Lena Waithe doesn’t owe anyone an explanation for who she is, how she loves or why she cut her famous locs last month; but the writer, actress and producer graciously gave one to Vanity Fair’s cameras while on the red carpet for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Grants Banquet on Thursday night.
The mother of a Chicago teen is demanding answers after no one was apprehended following the brutal beating of her gay daughter, an act which she insists is a hate crime.
Detroit police are looking for the man who shot a transgender woman at a Mobil gas station on Monday night. According to surveillance footage, an argument that started in the gas station parking lot spilled over inside the station, where it escalated when the man drew a gun on the woman.
(Editor’s note: spoilers of the Sunday, July 8 episode to follow.)
Tessa Thompson’s sexual identity is no longer a secret.
Last September, transgender activist and model Munroe Bergdorf made headlines when her straight talk about racism cost her a coveted campaign with L’Oreal. But Bergdorf hasn’t let the experience silence her; in fact, she’s allowed it to further fuel her openness about the myriad issues affecting black people, women,…
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.
As Ashlee Marie Preston approached her 34th birthday in early June, it was less a celebration than a sobering milestone. Preston is a successful media personality, producer, writer, speaker, civil rights activist, recent political candidate and The Root 100 honoree for 2017. She is also a black transgender woman,…
Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the “unbought and unbossed” Shirley Chisholm to Saturday night’s MTV Movie & TV Awards, Trailblazer Award honoree Lena Waithe proved that she will always use her platform to elevate the marginalized, transforming her moment at the podium into a tribute to the gay and transgender icons…
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.
We long for the day when no one feels compelled to “come out”—or for straight folks to feel equally compelled. Ideally, sexuality should just be considered another natural and accepted part of identity—but then again, so should blackness.
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.
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 for…
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 and Me”…
She’s messy; she’s brilliant; she’s talented. At times insecure; has frequently been problematic; and at some point made a very illogical endorsement of Donald Trump. And if she sounds like someone else who made major headlines this week, it’s because both have their sanity questioned on the regular.
I’ve been shaving my face since my early 20s. Back then, I didn’t have health insurance, so when I noticed I was growing an actual beard, I just tried different razors and shaving creams—I even tried Nair and other types of hair removal. But the hair was always there.
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.…
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 “the most”…
Miss Lawrence “loves a cape and some heels, darling!” This high-flying performer made his way from walking drag balls into a full-fledged brand and is now in his second season as Miss Bruce, the adorably confounding mess of a hairdresser on the Fox TV series Star.
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…
