
As a child, Charley Burton would read at the Gordon Avenue Library. “My heart would pound and I had sweaty hands just knowing I could slip away into all those words and find out about subjects that were taboo in my community. Even as I got older, it felt as if I was doing something wrong,” he writes. Kori Price/Charlottesville Tomorrow
This story was published as part of the First Person Charlottesville. Let’s tell the story of our community together. Here’s how you can share your perspective with Charlottesville Tomorrow, Vinegar Hill Magazine and In My Humble Opinion.
By Charley Burton for Charlottesville Tomorrow
When I was 18, I was afraid to speak up because I was a lesbian. Living in Charlottesville was tough; living in Charlottesville while Black was even more challenging. The hub of life for Black people in Charlottesville is the church. I grew up in a rural area called North Garden and the church was where everything happened: food, fellowship, summer vacation, Bible school. I didn’t have a clue about being gay, let alone trans. But I knew I was a little boy, and I knew I would get in trouble for saying so.
The only thing I knew about gay life in Charlottesville was from the books I would sneak off and read at the Gordon Avenue Library.
Read on in Charlottesville Tomorrow.