I first met Marlon Riggs back in 1990 while in graduate school. He was screening his now-classic video documentary "Tongues Untied" at Stanford's Ujamaa theme hall. Little did I know then that attending this screening would be the start of a new phase of my life and identity formation.

Along with other out brothas inspired by AIDS activism and marginalization, Marlon ushered in a heady phase here in the Bay Area: "Tongues Untied," "Looking for Langston," and "Paris is Burning" onscreen, the Pomo Afro Homos onstage, the anthologies "Brother to Brother" and "The Road Before Us" (in which I have a poem) on the shelves. He was always a central pillar of my community, the big brotha that I never had, the bold blackman I didn't have the nerve yet to be.

One of my favorite memories of Marlon is him leaning out the car window yelling "yoooo hoooo" and waving at me at the Castro Street Fair.

I was honored to read at the recent re-memorial to Marlon at the Pacific Film Archives this past Friday, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his passing. I wonder how many young brothas know how much this man did for our visibility and collective sense of self.

We miss you, my friend!