Diversity Rules Magazine

July 2018

Diversity Rules Magazine - _lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning_

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4 Diversity Rules Magazine July 2018 Ron Blake is much more than a sexual assault and PTSD. He graduated with an MPA in Pub- lic Affairs from Indiana Univer- sity, was elected as a city councilman in suburban Chicago at a young age, was a high school physics teacher, and worked with hundreds of students as a high school cross country and track coach for 15 seasons. Blake was born in Gary, IN and has lived in Phoenix for the last 13 years. His parents, Ron and Rita are retired edu- cators. He has a sister Kris and three brothers: Scott, Matt, and Mark. His parents and brothers live in Indiana (Chicago suburbs) and his sister lives in San Diego. Blake has lived in Los Angeles, San Diego, and England too. JRK: Before we get into the interview can you tell readers a bit about yourself, where you are from, and all that good stuff? RB: I was born in Gary, Indiana and grew up most of my life in the Chicago suburbs. My mom and dad (Ron and Rita) and my three brothers (Scott, Matt, and Mark) still live in Chicagoland. My sister (Kris) lives in San Diego. And I have lived in Phoenix for the last 14 years. I've also lived in San Diego, Los Angeles, and England. I am a distance runner. I like anything weather related. I eat lots of Chipotle and Subway. I have seen all of the American Film Institute's top 100 movies of all time. I worked for Sandra Bullock one summer. I was once a high school physics teacher. I love peanut M & M's. And I'm learning Spanish. JRK:You experienced a trauma that no one can real- ly understand unless it happens to them. You were raped by 3 men while at home asleep and sick. Can you tell us about the incident? RB: at incident caused so much physical and emotional trauma for me. I knew all three of the men involved in the sexual assault. One of them was someone who was my best friend and so much more to me. I wrote a powerful story called Two Emotions that describes the betrayal I experienced on that night. It is hard to explain what it feels like to go through a moment like that. is story was a chance for me to try and use words and share that experi- ence of that trauma with others. JRK: e police, after their investiga- tion, simply wrote the incident off as 4 gay men playing while drunk. Obvi- ously, that was not the case. How did you feel when the police minimized what hap- pened to you? RB: I had anger over how the Phoenix Police treated me that night. A lot of anger that manifested itself as a symptom of PTSD over time. I was held down and sexually as- saulted while I was sick and asleep. I almost lost my life struggling to get away. I was bleeding. Upon arrival, the police said they recognized one of my perpetrators as someone they knew and considered him dangerous. All three men were drunk. I informed the police I was attacked and my clothes were taken off of me. And yet everything was dismissed as just a big misunderstanding with a bunch of gay men who had too much to drink. e Phoenix Police even took the most dangerous of the perpetrators back to his home that night from my understanding of the events the following day. I experienced two traumas that night. One involving the three men. And one involving the Phoenix Police. JRK:Why do you think there is difficulty grasping the fact that men can be raped too, just as women are? RB: Society does not discuss the rapes of men like they do with women. ere is a toxic masculinity that The Blake Show A Story Of Male Sexual Assault An Interview With Ron Blake By Jim Koury, Editor/Publisher Photo Credit: Ron Blake

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