Just days ago, more than 150 Black queer creators gathered in the heart of Hollywood to share a powerful, career-defining weekend. From September 14-17, GLAAD hosted the inaugural Black Queer Creative Summit in Los Angeles, an event powered by their partner Gilead Sciences.
The brainchild of GLAAD's Communities of Color and Media Director DaShawn Usher and Communities of Color Associate Director Julian Walker, the revolutionary summit was designed to “create visibility, foster impactful support networks, and empower Black queer creatives to actively shape the trajectory of the entertainment industry" beyond surface-level representation on TV, the stage, and in film.
The event received 500 applicants and ultimately invited 150 Black LGBTQ+ creators, all costs covered, from across the nation — and the globe — to convene in L.A. for an inspirational four-day intensive focused on educating and uplifting this new wave of luminaries. The summit's cohorts span five sectors of the industry: executives (producers, showrunners, publicists, agents, leading industry professionals), creators (filmmakers, directors, writers, photographers, playwrights, animators, video editors), behind-the-scenes professionals (hair, makeup, wardrobe, styling), on-screen talent (actors, personalities, media influencers), and music supervision (artists, songwriters, composers, music editors, record label executives).
Programming for the first summit featured keynote speakers, workshops, and unparalleled networking opportunities for attendees. Special guests included changemakers like Tre'vell Anderson, Scott Evans, Ts Madison, Eva Reign, Jordan E. Cooper, Kendrick Sampson, Raquel Willis, Mike Guayo, Rasheed Newson, Patrik-Ian Polk, Isis King, Kalen Allen, Michelle Buteau, VINCINT, Franchesca Ramsey, Sidra Smith, Angelica Ross, and many more.
Attendees spent the first full day of the summit at Creative Arts Agency headquarters in Century City. They listened to guest speakers expound their personal and professional journeys, learned more about the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and the importance of the unions, and positively affirmed one another through mantras (“You deserve to live, you deserve to love, you deserve to laugh, and you deserve to dance") and an exercise in which congratulatory letters-to-self were read aloud.
Though the second day's intimate plenaries were both star-studded and candid, and the day ended with an exciting impromptu pitch contest from which three creatives were awarded $5,000 each to develop their projects, the strongest points of the summit were perhaps the moments in which attendees shared their testimonies. There was nothing more rewarding than hearing folks express their gratitude for the creation of a space in which all aspects of their identity — at every intersection — were not only accepted, but cherished and nurtured.
As one of the youngest (if not the youngest) members of the inaugural class, Xavier Logan tells Teen Vogue that the most important lesson he absorbed from the weekend was the notion that his vulnerability is his superpower. “Me sharing my story [and] sharing how authentic, true, rare, and raw it is does not [take] away from the fact that I'm still successful, that I'm still amazing,” says the 20-year-old dance major at The Julliard School. “No matter whether I'm under the Black, male, or queer umbrella, I can and I will be validated in so many spaces [because of my vulnerability].”
“It's really, really nice seeing myself in so many different avenues of life,” they continue. “Seeing myself as a producer, an executive, a director, a writer, a performer… seeing so many people be authentic to who they are at the root of their soul, and never shying away from that, is something that I'm excited to take back and not only use for my own good, but to inspire those around me, especially at such a prestigious, very white-dominated space like Julliard.”
Screenwriter and producer Mike Gauyo, best known for his work on Insecure and Ginny & Georgia, is the founder of the Black Boy Writes & Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative. When asked how a space like the Black Queer Creative Summit would've impacted his own journey as queer creative if he had encountered it when he was just starting out, Gauyo is momentarily speechless.
“Oh my gosh… I think I would've been more comfortable in my own skin,” he says. “I moved out to L.A. ten years ago, and I was also growing as a person, continuing to try to find myself as a queer individual. If I was able to have a space like this earlier, I think I would've come into my own a little bit sooner. It's great to be able to share space with different types of LGBTQ individuals [at] different intersections of Blackness that I can pull from creatively… I will continue to champion this summit every year.”
22-year-old Jules Crosby, who recently graduated from the University of Miami, works closely with Gauyo as a 2023 Black Boy Writes Mentee. Crosby is leaving the BQCS activated — he no longer wants a seat at the table. “F*ck that sh*t,” he tells me. He wants to mimic what GLAAD has achieved with this summit and create his own table, for his community. “This is a space for Black queer folks created by Black queer folks,” he says. “Create the space you seek to exist in rather than infiltrating these existing ones.”
Crosby's biggest takeaway from the weekend is a galvanized perspective — exactly what the summit was designed to shape. “Don't let fear swallow you, swallow that fear… To even congregate in these environments, there's no point showing up scared," he says. "Even when it comes to pitching ideas and being scared if our really gay sh*t is marketable, it's like, who cares? Someone told me, ‘Stop trying to be so palatable.’ Swallow your fear of being too much and thinking you're taking up too much [space]. Don't minimize yourself, don't let fear squash your inhibitions — just swallow it and see what exists on the other side.”
