On Friday, February 10th, seemingly instantly, a new Twitter trend rose to the number one spot: #BlackGaySlay.

The hashtag was Tweeted and retweeted thousands of times, spreading images of colorfully bold queer Black faces.  It served as a reminder that beauty comes in absolutely every shape, size, color and orientation.  

The tag celebrates Black people of every gender identity, of every body type, of every height and size, of every ability.  If one message was made abundantly clear, it’s this: diversity is beauty and inclusion is the mirror it reflects from.

Messages of tolerance and acceptance, of self-love and self-appreciation, captioned the selfies.  The growing trend founded itself on the promotion of comfort within one’s own skin; said one tweeter: “Celebrate yourself.” 

The hashtag even brought with it some valuable yet little-known history lessons about some of the most influential and important Black LGBTQ+ figures throughout history.  As February is Black History Month, this is particularly appropriate.

Similar movements have cropped up throughout social media, such as the #BlackOut movement from Tumblr (that you can read all about here), which also happens to be celebrating its third anniversary on March 6, 2017.  The #BlackOut dates for this year (2017) are March 6th, June 6th, September 6th, and December 6th.

In the face of rising hostility towards people of color and LGBTQ+ people, #BlackGaySlay bravely stares into the soul of bigotry and racism (both within and outside its respective communities) and shouts “Not today.”

If the average picture is worth a thousand words, these are worth novels.

Don’t be afraid, the Pinnacle supports all of its LGBTQ readers.  Post or link your #BlackGaySlay selfie below!