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The first openly gay black footballer in Britain. Fashanu came out in 1990 even though his brother paid him £75,000 to stay closeted. Sadly, Fashanu died by suicide in 1998 but he made history with his decision to come out. In 2020, Fashanu was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame

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Tuesday - Stonewall BAME Voices | Visibility

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Tuesday - Stonewall BAME Voices | Visibility

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A series of videos directed by Cherish Oteka, and in partnership with Stonewall, to showcase the lived experiences of LGBT people of colour.

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Stonewall | Acceptance Without Exception

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A Black Scottish lesbian writer and poet, Jackie Kay is the third ever modern Makar (Scottish equivalent of the Poet Laureate). She has written several novels and poems highlighting the experiences those in the LGBTQ+ community.

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Jackie Kay was born to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father in Edinburgh on 9 November 1961, and was adopted as a baby by Helen and John Kay, who had already adopted a boy, Maxwell. The family lived in Bishopbriggs (Glasgow); John worked full time for the Communist Party of Great Britain, and Helen was the Scottish secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. 'I still have Scottish people asking me where I'm from. They won't actually hear my voice, because they're too busy seeing my face' ( Guardian, 12 January 2002). Kay has drawn on her unconventional upbringing in her poetry, and described it with humour and great affection in her autobiographical account of the search for her birth parents, Red Dust Road (2010), which she has called a 'love letter' to her white adoptive parents. Asked by Ramona Koval what she was like as a child, Kay answered:

I was quite chatty, loquacious. I learnt that word early... it felt good because
it kind of covered it up; I could say, 'I'm loquacious,' and it sounded better than saying, 'I'm a bletherer from Hell!' I was quite political. I had strong ideas about apartheid and poverty, and I used to go on a lot of marches and I wrote a lot of political poetry when I was younger and I used to organise garden fetes and raise money for leprosy and things like that. ... I was very imaginative, I suppose, I had a big imagination, so I always liked writing, but more than that I always wanted to be an actress when I was little so I used to go to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama on Wednesdays and Saturdays for years. And then when auditions came up I'd go for things like auditions for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and I wouldn't get the part. Must be because I had the Glasgow accent...
(ABC interview, 4 September 2008)

When I was a teenager, I went to these things called "poems and pints nights"in the Highland Institute in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow (more pints than poetry). It was there I first heard poets such as [Liz] Lochhead and Tom Leonard, whowrote in their own voice. You didn't have to pretend to be somebody else. And perhaps it is this that is the key to poetry's endless successful reinventions: a proliferation of authentic and original voices, chiming with the voices of the entire population.
(Guardian, 29 January 2011)

Lochhead, Leonard and Edwin Morgan were her lodestars and became her friends. A long convalescence after a road accident set her to reading extensively, and she went to Stirling University to study English, graduating in 1983. She went to London, and while working in a variety of places (including a stint as a hospital porter), she was writing poetry and plays, publishing two novels in the 1980s. Her first collection of poems, The Adoption Papers (Bloodaxe, 1991), was immediately recognised as an outstanding debut, and gained the Saltire Society Award for best first book, as well as a Scottish Arts Council Book Award. Written in the three voices of an adoptive mother, a birth mother and an adopted child, it evidenced what were to be continuing strengths of Kay's work: the ability to articulate a wide range of emotional experiences, firmly rooted in everyday life, and a keen sense of socio-political realities combined with a deep faith in the transformative powers of human love.

Her next adult collection, Other Lovers (1993) also revolved around a quest for identity, but this time particularly with regard to colonial histories and slavery; the musical theme that appears in her poems about Bessie Smith was taken up in fictional form in Trumpet (1998), the story of a jazz trumpeter - again told through several voices - whose death reveals 'him' to have been a woman. This won the Guardian Fiction Prize. In an online interview for her American publisher, Random House, Kay said that 'I don't think I ever set out to write with a message in mind. I was interested in how fluid identity can be, how people can reinvent themselves, how gender and race are categories that we try to fix, in order perhaps to cherish our own prejudices, how so called extraordinary people can live ordinary lives.'

Herself often categorised - as black, lesbian, Scottish - Kay has remained determined to escape categorisation as a writer, publishing several collections of short stories as well as work for radio and theatre and writing for children, both fiction and poetry. Although she is often in Scotland, she has made her home in Manchester, and for ten years lived there with her partner Carol Ann Duffy, her son Matthew, and Duffy's daughter. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle, and much in demand for readings in the UK and internationally, her early drama training having equipped her to be a superb performer of her own work and a very engaging presence. Kay was made MBE for services to literature in 2006.

Audiences respond with particular intensity, in fact, to her readiness to discuss aspects of lesbian life, being black, and being adopted: whether as fiction, poetry or memoir, her words go directly to the heart of a situation and an audience. The ability to imagine herself in other skins, at other ages, perhaps also accounts for her success as a children's writer. The authenticity of the experience is never in doubt, and it is often seasoned by an infectious humour. The 'Maw Broon Monologues' - spoken by the eponymous Scottish cartoon character - began with a Maw Broon poem in Off Colour, Kay's 1998 collection which dealt with issues of health and illness. Maw Broon visited a psychiatrist, and has subsequently mused on colonic irrigation, the ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown ('Nae relation!'), and climate change. The poems were the basis of a stage show performed in Glasgow in 2009, and shortlisted for the inaugural Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry.

Further poetry collections include Life Mask (2005), inspired by the experience of sitting for the sculptor Michael Snowden (whose head of Kay may be found alongside other busts of Scottish poets in Edinburgh Business Park), and Darling: New and Selected Poems (2007).

Kay was commissioned to write a poem for the Scottish Poetry Library's anthology of contemporary Scottish poets' responses to Burns on his 250th anniversary in 2009. She chose 'John Anderson my jo', and brought to her own poem, 'Fiere' a long love of reciting Burns's poems and hearing sung, and made it a celebration of strong friendship between women. It became the title poem of her 2011 collection Fiere, a poetic partner to her memoir of the previous year, which draws together the languages and landscapes of Scotland and Nigeria. As the Daily Telegraph 's reviewer neatly summed up: 'Kay's strength as a poet has always been her clear, plain style, and its fearless spoken poignancy'.

