10 statements, experiences, and quotes from Black LGBTQ celebrities, performers, and more.

JAHMAL B GOLDEN

model + artist

photo by Andrew Boyle

"Queerness and clothing, or embellishment, are kind of a package deal. We don't walk around naked and we still experience the spite of what people perceive of us. When we distill our identity into clothing it can shock people, it can defend you against people, it can make you easier to talk to. This isn't something just for queer people but it's definitely a tool that we use. Especially when we're not aspiring towards a hetero cisnormative lifestyle or look. We're always on the defence, we're always under so much pressure so when we dress ourselves up it's because we're ready for war.I am ready for battle when I put on my clothes. I'm ready to run, I'm ready to be comfortable, I'm ready to be seen, I'm ready to be invisible. All at once."
from "Five NYC creatives on Gender and Idenity" on i-D.

JANELLE MONAE

music artist + face of Covergirl

photo by JUCO

"Not all women have vaginas, and we’re not defined by our vaginas. I think our vaginas help us do amazing things and experience amazing things, but we have our brains, we have our hearts. Those are also pink."
from radio interview with Hot 97.

BIG FREEDIA

music artist

photo from Hunter Holder

"Believe in yourself, never give up, follow your dreams, be who you are, be firm in who you are. Just keep pushing for your accomplishments. Be positive and be alert."
from interview with GLAAD.

AMIYA SCOTT

actress

photo by Thomas McCarty

"I just wish we could be more supportive of one another. People don’t take into account that yes I’m trans, but I’m also black. I have two things working against me. I’m not only black. I’m not only gay. I’m black, gay and trans. I have so many different targets on my back. So overall for me, I just want equality. I want to feel safe."
from interview with The Undefeated.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT

actor + activist

photo from Essence Magazine

"I am told so many times that I should not walk truly in my blackness," Smollett continued. "That I should not walk truly in my sexuality, I should not walk truly in who I am. I say thanks but no thanks, f**k you and goodbye. I honestly think that me being myself has actually helped my career move forward."
from interview with ET.

CHAUNCEY DOMINIQUE

performer + model

video from VFILES's instagram video post

"After moving to NYC for college, I finally had the freedom to practice dance in my own space. I purchased a few pairs of cheap heels from Forever 21, put on my Beyoncé concerts, set my camera up, and danced the days away. Once I put them heels on, I felt like that bitch! And that feeling is addictive."
from "Dance Icon @CHAUNC on Breaking the Internet" on VFILES.

AUDRE LORDE

author + activist

photo from documentary "Audre Lorde - The Berlin Year 1984 - 1992"

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
from "Our Dead Behind Us: Poems" by Audre Lord

TRACY AFRICA NORMAN

first trans black model

photo by Stockton Johnson from Harpers Bazaar India

"It wasn’t until graduating from high school, class of 1969, that Norman first spoke her truth, in dramatic fashion. She was on the steps of her school, having just gotten her diploma — the first in her family to do so — when she told her mother that she was a woman. “She just opened her arms, gave me a big hug, and said that she knew, she was just waiting for me to come to her,” says Norman. “I had a moment where I realized what they mean when they say unconditional love.”"
from "The First Black Trans Model Had Her Face on a Box of Clairol" on The Cut.

MARSHA P JOHNSON

LGBTQ rights activist

photo from documentary "Pay It No Mind - The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson"

"you can lock yourself
in a closet in a fine mink stole
but it really doesn’t matter
if you ain’t got soul."
from poem "Aint got no Soul."

OCTAVIA ST LAURENT

legendary performer

from documentary "Paris is Burning"

"'Live life. Live life and do not take anything for granted. Because what you have today can instantly be gone tomorrow. And don't settle for nothing but.. (background noise, then Octavia laughs) Mommie, would you stay out of my interview please?'
(Interviewer): What did your mother say?
She said: '...and donʼt settle for nothing but the best.'"
from "Octavia St Laurent's last interview" from Dazed.