On May 16, Black queer Atlantans gathered at MODEx Studio for GLAAD Down South, an event celebrating LGBTQ+ Southerners, storytellers, and people living with HIV.
The event, produced in partnership with Gilead Sciences, was designed to amplify GLAAD’s mission of amplifying LGBTQ+ and HIV narratives across the South as effective strategies in the fight against HIV and anti-LGBTQ+ attacks.
“We listen to trans women, queer youth, Latinx leaders, faith-based advocates, because they’ve always known what true care looks like, and we’re here to follow their lead,” Marcus Wilson, the Director of Gilead Sciences, said. “So, as we connect tonight, let this gathering be a reminder that the South is not a problem to be solved, it’s a power to be respected. Our stories are not side notes, they are strategy.”
Panelists and speakers shared personal stories about navigating different facets of authentic queer identity in conjunction with Black culture and community.
“[The panelists are] going to be able to share personal experiences and stories, so don’t take those things for granted as people share and be vulnerable in this space, because that’s who we are in the South,” DeWayne Queen, the President of Delta Air Line’s LGBTQ+ organization, and the evening’s host, said. “We don’t mind telling you our business, but we want you to respect it.”
Darian Aaron, the Director of Local News: U.S. South at GLAAD, kicked off the evening with a conversation with Dr. David Malebranche, the Senior Director of Global HIV Medical Affairs at Gilead. Dr. Malebranche, a longtime HIV clinician, discussed receiving his own HIV diagnosis and deciding to publicly disclose in a speech at a global HIV conference.
In Queering a Radically Inclusive Faith award-winning journalist Rashad Walker moderated a conversation with faith leaders Jai Davis, Rev. Mashaun D. Simon, and Dr. Kylan Pew in which they discussed how to create a space in Christianity for the fullness of Black queer expression and how to look beyond the boundaries of traditional faith.
“My work is about queering Black faith, not just for Christians, but for Muslims, for spiritualists, for doulas, for those who practice Yoruba faith,” Dr. Pew said. “I am curating content for us to know that the call to worship is the pregame. The sermon is in the drag performance. The community is under the lights at Bulldogs. I am tithing to the creatives.”
Toni-Michelle Williams, the Executive Director of Snap Co., moderated Centering Black Trans Voices, a conversation among Dr. Elijah Nichols, Simaya Charlize Turner, Toi Washington-Reynolds, and Amari McGee about how they navigate the current political climate as Black trans people.
“Before we had rights, we had community,” Turner said. “Before this administration was able to roll back protections that have really only existed for [less than] 20 years, we were still able to get the work done… [remember] that we created an underground railroad of resources before there ever was any protection.”
Closing out the panels, award-winning journalist LaPorsche Thomas led Increasing Visibility: Black Queer Women in Media. Naima Starr, Renee’ Mowatt, and Adah Duvall Pittman-Delancey discussed representation in the media, the connection between erasure and lack of safety, and the power of taking up space.
“Your silence won’t protect you,” Mowatt said. “I think as queer people, we’ve learned that our silence is actually protection. We have to unlearn that.”
The night concluded with the first GLAAD Down South Media Awards for excellence in journalism, granted to music and culture reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Consitution, DeAsia Paige, and former New York Times columnist, MSNBC political analyst, and Harvard fellow Charles Blow.
To work with GLAAD in sharing your story, contact Darian Aaron at daaron@glaad.org.