2012

In March 2016, Kay was appointed the Makar or National Poet for Scotland for a five year term.

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Selected Bibliography

The Adoption Papers (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1991)
Other Lovers (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1993)
Off Colour (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1998)
Life Mask (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 2005)
Darling: new and selected poems (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 2007)
Red, Cherry Red (London: Bloomsbury, 2007)
The Lamplighter (Tarset: Bloodaxe, 2008)
Fiere (London: Picador, 2011)
The Empathetic Store (Edinburgh: Mariscat Press, 2015)
Bantam (Picador, 2017)

for children
Two's Company (London: Blackie Children's, 1992)
Three Has Gone (London: Blackie Children's, 1994)
The Frog Who Dreamed She was an Opera Singer (London: Bloomsbury Children's, 1999)

Selected Biography & Criticism

'Jackie Kay' in Gillean Somerville-Arjat and Rebecca E. Wilson (eds), Sleeping with Monsters: conversations with Scottish and Irish women poets (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1990)

Gabriele Griffin, 'In/Corporation? Jackie Kay's The Adoption Papers' in Vicki Bertram (ed.), Kicking Daffodils: twentieth century women poets (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997)

Alison Lumsden, 'Jackie Kay's poetry and prose: constructing identity' in Aileen Christianson and Alison Lumsden (eds), Contemporary Scottish Women Writers (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000)

Matthew Brown, 'In/Outside Scotland: race and citizenship in the work of Jackie Kay' in Berthold Schoene (ed.), The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007)

Isobel Murray (ed.), 'Jackie Kay' in Scottish Writers Talking 4 (Glasgow: Kennedy & Boyd, 2008)

From the Library Catalogue

SQA Key: National 5 Higher

Our NPD resources will help you to explore poetry in the classroom.

Our new Makar - Jackie Kay

Image: Scotland's new Makar by First Minister of Scotland, under a Creative Commons licence

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Darling : New and Selected Poems by Jackie Kay

By Scotland's Makar.

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My Pitch

This poem is one of our National Poetry Day 2018 poems, for the theme of 'change'. The football field can be a place for slow but profound social change in this Jackie Kay poem.

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Podcasts

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Jackie Kay - Poet - Scottish Poetry Library

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Jackie Kay was born to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father in Edinburgh on 9 November 1961, and was adopted as a baby by Helen and John Kay, who had already adopted a boy, Maxwell. The family lived in Bishopbriggs (Glasgow); John worked full time for the Communist Party of Great Britain, and Helen was the Scottish secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

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A British performer, actor, screenwriter and activist, Rikki Beadle-Blair has been involved in creating a vast array of LGBTQ+ film, theatre, TV and literature.

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Richard Barrington "Rikki" Beadle-Blair MBE (born July 1961) is a British actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, singer, designer, choreographer, dancer and songwriter of British/West Indian origin. He is the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica.

Blair was born in Camberwell and raised in Bermondsey, both in south London, by a single mother, Monica Beadle (who was born in 1944 in Jamaica). She had moved to Britain when she was 12 and was the first black child in her school in Peckham. Rikki was brought up with a brother, Gary Beadle (also an actor, of Eastenders fame), four years younger, and a sister, eight years younger. He attended Lois Acton's Experimental Bermondsey Lampost Free School.

When he was 17 he performed a capella concerts at the Gay's the Word bookshop in Bloomsbury, London, with fellow singers Robert Chevara and Michelle Baughan. The group went under the name of "Three People". He was also involved with the Gay Liberation Front (GLF).

In 1979 he won the Evening Standard′s Edward Bond's Young Playwright award for the play A-Z.

In the film Sirens he played Blue, a punky Scouse heroin junkie.

His band Boysie included Sean Mayes on piano, Leonard Davies on bass, Baden Hill on guitar and Martin Harmer on drums.

In 1994, he wrote the screenplay for Nigel Finch's film , about the Stonewall Riots.

In 1999 he wrote Native, a Radio 4 play that became a short film directed by Rene Mohandas.

In 2000 he wrote and performed a series of short radio plays for Radio 4 - including Fares Fair, Puppy Love, Finders Keepers, Silly Me and Open Pores.

In 2001 he adapted Boy George's autobiography Take It Like A Man for a BBC film. This has not yet been produced.

In March 2001, he wrote, produced, and directed the Channel 4 television series Metrosexuality in which he played a lead role. This also featured Noel Clarke, who went on to write and star in the movie Kidulthood. Beadle-Blair co-wrote and co-produced the soundtrack album with Mark Hawkes. On the album he sings a duet with Davie Fairbanks who played "Bambi" in the series. Noel Clarke contributes two raps to the album, which also features a track performed by Mat Fraser.

The same year, he hosted the Big Up Yourself And Be Proud show at The Brixtonian during Mardi Gras Festival in aid of GMFA, a London-based gay men's health charity whose Big Up initiative (targeting black men) he is supporting.

He was the Executive story editor for both seasons of the US TV series Noah's Arc. He was also a writer on season two (credited for eps 2 & 4).

He was supervising director for the South African organisation for first-time filmmakers Out of Africa. in 2004 and 2005

Beadle-Blair has written songs for Kevin Marques. His theatre company, Team Angelica, is resident at the Tristan Bates Theatre in Covent Garden, London.

In 2005, Beadle-Blair wrote and directed the play Bashment for Theatre Royal Stratford East. The play tackled homophobia in the ragga/ hip-hop music scene and ran two seasons in May and September. Beadle-Blair also wrote the music. Bashment was nominated for "Best New Play" at the national TMA Awards.

Beadle-Blair has adapted his own screenplay of Stonewall for the stage and his production company Team Angelica, which he took to the 2007 Edinburgh Festival. He also directed, produced, designed both sets & costumes, & choreographed on the show. The play was nominated for "Best Ensemble" at The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence.

In May 2006, Beadle-Blair wrote and directed Jucy for Queer Contact at the Contact Theatre in Manchester, as part of the Queer Up North Festival.

