Ahhh Pride month.
For decades, June has been celebrated across the country with month-long parades, events and festivities set to highlight LGBT+ voices and experiences in a continued push for equality within and for the community. However, over the past years, a paradigm shift for and within the Black LGBT community has emerged.
The need to amplify Black voices and live authentically has been essential to trending conversations like never before, creating a pivotal moment for Black LGBT influencers and creators alike. These influencers are using their platforms and messages to not only empower our Black voices and hard work to be seen and heard in the name of diverse representation—they’re demanding it.
Here are nine Black LGBT influencers and creators who are leading the charge in not only impacting the world, but shifting the culture.
@iamjarijones
Jari is a transfem model, activist, and multi-hyphenate creative who is best known as the first Black, trans woman to produce a film nominated at Cannes Film Festival. Port Authority is about a boy-meets-trans girl romance, identity, and belonging around the New York underground ballroom scene.
@jazzmynejay
Jazzmyne Robbins is a Buzzfeed video producer, model, and influencer who is just as bold and rebellious as her shaved head and bold style. She’s the host of Buzzfeed’s Queer Prom and recently designed a sneaker for the NIKE BY YOU series.
@theharperwatters
Harper Watters has a passion for being bold and unapologetically himself, as evidenced not only in his onstage dancing as a Soloist for the Houston Ballet but in his viral heel treadmill videos. A Black, gay male ballerina, Harper’s accumulated over 200 thousand followers with his Instagram and created the YouTube web series The Pre Show, which documents the behind-the-scenes stage life of professional dancers.
@themrmilan
Tiq Milan is a transmale writer, speaker, and model who has been an advocate in the LGBT community for over a decade. He is also a writer and consultant who carved a niche for himself as a media advocate and one of the leading voices for transgender equality.
@iam.muse
Adrienne and her wife, J, are artists who feature larger-than-life portraits, often showing black icons captured in moments of peace, happiness, and strength. Adrienne’s work has been featured in the New York Times, TeenVogue, Architectural Digest, and HBO’s Insecure.
@raquel_willis
Raquel Willis is a Black transgender activist, writer and media strategist dedicated to elevating the dignity of marginalized people, particularly Black transgender people. She is the former executive editor of Out magazine and a former national organizer for Transgender Law Center (TLC). She’s also a part of Echoing Ida, a national Black women and nonbinary writers’ collective.
@steroidbeyonce
Devin-Norelle is a nonbinary model, writer, and trans advocate. Ze has written for Teen Vogue, Allure, GQ, them., & Out magazine. Ze recently walked in the New York Fashion Week show for Chromat and has modeled for Bonobos’ Pride 50 Year Anniversary & Campaign.
@dexrated
Dexter Mayfield is a queer, plus-size male model that is best known for presenting one of the most iconic walks of all time at the Marco Marco show at Fashion Week Los Angeles in 2015. Since then, he’s worked with power brands such as Savage Fenty, Harry’s and Fashion to Figure.
