The month of June is special for so many reasons. June 2021 is a particular reason to celebrate as we find ourselves peering out of the COVID abyss with hope for a chance to breath freely again. It is also Black Music Month and Pride Month.
As a Black woman, who is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, and as a DJ who surrounds herself with music, I am filled with wonder and a sense of possibilities as our nation grows stronger, more resilient, more diverse. It is increasingly a place where being gay is not only accepted but celebrated. When it comes down to it, love, is what Pride is all about. I have learned so much and grown to love and accept myself as I am, as my creator made me and as I was intended to become. I have grown to love my community and beam with pride when Black LGBTQIA+ musicians like Janelle Monae, Lil Nas X, Frank Ocean and so many others show up, show out and demonstrate what success looks and sounds like – it sounds unashamed, authentic and beautiful.
June also gives us a chance to reflect on just how far we have come in Black music - which is truly the music of the United States. Black musical genres were born in the Black neighborhoods of Memphis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, New York and, of course, Chicago – home of House Music. I am so lucky to have witnessed that birth and equally blessed to run, like children, with its creators. We have all grown up and so has the music, and it has birthed so much more all around the world. Reverend Carl Bean, famously Black and gay sung the iconic dance song in 1977 that has been adopted into the house music genre and copied over and over because its’ title and simple message beautifully sum it all up – “I Was Born This Way”. Now that’s Pride.
