GLAAD has launched an ongoing digital series called Neon.
The LGBTQ charity’s new project aims to increase the visibility of Black LGBTQ people and their allies, using the power of storytelling and GLAAD’s platform to create accurate portraits of the Black LGBTQ experience.
Neon is curated by a team of Black LGBTQ artists and allies including DaShawn Usher, Abdool Corlette, Major Nesby, Jazmin Samora, Janel Martinez and LaQuann Dawson.
The first photo and video series features artist and poet Roya Marsh, who channels the late writer, feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde.
“I am a black butch writer, activist and educator from the Bronx, New York,” says Roya in the video.
“My relationship to Audre Lorde’s work is one of close connection, mostly because of her blackness and her lesbian identity. Beyond that, because of her audacity to take up space in a time when blackness and black womanhood was condemned on a daily basis.”
Throughout Black History Month in the US, one photo and video of a Black LGBTQ person will be released every Tuesday and Thursday showcasing a current LGBTQ leader as they pay homage to groundbreaking figures of the past.
“We hope to help shift the narratives of underrepresented communities in media, especially for the Black LGBTQ community and their allies,” said DaShawn Usher, who serves as programs officer, Communities of Color and producer of Neon.
“With an increase in violence and murders of Black Trans women, LGBTQ youth suicides, and a decrease in LGBTQ acceptance, Neon comes at a time when it’s absolutely critical to showcase diverse, fair, and accurate representations of Black LGBTQ people within the media.”
Watch Roya’s video here or below.
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