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