In Autumn 2007, , a play for young people commissioned by the Manchester-based arts organisation queerupnorth and the gay equality organisation Stonewall, went on tour around the UK. The play was developed to help tackle homophobic bullying in Britain's schools. The play was performed at The Drill Hall in London, The Birmingham Rep, The Contact Theatre in Manchester, the Unity Theatre in Liverpool, and the CCA in Glasgow. The show was performed in schools in London, Greater Manchester, Bournemouth, Brighton and Glasgow. Beadle-Blair, directed, choreographed, composed and wrote the show.

In May 2008 he directed Best Man by Greg Owen at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. Greg Owen won the Oscar Wilde Award for New Writing. The play was developed under the Team Angelica umbrella.

Beadle-Blair previewed a trio of new plays in June 2008 at the Tristan Bates Theatre, all written simultaneously: Screwface - about nine teenage murderers in a prison drama workshop, Touch - centred on gay life in Iraq today, and Home - which looked at teenagers emerging from the care system into their own accommodation and sperm donor offspring who are searching for their siblings.

In October-November 2008 there was a second shorter but higher-profile tour of FIT, touring to Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool and London, including shows at St Stephen's in Edinburgh, The Birmingham Rep and the Drill Hall Theatres.

In November 2008 he was the M.C. for the "Liverpool is Burning" Vogue Ball at the Adelphi Ballroom in Liverpool, produced by Duckie for Homotopia.

In January 2009 Team Angelica, in association with the fledgling Achilles Productions, founded by actors Ian Sharp and Rebecca Joerin staged a one-off theatrical presentation of Beadle-Blair screenplay KickOff at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

Beadle-Blair has a long-standing creative association with fellow writer John R Gordon, who was also a writer for Noah's Arc. Beadle-Blair Directed John's first short film script, Souljah (2007), which premiered in the London Film Festival and is currently touring the Film Festival circuit. He also appeared in John's first play, Wheels of Steel, which John R. Gordon directed. The two-hander also featured Karl Collins, who went on to play Beadle-Blair's ex-husband Jordan in Metrosexuality. Gordon now runs the Team Angelica books division.

He has helped to develop new work by playwrights Matt Harris, Jai Rajani, John R. Gordon, Greg Owen, Stephen Hoo & Hannah Chalmers.

He teaches a six-week course at the Actor's Centre called "In the Room" that mentors Actors and creatives. He has developed an advanced module called 'Seizing the Room'.

In June 2008 he was included in the Independent on Sunday newspaper's "Pink List" as one of the UK's most powerful/influential gay people.

In July 2008 his short film Souljah won the award for best short film at the Rushes Soho Shorts festival. Written by John Gordon and produced by Beadle-Blair, Gordon and Carleen Beadle.

In June 2009 he hosted the Urban Stage at London Pride.

In June 2009 he completed the 35min short 7 Dials, in which the lives of 33 characters intersect and intertwine in the Seven Dials area of London's Covent Garden. Beadle-Blair wrote and directed this showcase for the participants of BBC Talent Boost - A scheme to increase visibility for minority actors in the UK.

In June/July 2009 he shot the feature film Kickoff - a Team Angelica co-production with Achilles Entertainments and Shorthouse Productions. Post-production was completed in November 2009.

In August or 2009 he was a course director at the National Youth Theatre for the second year running.

In September 2009 he wrote and directed, the Feature-Film/DVD version of Fit, featuring the original cast members, along with 36 other actors. The film was financed by Stonewall, and produced by Diane Shorthouse, Carleen Beadle and Rikki Beadle-Blair for Stonewall, The Shorthouse Organisation and Team Angelica.

On 19 November 2009, Beadle-Blair/Team Angelica staged a double-bill of plays at the Drill Hall Theatre - Fucking Charlie and The Grope Box.

In December 2009 he directed Stripped at the Tristan Bates Theatre, written and performed by Hannah Chalmers. Stripped was originally written and developed with the guidance of Beadle-Blair and John R Gordon as part of the "Louder than Words" season in February. Stripped ran for a month in Edinburgh at the Gilded Balloon.

In June 2010 he wrote and directed the feature-film version of Bashment, featuring members of the original cast.

In December 2010 he wrote and directed the Team Angelica production twothousandandSex - featuring 35 actors - at the Drill Hall Theatre.

In April 2011 he was commissioned by the Royal Albert Hall to write direct and design the short film Butterfly. It was based on the winning entries from a schools competition in which students had to pitch a modern version of Madam Butterfly.

In October-November 2011 he wrote, directed and designed Shalom Baby at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

In November 2011, Beadle-Blair along with John R. Gordon, established Team Angelica Books. Its first publication was Beadle-Blair's first book What I Learned Today, compiled from a year's worth of his Facebook statuses. Subsequently, the company has published Fairytales for Lost Children, a book of short writings by gay Somalian Diriye Osman, plus two novels by John R Gordon, Faggamuffin and Colour Scheme.

In 2011, 2012 2013, 2014, Beadle-Blair and John R. Gordon ran the Angelic Tales new-writing festival, mentoring several new writers of varied experience, staged readings were performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Several of the plays went to full productions - including Crowning Glory by Somalia Seaton at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Lean by Isley Lynn at the Tristan Bates and Step by Lynette Linton.

In September 2012, One of the Angelic Tales plays Slap by Alexis Gregory was invited to present another more-developed staged reading at Channel 4's London HQ, directed by Beadle-Blair. The Q&A was hosted by Gok Wan

In January 2013 Beadle-Blair directed and designed a full production of Step, written by first-time playwright Lynette Linton and performed Theatre Royal Stratford East's Young Actor's company. The tour included the Soho Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East. The play had been developed through the Angelic Tales New Writing Festival at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

In May 2013 he wrote, directed and designed Gutted at Theatre Royal Stratford East. The cast was headed by Louise Jameson of Dr Who fame, and also featured Ashley Campbell, Frankie Fitzgerald, Gavin McClusky, Jamie Nichols, Jennifer Daley, James Farrar, and Sasha Frost.

In November 2013, Beadle-Blair with guitarist Joni Levinson, performed a number onstage at the Kings Head in London as part of Robert Chevara's production of Die Fleidermaus.

In February 2014, the US independent feature premiered as the closing film at the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles. The movie was co-written by Beadle-Blair and Patrik-Ian Polk and starred Oscar-winning actress Mo'Nique.

