LeRon, a young black man, is fed up with dealing with HIV/AIDS and being called sissy.

After a bad doctor’s visit, he holds his two older brothers hostage in their childhood bedroom and puts them on trial (at gunpoint) for their homophobia, AIDS-phobia, and for liking rap music.

First published in the 1991 anthology Certain Voices (Alyson Books), “Hostage” was Randy Boyd’s first published short story — reviewed by The Washington Blade that same September.