Malachi is a queer student of African British origin. For his final project, he wanted to make artistic work about his identity, being queer and how those intersections impact his mental health. Malachi’s teacher is a white heterosexual cis male he has suggested to Malachi that he choose a different subject to research that offers more ‘scope’ for investigation. Malachi believes that this is because his tutor does not know much about the subject area and wants Malachi to choose a subject that he is more familiar with.
This has left Malachi with a dilemma should he continue to make the work and complain about the fact that his teacher is putting pressure on him to change or should he change his proposal to a subject area that his tutor is more familiar with. After all, Malachi’s teacher will be part of the assessment process and Malachi does not wish to offend him.
According to the Stonewall Gay and Bisexual Men’s Health Survey to probe the mental health of the LGBTI community. Black gay and bisexual men are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their white peers and twice as likely to suffer from depression.