In March 2014, Beadle-Blair completed and premiered FREE, the "sibling" film to FIT, also co-produced and released by Stonewall. This film was created to challenge homophobic bullying in primary schools and was made available to every school in the UK.

Beadle-Blair was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

Kick-Off - January 2009, Riverside Studios

Fit (Autumn 2008) St Stephen's Edinburgh, Birmingham Rep Theatre, Drill Hall Theatre and Schools in Liverpool, Edinburgh and London

Home - Tristan Bates Theatre (June 2008)

Touch - Tristan Bates Theatre (June 2008)

Screwface - Tristan Bates Theatre (June 2008).

Familyman - Theatre Royal Stratford East (May 2008, directed by Dawn Reid). Text published by Oberon Books.

FIT (2007) - National Tour - adapted for film

Stonewall (2006/7) - stage adaptation of the BBC film.

Taken In (2005) - Set in a halfway house for homeless youths.

(2005) - explores the controversy around dancehall reggae music and the consequences of homophobic lyrics - Theatre Royal Stratford East. Text published by Oberon Books.

Totally Practically Naked in My Room on a Wednesday Night (2005) - a night in the life of 17-year-old Dylan, desperate to lose his virginity.

South London Passion Plays trilogy (Gutted, Laters and Sweet) (2004) - Tristan Bates Theatre

Captivated (1997) - the story of a gay black man imprisoned for murder. Shane corresponds with an Asian pen pal who writes him as an act of charity. Shane's self-hatred turns into a soul-searching journey from cockiness to agonised self-reflection, and finally ultimate gratitude for his unseen friend. This was released on video (now deleted) Directed by David Squire

Ask and Tell - homosexuality and the Army.

twothousandandSex - an ensemble play about sex and sexuality featuring 35 actors - at the Drill Hall Theatre.

Four one-hour ensemble plays

Exposures

Street Art

The Grope Box

Fucking Charlie

Below the Radar - a straight guy/gay guy pair of roommates and their sexual misadventures in New Orleans.

Human - two terminally ill cancer patients get together for a final riotous love affair.

Prettyboy - described as a 'Dogma Style Musical" at the Oval House Theatre.

Gunplay (he did not direct)

Wild at Heart Riverside Studios (1988)

Beadle-Blair directed Greg Owen and Nick McGarrigle in their play Best Man at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. The play won the writers the Oscar Wilde Award for best writing.

He directed and appeared in Matt Harris's comedy play Venom at the Oval house 2003.

He directed the staged readings of Jai Rajani's onenight.com at the Tristan Bates and the Contact Theatre Manchester in 2007.

He performed as part of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots at the Southbank Centre. Other speakers/performers included Professor Jeffrey Weeks, Peter Tatchell, Lindsay River, and Michael Twaits, 9 July 2009.

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Richard Barrington "Rikki" Beadle-Blair MBE (born July 1961) is a British actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, singer, designer, choreographer, dancer and songwriter of British/West Indian origin. He is the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica. Blair was born in Camberwell and raised in Bermondsey, both in south London, by a single mother, Monica Beadle (who was born in 1944 in Jamaica).

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Stories and conversations about the queer experience today. Prepare to laugh and cry and laugh again.

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Nancy: Episodes | WNYC Studios | Podcasts

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Stories and conversations about the queer experience today. Prepare to laugh and cry and laugh again.

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

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Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 Black gay and trans rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.

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3 wins & 5 nominations. See more awards "

Storyline

When Stonewall Veteran and beloved Greenwich Village personality Marsha P Johnson turned up dead shortly after Gay Pride in 1992, it was the latest in a series of murders, gay bashings, and "mysterious" deaths in the local gay community. Johnson is seen in footage at a political march shortly before this, at an action trying to draw attention to these hate crimes. Tragically, Johnson then becomes the next victim. Like the other suspicious deaths, Johnson's death is quickly dismissed as a "suicide", even though there is no evidence that Johnson was suicidal, and significant evidence that Johnson was harassed and stalked on that very night. Demonstrations are held to protest the lack of police investigation, but it is not until decades later that transgender crime advocate Victoria Cruz succeeds in getting some answers. Even after decades, many contemporaries of Johnson are still afraid to discuss on the record what happened to Johnson, the murders that took place in the Village in that...

Taglines:

A Life That Launched a Revolution. A Death That Remains a Mystery.

Did You Know?

Quotes

Marsha P. Johnson : Really, everybody goes sooner or later. Tomorrow's not promised to anyone. I learned that in church when I was five years old. And I've never forgotten it. So, uh, every day counts.
[chuckles]
See more "

Soundtracks

Love Don't Need a Reason
Performed by New York City Gay Men's Chorus (as The NYC Gay Men's Chorus)
Composed by Peter Allen (as Peter Woolnough Allen) (BM), Michael Callen (as Michael L. Callen) (BMI), and Marsha Malamet (ASCAP)
Published by Tops and Bottoms Music (BMI), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI), Malamution Music (BMI)
Courtesy of Richard Dworkin
See more "

User Reviews

Details

Release Date:

6 October 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, The

Company Credits

Technical Specs

See full technical specs "

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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) - IMDb

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Directed by David France. With Kurt Wolfe, Sue Yacka, Catherine Shugrue Dos Santos, Victoria Cruz. Victoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.

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The podcast exploring how we live in the fullness of our queer Black lives.

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'Growing up, it felt like I was too gay to be black and too black to be gay'

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'Growing up, it felt like I was too gay to be black and too black to be gay'

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What it's like coming out as a black man when people see it as a 'white thing'.

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N/A

What it's like coming out as a black man when people see it as a 'white thing'

Phil Samba

I still remember my mum saying that to me. I'd been in my bedroom, talking on the phone to men I'd met online, and some of those chats were pretty sexual. But I was 23 and still living at home, and I had no idea my mum had been listening through the door. I remember feeling so scared in that moment. I realised that I would have to finally tell her the truth - I was gay.

Despite knowing I was gay from the age of 14, it took me almost 10 years to come out. Keeping that part of me secret for so long made me feel so alone. I felt like I was different from everyone else.

