lgbtq
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Freedom Over Fear: Janelle Monáe Covers Allure’s Freedom Issue
You strip away the makeup, the costumes and everything you know about Janelle Monáe the artist, and I’m still the African-American, queer woman who grew up with poor, working-class parents. When I walk off a stage, I have to deal with these confrontations. I have to deal with being afraid for my family. The artist…
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‘It Gets Better’: The Lie We Tell LGBTQ Youths
Editor’s note: For Pride Month, The Root and Jezebel are teaming up once again for JezeRoot, with content by writers of color around everyday life for LGBTQ individuals. Recently, I went to an LGBTQ “It Gets Better” panel at a comic convention. The panelists, one of whom is a good friend, talked about how things…
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Pride for Profit? Nike Catches Criticism for Using the Pink Triangle on Its BeTrue Sneakers
It’s Pride Month, that time of year when rainbow symbology suddenly regains significance in American consciousness—and consumerism. In recent years, mass-market retailers have made big demonstrations of their support of the LGBTQIA community (notably, even more so since the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. in 2015). A stroll down any major retail corridor…
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Strike a Pose: Ryan Murphy’s Tribute to Ballroom Culture Isn’t Perfect, but It Is Very Necessary
From the very first shot, which pans from a disco ball to a pair of voguing hands flexing to the beat of Taana Gardner’s classic dance hit, “Heartbeat,” I knew Pose would likely become a staple in my summer viewing schedule. True confession: In addition to being a sucker for anything fashion-related, I also swoon…
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Bold Beauty: Sephora’s Classes Are Bringing Confidence to Clients in Transition
This Pride Month, Sephora is giving its clients who identify as transgender or nonbinary an extra boost of confidence with a new addition to its Classes for Confidence program. “Bold Beauty for the Transgender Community” is the latest program in Sephora’s social impact and sustainability initiative, Sephora Stands. Each 90-minute in-store beauty workshop is designed…
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GLAAD and Gorgeous: Guests Were Out and Proud on the GLAAD Awards Red Carpet
Red carpets are our “must-see TV” here at The Glow Up, and this weekend wasn’t a disappointment with the 2018 GLAAD Awards. This was one of our favorite red carpets of the year, just because it was so free. In fact, we think GLAAD should seriously consider renaming the ceremony the “Free to Be You…
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The Mic Is Open: Poet Dabriel Fulton Is Giving Voice to All
If the mic were open, what would you say? For the many underground poets, singers, rappers and comedians struggling to find spaces to showcase and workshop their talents, poet, performer and community activist Dabriel Fulton has created the Mic Is Open, an inclusive and inspiring forum for those who often go unheard. Says Fulton, via…
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The Voices Missing From #MeToo: Experiencing Sexual Assault as Butch
He was my dude, my nigga, my friend. The details of that night are mine to keep, a privacy I allow myself, even as I often openly share my childhood sexual trauma. This particular violation—rape—came at a crossroads in my life. I was figuring out two things: blackness and butchness, and trying hard to do…
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Don Lemon Helped Me Come Out to My Mother and It Changed My Life Forever
Love for a black gay man is a scary endeavor, even radical, in a country where racism isn’t such a throwback, its reverberations leaving only harmful residue in communities of color. And when you consider the pervasive homophobia in a heteronormative and patriarchal society, living in your truth as both African American and queer almost…
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According to Laverne Cox’s New Video, the ’90s Are Officially Back
For those of us who came of age in the late ’80s and ’90s, we remember a time full of post-’80s optimism, the rise of hip-hop in the grunge era and the unabashed flamboyance of the “club kid.” All were in full effect at the New York City-area college I entered in 1993. Actress Laverne…