Black & LGBTQIA+ Folx to Follow This Juneteenth

June is Pride Month where we commemorate the Stonewall riots (June 28 - July 3, 1969), a major event leading up to the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement. June also marks Juneteenth, an American holiday celebrating the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved Black Americans in the Confederacy (June 19, 1865). The last enslaved Black Americans in the Union weren’t freed until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment (December 18, 1865).

In celebration of Pride Month and Juneteenth, here is a not all-inclusive list of Black and LGBTQIA+ voices to follow on social media and to read. It is worth noting that Pride is possible because of Black transwomen like Marsha P. Johnson.

Black LGBTQIA+ Folx to Follow

If your social media streams don’t have these powerful voices, give them a follow! Most wrote books, essays, and other pieces of work outside of their social media accounts.

adrienne maree brown
Social justice facilitator focused on black liberation. Doula/healer. Pleasure activist. Author of Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good.
@adriennemareebrown (Instagram)

Charlene Carruthers
Black, queer feminist community organizer and writer. Author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.
@charlenecarruthers (Instagram) · @CharleneCac (Twitter)

Crystal Fleming
A scholar and a gentlequeer. Author of How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide.
@alwaystheself (Twitter)

DeRay Mckesson
Activist. Organizer. Teacher. Author of On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope.
@iamderay (Instagram) · @deray (Twitter)

Ericka Hart
Sex educator. Racial/Social/Gender Justice Disruptor. Writer. Breast Cancer Survivor. Model. Co-host of the podcast, “Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast”.
@ihartericka (Instagram · Twitter)

Jenna Wortham
Staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. Co-host of the podcast, “Still Processing”. Co-editor of the forthcoming visual anthology “Black Futures”.
@jennydeluxe (Instagram · Twitter)

Joe Miner
Antiracist LGBTQ+ activist within the Evangelical Church, advocating for inclusion and justice for queer people in faith communities.
@joeminertldr (Instagram · Twitter)

Roxane Gay
Writer. Professor. Social commentator. Author of Bad Feminist.
@rgay (Twitter)

Sean Saifa
Intersex activist. Visual artist. ⁣Co-founder of @intersexjusticeproject. ⁣Creator of @unbornson.
@saifaemerges (Instagram · Twitter)

Vilissa Thompson
#DisabilityTooWhite Creator. Founder of Ramp Your Voice! Disability Rights Consultant. Social Worker. Writer.
@VilissaThompson (Instagram · Twitter)

Black LGBTQIA+ Folx to Read

If longer narratives and books are your thing, read these authors! Their works intersect race, sex, class, gender, and sexual orientation. The Work cannot be done without intersectionality!

Since the following authors wrote so many pieces and books and can be overwhelming to start, there’s a recommended book listed. We provided Bookshop links to the authors and books, but we strongly encourage you to order from Black-owned bookstores and/or buy from your local bookstore! Happy reading!

Alice Walker
Novelist, short story writer, poet, social activist, and feminist who coined the term “womanist” (a Black feminist or feminist of color) to unite women of color and the feminist movement at “the intersection of race, class, and gender oppression.”
→ Start with The Color Purple

Angela Davis
Political activist, philosopher, academic, and author who wrote over ten books on class, feminism, and the U.S. prison system.
→ Start with Women, Race, & Class

Audre Lorde
Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet who confronted and addressed injustices of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and homophobia in her writing.
→ Start with Sister Outsider

bell hooks
Author, professor, feminist, and social activist who focuses on the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender, and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination.
→ Start with Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

James Baldwin
Novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist who explored racial and social issues in his essays on the Black experience in the United States.
→ Start with Go Tell It on the Mountain

Toni Cade Bambaras
Author, documentary film-maker, social activist, and college professor who was concerned with injustice and oppression in general and with the fate of African-American communities and grassroots political organizations in particular.
→ Start with The Salt Eaters