My first crush was on someone in my year at the all-boys Catholic school I went to. I first noticed him in the corridor between lessons, where he was mucking about with a group of friends, making them laugh. I liked him straight away. He was tall, mixed-heritage, athletic, and the class joker. He was always happy to talk to me, but never in a romantic way. I don't think he ever knew how I felt about him. I never told him, of course. I could barely admit it to myself.

My family are originally from Sierra Leone, and I was born and raised in East London. I'm 28 now, and growing up, I didn't know anyone who was gay, nor were there any black gay role models on TV or in the media. It was like we didn't exist.

For some West African parents, someone coming out means that they've chosen to imitate white westerners, giving up on what they see as traditional African values. This may partly explain why, according to the ONS, only 0.9% of the UK's black population describe themselves as openly gay, compared to 2% of the total UK population.

So until I was in my early twenties, I buried my feelings and tried my best to pretend to be straight. I went through a period as a teen of praying every night, begging God to make me straight so I would fit in. When my friends used to say things like "that's so gay" - meaning something was uncool - I'd join in so I wouldn't stand out.

But by the time I turned 21, I couldn't suppress my sexuality anymore. I knew pretty much nothing about the gay community, and was eager to learn. So I created a Twitter profile using a fake name and used it to chat to guys online.

It felt like I was living a double life. It was upsetting, but also exhilarating. I started messaging a man and, before long, we were seeing each other. I had my first sexual experience with him and I felt so free when we were together. I would sneak out to meet him on the weekend, and for a brief while I felt totally happy. Then I would come home and stay silent about where I'd been, trying to avoid my mum's gaze.

After a few months things with that guy fizzled out, but something inside me was different after sleeping with him. My confidence had grown, and I started messaging a few different men. Before long these messages became phone calls, and several of those phone calls got pretty explicit.

I decided that the time was right to tell my sister, who I've always been really close to. My sister has a couple of gay friends, so I thought she would be understanding - and I was right.

I was planning to move out of home, as I thought it would be easier to come out to mum once we weren't living under the same roof. I wanted her to have space to process the news and, to be honest, I wanted to avoid any uncomfortable situations if she didn't take it well.

But then came mum overhearing the phone calls. By the time this happened I was well on my way to saving enough money to move out. I still have no idea how much she'd heard - but it was clearly enough. She told my nan she'd been listening, who then told me. And then I knew it couldn't wait any longer, I'd have to tell her the truth.

Her response devastated me. She asked me to "change my lifestyle" - whatever that means. I thought, 'being gay isn't something I do, it's who I am'. Why couldn't she just accept me for who I am, even though it was something she wasn't used to?

I remember looking at her, with tears streaming down my face, as she told me I was "disgusting". Though my mum and I were never that close, part of me hoped my coming out might bring down some of the walls between us. But the opposite happened - there were more barriers between us than ever before.

We continued to live in the same house for several uncomfortable months. Mum acted like I had never told her I was gay. We barely spoke, except to make polite chit-chat. I knew I had to leave.

Luckily, one of the guys I'd met online was also gay and knew what I was going through. He mentioned there was a spare room in the student house he was about to move into - and I jumped at the chance to take it. I ended up living with four students, three of whom were also gay. For the first time, I felt like people really understood me.

But feeling accepted as a black man in the wider gay community was a different matter for me. Black, gay men are underrepresented in the mainstream, and the impact of that is huge. One 2017 survey found that 71% of black men said they didn't feel represented or visible in media and health campaigns aimed at LGBTQ+ people.

I've felt that, too. There are plenty of other gay, black men in my area - I know that because of how much a dating app I use lights up on any given night - but when I'm out with friends in a club it feels like we're the only black, gay guys in there and we get a lot of unwelcome attention. It makes me feel really objectified. I can't tell you how many times non-black men have told me how they've "always wanted to have sex with a black guy". Not only is it racist, but it makes me feel like a piece of meat.

Today, the friends I met online have become like a family to me. I also campaign to raise awareness of sexual health among BAME gay men - who are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV in the UK than other groups.

For the campaign, I made posters of me and another black man - a model - posing as a couple in love, urging men like us to get tested and treated. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Even now, I still get messages on social media from young, black men telling me it helped persuade them go and get tested for STIs.

But there's still so much narrow-mindedness to break through. People have told me I "don't look gay". But what does "gay" look like? When I ask them, they rarely have an answer for me - but I know what they mean. I'm not a stereotypically "camp" white guy, so I can't possibly be gay, right? That's why I want to use my voice to challenge these misconceptions.

As for my mum, we still don't speak. She accepts that she called me disgusting, and that she was shocked when I told her - but apparently she says that, with time, she's become OK with my sexuality. In any case, I'm comfortable with who I am now - and that's the most important thing.

As told to Ellie Layhe for BBC Radio 5 live's #Sextakeover. Listen live on Tuesday 20 November

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'Growing up, it felt like I was too gay to be black and too black to be gay' - BBC Three

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N/A What it's like coming out as a black man when people see it as a 'white thing' Phil Samba I still remember my mum saying that to me. I'd been in my bedroom, talking on the phone to men I'd met online, and some of those chats were pretty sexual.

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Pose is an ground-breaking American drama television series about New York City’s Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming ballroom culture scene in the 1980s, set at the height of the AIDS pandemic.

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Groundbreaking US series about the underground world of 1980s ball culture.

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The British founder of UK Black Pride (an annual alternative pride festival celebrating Black people in the community) and a prominent voice for the black LGBTQ community. Lady Phyll refused an MBE in 2016, saying “LGBTQI people are still being persecuted, tortured and even killed because of laws implemented by the British Empire”.

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Every year since its inception, UK Black Pride has been a hugely necessary part of the British LGBTQ+ calendar. Never, however, has it felt more necessary than in 2020: a year that reminded us all of the violence and persecution black people face and the work other people must do to prevent it, plus a year filled with trials for LGBT people across the world. Not letting a little thing like the coronavirus stop it, UK Black Pride - alongside it's co-founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah - brought it back online this past Sunday to remind everyone there is always a space to reflect, to heal and to rally for the next wave of work.

