Our theme at Soul 2 Soul Sisters this year is love is the antidote. As a people, we know love on a deep level. One of my favorite quotes about love is “what you might not understand is that love is a technology that Black people do very well.- Unknown”  When I first read this quote, I was immediately drawn to it. The idea of love being a technology was fascinating to me especially after I looked up the definition of technology which is “the practical application of knowledge in a particular area” (Merriam-Webster). The part that really stuck with me was “knowledge in a particular area” because love is something that Black people know not just on a surface level but on a spiritual and ancestral level. Love is how my ancestors survived this country. It’s how we as Black people continue to survive. Black people have always known love and have used love as a tool to be in community with one another. 

This practice of love as technology has always been prevalent for our community and especially for the Black queer community. One way the Black queer community utilizes love is through chosen families. Chosen families are what they sound like: people who choose to be family with each other in order to provide love, support, and resources that they might not have access to through their biological family. For the Black, queer community, chosen families have always been around. They started from the ballroom scene. Many Black, queer folks were rejected by their biological families and had to find homes elsewhere so they turned to ballroom houses. They would have house mothers who were usually the ones in charge of the ballroom houses and would seek support from them. These houses became even more prevalent during the height of the HIV and AIDS epidemic when society fully turned its back on the queer community. Black, queer people could be their full selves with their chosen families and didn’t have to worry about being judged and ostracized for it. 

While Black, queer folks have turned to each other, the larger Black community continues to be a mixed bag of support, indifference, and homophobia/transphobia towards the Black, queer community. Black, cisgender, heterosexual people can and should be doing more to show up and love on Black, queer people. Now is the time as a community for our love technology to include ALL Black people. Here are some ways Black, cishet people can be accomplices to the Black, queer community and show us that your love technology is not exclusive:

1. Listen to us
   1. Get to know us and our stories.We all have unique experiences and they impact how we are able to show up in the world.  You cannot call yourself an ally if you have never listened to the experiences Black, queer people have in the U.S. and Colorado. 
2. Use your cishet privilege to call out homophobia and transphobia
   1. Homophobia and transphobia allows for the dehumanization of Black, queer people. Call people and harmful behaviors out. Your intervention prevents further spread of hateful homophobia and transphobia. 
3. Engage and Support Black Queer Media.
   • Here are some recommendations (NOTE: This list is not exhaustive but is a great starting point):
     1. Books (Find them all linked in our Bookshop)
        1. Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black, Lesbian Thought, edited by Brione Simone Jones
        2. The Color Purple. Alice Walker
        3. All Boys Aren’t Blue, George M. Johnson 
        4. Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
        5. Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology, edited by E. Patrick Johnson & Mae G. Henderson
        6. Black Atlantic, Queer Atlantic, Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley
        7. Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde
        8. Miss Major: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy & Toshio Meronek
     2. Podcasts
        1. Black, Fat, Femme
        2. Two Twos
        3. The Read
        4. Bad Queers
        5. Trans Lash
        6. Town Hall: A Black Queer Podcast
     3. Movies & TV Shows
        1. Moonlight
        2. Too Wong Foo
        3. Pariah
        4. Portrait of Jason 
        5. Paris is Burning
        6. The Aggressives
        7. Bessie
        8. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
           1. See also Rustin
        9. The Death & Life of Marsha P. Johnson
        10. Rafiki
        11. Tangerine
        12. Holiday Heart
        13. Pose
        14. Noah’s Arc
        15. Disclosure
4. Come be in community with us!
   1. Come to our events and fellowship with us– while being mindful of the space you take up. For instance, Black Pride Colorado  is hosting First Thursdays at Champagne Tiger on the first Thursday of every month from May-October. 

References: 

• https://minkaguides.com/chosen-family/
• https://thetriibe.com/2024/06/commentary-pride-in-black-queer-love-and-the-ballroom/
• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-queer-community-re-imagining-family-tree-rcna16134