Whenever I hear 'LGBT', I think 'the white queer community'. I don't factor the black queer community into it at all. To me, the black queer community is like this whole other thing that doesn't sit under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. And no matter how many letters, roman numerals and unicode characters get added onto the end, and no matter how many brown stripes they add to that flag, it never really will be. And white queers are part of the reason for that.
The queer community isn't exempt from the racial segregation, biased and outright racism that happens in the world. Why on Earth would it be!?
Over a period of time I feel that the LGBT community and queerness as a whole has become white facing and white represented by default. So many of the things that members of the white queer community reference, love and claim; the 'Gurl', the tongue pops, the Voguing - they were all born in the black queer community. But nothing is paid back to it, nor is it acknowledged. These are the same people who will swear blind that Voguing was invented by Madonna.
Chile. I know.
Which leads onto music. The same thing is happening.
When I think about 'typical gay songs' or queer friendly / adjacent songs and what 'the LGBT community' would deem as gay anthems and classics, most of them are songs by white artists. At one point in time, many of the songs that defined queerness and were championed by the vast majority of the queer community as a whole were by black artists. Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Gloria Gaynor, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle; the list goes on.
So, I decided to make a playlist which features a bunch of gay ass songs from black artists only. The purpose of this wasn't to exclude. It was to show that queer and gay music is more than just Madonna's "Vogue" and anything that Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande put out. Black artists have put out songs which have defined and continue to define not just black queer culture, but queer culture as a whole, and I wanted there to be a reminder of this.
I want young black kids on the scene who are being made to think that people with their skin tone aren't out here making songs for them and for people like them, to know that they are. They always have been. And they continue to.
And if that's too deep, then bitch. We've all got a fun ass playlist of black artists and their bops for you to buss it open and pop to.
This playlist will probably be in a state of flux for a while, as I'm continually adding to it, changing the order 'n' shit. I'm indecisive like that.
🎧 Listen on Spotify: Black 'n' Queer, Bitch! (a Black Pride playlist)
The queer community isn't exempt from the racial segregation, biased and outright racism that happens in the world. Why on Earth would it be!?
Over a period of time I feel that the LGBT community and queerness as a whole has become white facing and white represented by default. So many of the things that members of the white queer community reference, love and claim; the 'Gurl', the tongue pops, the Voguing - they were all born in the black queer community. But nothing is paid back to it, nor is it acknowledged. These are the same people who will swear blind that Voguing was invented by Madonna.
Chile. I know.
Which leads onto music. The same thing is happening.
When I think about 'typical gay songs' or queer friendly / adjacent songs and what 'the LGBT community' would deem as gay anthems and classics, most of them are songs by white artists. At one point in time, many of the songs that defined queerness and were championed by the vast majority of the queer community as a whole were by black artists. Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Gloria Gaynor, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle; the list goes on.
So, I decided to make a playlist which features a bunch of gay ass songs from black artists only. The purpose of this wasn't to exclude. It was to show that queer and gay music is more than just Madonna's "Vogue" and anything that Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande put out. Black artists have put out songs which have defined and continue to define not just black queer culture, but queer culture as a whole, and I wanted there to be a reminder of this.
I want young black kids on the scene who are being made to think that people with their skin tone aren't out here making songs for them and for people like them, to know that they are. They always have been. And they continue to.
And if that's too deep, then bitch. We've all got a fun ass playlist of black artists and their bops for you to buss it open and pop to.
This playlist will probably be in a state of flux for a while, as I'm continually adding to it, changing the order 'n' shit. I'm indecisive like that.
🎧 Listen on Spotify: Black 'n' Queer, Bitch! (a Black Pride playlist)
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