Recently featured as part of the pantheon of activists in Vogue's "Activism" issue, Opoku-Gyimah - or Lady Phyll as she's often known - is a crucial voice in British intersectional equality and CEO of The Kaleidoscope Trust, a charity that campaigns for the human rights of LGBTQ+ people in countries where they face discrimination. UK Black Pride has become not just a vital sanctuary for people who need it, but a model of what Pride in the UK could look like.

Over the summer, the world was once again confronted with the need for us all to be more than just non-racist, but to be actively anti-racist: we were also confronted with the reality of what it looks like when progress isn't offered equally to everyone who was previously suffering. But the work is far from done, even if the work is tiring. We spoke to self-identified "warrior woman" Lady Phyll about how we can step up our game and change the world without burning out.
This may be the first time many of our readers have encountered you or the work you do. I'd love to know a little bit more about your background.
Lady Phyll: I have always had a conscience that wants to tackle head on any form of inequality that touches our lives. Discrimination, inequality: that's always been what I was about, even as a young child.

My working career: I started off as a civil servant. I was in Stevenage and it was predominantly white and trying to find ways to progress was difficult. I'd always encountered racism that was unsaid, unspoken and that people called banter. I went to work for a trade union, the largest civil service trade union, and there I was the first black senior lead negotiator. I was negotiating on terms and conditions for people that worked in the Ministry Of Justice, Ministry Of Defence. I was studying at the same time and went on to be the trade union's head of equality. Then I went on to be the head of political campaigns and equality.

I stayed there for about ten years, did the work, did the studying. Then I applied to be the CEO of The Kaleidoscope Trust, which is an amazing LGBT human rights charity, based in the UK, but works primarily in the Commonwealth with civil society partners in many different countries, from Uganda to Rwanda to St Lucia, Barbados, India and Sri Lanka. So my work has all connected. In between that, I have been a patron for the [LGBTQ+ homelessness charity] Albert Kennedy Trust. I have been a trustee for Stonewall and continue to work with Stonewall in partnership. I'm a writer and a co-editor with Rikki Beadle Blair and John R Gordon for a book called Sista!, which is an anthology of writing from 31 different black and POC queer women.

How did that all lead to the creation of UK Black Pride?

I was running a Black lesbian organisation and we had most of our activities online. I'd said take it offline and we went to Southend-on-Sea in 2004 and for me that was the start of coming together in a collective way to really look at our shared commonalities to celebrate ourselves, to feel uplifted, inspired, empowered.

In 2005, I came back to mainstream LGBT activities and thought leaders and asked them for some support in setting up Black Pride, which didn't go down very well. It's fair to say that even those who may understand discrimination, oppression to a greater or lesser degree, or even those who've been at the forefront of the fight against Section 28, were resistant to UK Black Pride. I've been told many times: 'Why don't you just join the normal pride?' - whatever 'normal' means - and that I'm segregating and separating our LGBT community, which I don't believe is one homogenous community.
What do people need to understand about the reasons for UK Black Pride's existence?
It wasn't just created to celebrate us having a Pride. It was also to look at how we challenge the structural systemic racism within our communities, within society at large, and explore other different facets, such as Islamophobia. At the time, in 2005, there was a real heightened political surge in the BNP, who were spouting off the nastiest propaganda. They were sexist. They were misogynistic. They were racist. They were homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, Islamophobic. For us, the time for waiting was over. So we created a Pride, a Black Pride, that talks about our lived experiences and celebrates ourselves.

I don't want to just say it's solely down to me, but I've led this to a place where we're strong in numbers. We're very clear about our mission and our vision and the way we fostered great links with with other Prides. We see ourselves as part of the wider Pride family. And we are incredibly inclusive: African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, Latin American, indigenous, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, the young, the poor.
As somebody who has been part of the London LGBT community for a few years and has witnessed the increased commodification of London Pride, friends who are black and POC, but also just left-leaning white queers, have increasingly seen Black Pride as the model of how Pride should be. I don't want to use the word jealousy to describe how we see what a beautiful thing...
But let's be honest, I think you can call it that.

Yeah, let's call it jealousy, a covetousness born from the fact we have seen somebody do something beautiful. Whereas the version we have has become a little bit corrupted. What do you think people are envious of in UK Black Pride? Not just in terms its racial representation, but in terms of its structure?

It's taken us a long time to get here. We started off as a paying event, for safety but also because we didn't know where we would find such resources, because we're capacity and resource and wealth poor. Then we realised as we were growing and getting bigger and working in collaboration with grassroots organisations - with trade unions, with the National Union Of Students - we saw we were growing in a way that was bringing in some revenue. We also like tendering out for food vendors, drink vendors, but we were doing it in a way that all felt ethical.

So where we've got to from 2005 or 2006, right up to 2019... We started off with 200 people and now we're at 10,000. The structure has been about the team that I put in place and the diversity, knowledge and skills of that team, so we're not all singing the same song. We're not all black lesbians. We're not all black gay men. We're not all trans people. We're all of that and then some, which means you have an event and a model that is intersectional.

If people are jealous of it, that's fine. We've been trying to help educate and unlearn with people the bad behaviours of Prides. Don't go and book an act that does blackface, because that is hurtful to our community. So I think it's the team and how diverse and inclusive it is. It is the growth and the learning that we're willing to do. And more importantly, it's because we started from a point of nothing. So when you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. We have nothing to inherit apart from the great community that we have around us. And it's testament to those people understanding that UK Black Pride is put on by us and for us.
There have always been white queer people who felt they wanted to attend black pride in some way, shape or form. I imagine after this summer, that number is going to grow, as people wonder how to best show solidarity. If UK Black Pride returns to normal in 2021, and one of our white queer readers says, "As an ally, as an accomplice of dismantling racism, I feel like I would like to attend black pride," what are the questions they should ask themselves to make sure they do that in a sensible and empathetic way?
To our allies, or our accomplices - I like to also call them social disruptors - I would say if you want to come to UK Black Pride, you have to do your homework. Understand the genesis, the background to why UK Black Pride exists, but also the historical context of why black people are disproportionately impacted by various things that may not be seen through the mainstream, that may not speak to our lived experience and what we do.

