Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast
One way to feel invisible as a Black queer citizen is to scroll through popular LGBTQ+, Black, or mainstream media outlets. The lack of positive and consistent representation is difficult to ignore. Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast is doing its part to remedy this.
The podcast is a global biweekly platform where Black LGBTQ+ professionals share experiences and insights about their countries and professions. As the creator, host, and producer, I highlight a population often overlooked by the media.
Ranked in the top 10 of FeedSpot’s “70 Best Black Gay Podcasts”, the concept for the podcast sprouted in the early morning hours in mid-February 2021 during a visit to Stockholm, Sweden. Unable to sleep, I reached across the bed in the small apartment I rented and grabbed my iPad. Engulfed in Scandinavian winter darkness, a steady flow of ideas poured out of me as I wrote possible themes, titles, and guest lists.
As an American digital nomad, I’d been outside of the United States for over a year. I was in search of Black LGBTQ+ citizens living in Sweden and Europe. Throughout my years of international travel, I’d seen Black people in each country I visited. However, I wanted to know more about Black LGBTQ+ Europeans. Who they are and how they’re thriving.
Typing “Black LGBT in Europe” in my search engine yielded little information. A few pieces popped up about HIV transmissions, homophobia, and Black LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. But not much detailed the lives, careers, and successes of Black queer citizens. I wanted to go beyond think pieces aimed at educating non-blacks on the racist entanglements Black citizens experience in our daily lives.
Samuel Girma, a Swedish film and art curator and activist, said it best in Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast’s Episode 17. “I’m at the level of not anymore engaging with whiteness, in order to prove that we are human.” Thus, my interest lay in the stories of Black Europeans and others in the African diaspora who celebrate who they are. I wanted to spotlight the journeys that go beyond interactions mired in racial negativity.
A lot has changed since I came out in August 1998. Today, being an out queer person is less of a liability. As of February 2024, 36 countries recognise same-sex marriage. We have films like Pariah (U.S., 2011), Stud Life (UK, 2012), Moonlight (U.S., 2016), and the pioneering Logo television series Noah’s Arc (U.S., 2005–2006).
That being said, film and television projects featuring Black LGBTQ+ protagonists are still a rarity. Leaving us to yearn for stories with those who resemble us.
A September 2020 NBC News article states that “two in three Black Americans don’t feel they see their stories represented on-screen.” Since 2012, there have been several high-profile films on American slavery. But NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reminds us in his November 2019 The Hollywood Reporter article that these types of movies overshadow African-Americans’ “…many scientific innovations and inventions that transformed American society — from refrigeration to blood banks — get dismissed, diminished or ignored.”
This is also true for media that centre Black LGBTQ+ communities, in particular, Black same-gender-loving men. Throughout world history, men have had secret sexual and romantic connections with each other. But the bounty of films, television projects, and books about down-low men suggests that only Black men enter these relationships. Which drowns out the accomplishments of Black openly gay activists, artists, doctors, lawyers, writers, and other professionals.
In Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast’s Episode 22, American screenwriter and producer Cameron Johnson said, “I think it’s important to see images of love and passion and innocence between Black men.”
Entertainment educates, informing us of who we are and how we’re perceived. Black LGBTQ+ communities lack a well-rounded offering of positive images that encompasses our professional and personal lives. This creates the perception we don’t exist, don’t contribute to our societies, and aren’t valued.
Where are the stories of those who aren’t in the world of entertainment? Those contributing to their communities in other fields. Why is little known about the lives of Black LGBTQ+ individuals in Barbados, Kenya, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries?
With over 80 guest interviews, Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast is doing its part to showcase our histories. Bringing individuals to the forefront, while establishing an archive that fosters intergenerational communication and education. The podcast is cultivating a professional networking community where people can offer insights, career strategies, and business opportunities.
Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast features guests who share how they contribute to their communities and careers. In advocacy, these include Nigerian-American advocate and paediatrician Dr. Lulu®, Kenyan activist Ruele Okeyo, British therapist Dennis L. Carney, British-Nigerian Anglican priest Reverend Jide Macaulay, Malawian human rights advocate George Kachimanga, and American event host and community advocate Rayceen Pendarvis.
The various organisations celebrating, educating, and advocating for us include British Founder and Managing Editor Rob Berkeley’s BlkOutUK.com, American President and CEO Antoine Craigwell’s DBGM, British Director Marc Thompson’s The Love Tank and PrEPster, American Founder and Chief Physician Dr. Julius J. Johnson-Weaver’s Resolve MD and RMD Proud, and British Founder and Managing Director Gamal ‘G’ Turawa’s Purplefrog Connections. G is also the protagonist of the 2022 BAFTA-winning docudrama The Black Cop directed by Cherish Oteka.
In the worlds of film, television, and literature, Our Black Gay Diaspora has profiled persons like American Actor, Dancer, and Choreographer Phineas Newborn III, Jamaican Author, and Playwright Krylios, Swedish script Editor, and Journalist Palmira Koukkari Mbenga, American Documentarian Writer, and Actor Bryan Sparkman, Italian Writer Stefano Duc, and American Writer, Actress, and Filmmaker Ashlei Shyne.
Pink Coconuts’ Barbadian Founder Donnya Piggott, American founder of Sol Journey Travel’s Janis Bailey, and American co-founder of South Africa’s Obsidian Wine Retreats’ Chris Caldwell reminds us of the importance of leisure and self-care. Encouraging us to move beyond our country’s borders to expand our horizons.
Black citizens worldwide experience racial trauma as one of the enduring legacies of European colonialism and the transatlantic or Euro-American slave trade. We find tools to work through the adverse effects of racism. But it’s also important to uplift and celebrate our gifts, our successes, and our joys.
“Together Celebrating Our Global Community™” is Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast’s tagline. Loving who we love is not a choice. However, being who we’re meant to be can be. We can honour and uplift our voices. We can say to each other, “You matter. You’re valued. And we hear you.”
New episodes of Our Black Gay Diaspora Podcast are available every other week. For news and updates, follow on Instagram @ourblackgaydiaspora and Twitter @blkgaydiaspora.