But also as an ally, accomplice or social disrupter, you've got to make sure you don't centre yourself in this. You have to make sure that you're speaking with black people and POC to understand what it is that they need. What do they want? But also listen, so when you come to celebrate Black Pride, know that it is put on by us and for us and you are there in our home as a supporter and as an ally. You can dance and scream along and jump, because we're LGBT+ people. And even if you're straight - my best friend comes every year from Norway, she travels over, typical blonde hair, blue eyes, Viking queen - she is there standing there by herself, loving the space that she's in, but understanding why there's a need for UK Black Pride.

This summer has been full of important conversations about intersectional equality and what our society could and should look like. For our black or queer POC readers who are feeling so burned out by the work of this summer and maybe were really hoping for UK Black Pride as a release, how do you recommend that they recharge? And for white allies, accomplices and social disruptors, what do they need to know if they are feeling burned out too?

So let me take your second question first. I had a situation where one of my white comrades, who shows solidarity and put up the black square - which I think can be a little bit performative, but that's just my feeling - they were saying, "Oh, my gosh. I'm really, really tired. I posted something and the hate that I got for supporting Black Lives Matter? I'm just so tired. I don't even want to say anything any more." I said to him: "That's an everyday occurrence for me. My black doesn't stop being black tomorrow."

There's something that allies and accomplices can do: they can actually walk away. That walking away doesn't really show true allyship, but I think there has to be a conversation with themselves about what can they do, what can they give, how can they support so that they don't feel burned out or receive death threats or hate mail, and work quite closely with those black and POC-led organisations to stagger their approach to what they want to and can do.

Burnout is real and it's real for everybody, but allies do need to understand that just because you're tired now of seeing Black Lives Matter and Black Pride and things about Grenfell, Windrush, Beirut, all of those things, we can't centre ourselves in that and feel, "Oh, gosh, we're such victims." We need to also remember that there's worse happening out there. And we have to find ways to reset. But also understand that we have access of privilege and to things that the victims or survivors don't. So it's about drawing that balance.

In regards to self care, I'm seeing a lot of my black and POC queer comrades and siblings and they're really tired. Because they're also having tough conversations with allies, which may not feel meaningful. But they're really tired because it's an everyday reoccurrence, or it brings up trauma. Everyone has mental health, but it's when it becomes poor and ill mental health, that's when we need to worry. So do stuff like shutting down your laptop, finding ways to say, "No, I can't speak at this conference" or "No, I'm not able to take that call right now."

What I like to think I've built with UK Black Pride - which for me is really important and the foundation of it - is I've built a team around me and for me and for the community, so that when I can't do something, there are others who can continue holding that mantle and doing the work. Because we're not going to be around forever. We've got to make sure that workload is shared. Otherwise, you do have organisations that burn out and that don't exist any more. Self care, as Audre Lorde spoke about, is important.

When we talk about dismantling things, Audre Lorde, says you cannot dismantle the master's house with the master's tools. That is very, very true, but you also need allies. I need you to help me dismantle the bureaucratic, antiquated system of parliament, which might not work for us because it was not built for us. But in doing that, we have to have good and open conversations. But self care is about looking after yourself. Reading a book, watching TV, switching off, meditation, asking others to take the responsibility because you just can't carry it. There's no shame in saying, "I cannot manage today."
Kaleidoscope, as you said, focuses on homophobic policy in Commonwealth territories, often due to laws and moral codes the British Empire introduced. But we're also seeing more and more countries, not in the Commonwealth, leaning in deeper to homophobia: in regions such as Chechnya or Poland. How do we navigate tearing down historical bigotry, while making sure we acknowledge and fight to save people facing more recent explosions of homophobia in their countries?
UK Black Pride and Kaleidoscope Trust are, of course, two very separate parts of my work, but two very connected worlds. Because there are synergies and connections for us as black people, people of colour, who may have been born in the UK, but our parents may be from countries that carry those colonial-era laws. I can't divorce myself from the work I do at UK Black Pride because the British were very much responsible for those colonial-era laws. We find today that people who have had to flee to the UK for safety, for political safety or whatever it may be, have done so because they can't stay in a country that criminalises them.

I think if it's an individual, the question is how much can you do. Allyship, and the work that we do, can be very much situational. Do you fight and stand up at a march and have a placard? Do you listen and attend events? Do you do the homework and read up on history, so you're a bit more well versed? Do you use your platform if you're an influencer to highlight the plight of what is happening in Russia and Chechnya, what's happening in Uganda or Kenya or Belarus? You can. We can do that. And I think, for me, and for UK Black Pride, we continue to do that.

There is much more of a heightened situation happening in the global south. The work of The Kaleidoscope Trust is to uphold human rights for LGBT+ people primarily in the Commonwealth. Even in this Covid era, our human rights defenders are still doing work with very little money, resource and ability to get humanitarian aid access, HIV medication or whatever it may be. But they're still doing it.

So it's our job, where we have particular privileges - and even as a black woman, a lesbian woman, I still have an enormous amount of privilege over my my comrades in St Lucia or Mauritius or Pakistan - our job is doing the work. Because I can access health. I can access housing. I can access education. I can access clean water. I'm not in a rural area. I have Wi-Fi. I can go to the emergency room and ask them to clean up my toe, because I've stubbed it. That is not the pace for our comrades in the global south.

My thinking is always about turning it on its head and understanding there are things that are worse that other people are going through that I may not be going through. So how can I help be an ally to them? Even if we're connected in some way, shape or form, because of being from a country that does have those colonial laws, but being born in the UK.

I would ask you the question, and I know this is about me, but I want to turn it on its head. How do you stand in solidarity with me around Black Lives Matter? How are you supporting me - this is not just about me, but I'm using me as an example - when people are saying, "That's a load of shit. UK Black Pride, how dare they?" How do you do that?

There have been a couple of things I've realised over the summer. The work I've been trying to do is not just writing journalism that tackles the right issues, but using my privilege as a well-spoken, white queer man to be able to go into rooms and support the needs of my black colleagues. In terms of things like Black Pride and the questions people ask me - which can be very contrarian and very focused on "whatabout-ery" - I see my role as having the privilege and the social capital to be able to go into rooms full of white gay men who don't understand and not make my black or POC friends explain it for the 12th time. I always defer to them if I don't know enough, but I'm also going to insist the people who are getting it wrong go away and do the reading too. It's always about going into the room and going, "Well, maybe you don't understand that trans lives matter. But also, there's not a trans person to fight for it here. And if they were, they shouldn't have to be having this conversation with you. So I'll do it until they feel strong enough to." And if my black colleagues need to recharge I'll fight for their corner and do the job that needs to be done. If the fact that I am a privileged white man can convince people that these points stand, then that's what I'll do.

You better record in the conversation that I threw that question back at you, because that's what people need to hear. You are a white queer person who gets it. So you have to speak to other white people, which saves me the labour of doing it and feeling burned out. I literally got goose pimples, because that is what we need to be doing. I could just hug you right now. I'm not going to say thank you, because I think this is what you're supposed to do. But I welcome it as refreshing thoughts from my white comrade.

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Gay communities are rife with racism. Removing Grindr's ethnicity filters won't fix that If your idea of equality doesn't include black trans lives, it isn't equality Michaela Coel: 'If you don't think racism exists, your trauma has made you blind'

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Lady Phyll's guide to fighting for equality without burning out

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Every year since its inception, UK Black Pride has been a hugely necessary part of the British LGBTQ+ calendar. Never, however, has it felt more necessary than in 2020: a year that reminded us all of the violence and persecution black people face and the work other people must do to prevent it, plus a year filled with trials for LGBT people across the world.

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MHFA England - Guidance on supporting People of Colour and Black colleagues

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MHFA England - Guidance on supporting People of Colour and Black colleagues

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To recognise World Mental Health Day (10th October) this document provides guidance on supporting Black colleagues

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The challenges faced by Black LBGTQ+ individuals can have an adverse effect on their mental health. MIND provides some insights into how we can support (Black) LGBTQ+ colleagues

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If you are in crisis right now and want to talk to someone urgently then you could call Samaritans on 116 123 (freephone). Our pages on crisis services have more options.

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Tell us more What do you want to tell us about? Note: Please don't include personal details like your name or email address. If you do, data protection law means we'll have to delete your comments. Unfortunately we can't reply to this. If you want a response from us, see our Contact us page.

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Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

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Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

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Go Tell it on the Mountain is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Baldwin that was first published 1953.

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Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin: 9781101907610 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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This haunting coming-of-age story, based in part on James Baldwin's childhood in Harlem, is an American classic. Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was Baldwin's...

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British model and activist. Munroe would have been L’Oreal’s first trans model but was dropped for speaking out about racism. She’s now gone on to become a prominent voice for both the Black and LGBT community in the UK. She won 'Changemaker of the Year' Award in 2018.

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Munroe Bergdorf ( Beaumont; born September 1987) is an English model and activist. She has walked several catwalks for brands including Gypsy Sport at both London and NYC Fashion Weeks. Bergdorf was the first transgender model in the UK for L'Oréal, but was dropped within weeks after a racial row. In February 2018, she was appointed as an LGBT adviser to the Labour Party, but resigned the following month. Bergdorf appeared in the Channel 4 documentary What Makes A Woman, which aired in May 2018.

Bergdorf won 'Changemaker of the Year' at the 2018 Cosmopolitan Awards, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2019 by the University of Brighton. She joined UN Women UK as an advocate in 2019, supporting its #DrawALine campaign, aiming to put a stop to female genital mutilation (FGM).

Bergdorf was born and grew up in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex. Bergdorf is mixed-race, born to an Afro-Jamaican father and a white English mother. Bergdorf attended Bentfield County Primary School in Stansted Mountfitchet and then Bishop's Stortford High School, an all-boys' school. Bergdorf describes growing up as a "very effeminate boy". Later, she studied English at the University of Brighton, describing herself there as genderqueer.

Bergdorf then worked for three years in fashion PR. At the age of 24, Bergdorf began gender transitioning, and was the subject of an episode of London Live show Drag Queens of London.

Around the same time that Bergdorf was transitioning, she co-founded nightclub Pussy Palace.

Bergdorf became involved in modelling after being motivated by the lack of diversity in the industry. Her first modelling job was for a Lebanese couture company. In 2014, the London Evening Standard referred to her as "a cornerstone of London's trans scene." She told the newspaper that she was "so vocal" on trans issues because she sees it as "the new frontier", an issue being brought into public consciousness through the work of trans women like Laverne Cox and Carmen Carrera.

She came to public attention in August 2017 when she was employed as the first transgender model to front a L'Oréal campaign in the UK, being announced as one of 27 models taking part in L'Oréal UK's "True Match" campaign. On her social media, she stated: "Thank you L'Oréal Paris for giving me this platform. I hope it reaches another little eight-year-old trans girl and makes her feel a little more hopeful and a little less scared about her future, than what was installed in me when I was her age." Elsewhere she stated: "I definitely set out to empower girls like me."

In February 2018, Bergdorf stated that 'white people as a group are brought up racist', stating: "most of y'all don't even realise or refuse to acknowledge that your existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour." Bergdorf attracted further public attention following an article in The Daily Mail highlighting Facebook comments that she had made, which included the claim that all white people were guilty of "racial violence" and that the white race was "the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth." In response to Bergdorf's comments, L'Oréal dropped her from their campaign on 1 September 2017. They issued a statement that the company "supports diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion" and that Bergdorf's comments about white people were "at odds with those values". Facebook removed her posts from their website, regarding them as being in contravention to its rules against hate speech. Bergdorf said she also faced online harassment, much of it of a racist and transphobic nature. Other commentators argued that The Daily Mail had quoted her out of context, and that her wider point about white supremacy and white privilege in Western societies was valid and needed wider dissemination. Bergdorf defended her position, arguing that she was angry after the scenes in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and wanted to explain that racism was systemic, and that being racist was not just about attacking people, but failing to take action against the system. She added: "I don't see how calling out the roots of racism, somehow makes you a racist", calling the controversy the "worst time of my life".

In September 2017, the UK-based Illamasqua hired Bergdorf as the face of its Beauty Spotlight campaign, which concerned gender fluidity. In a statement, the company described Bergdorf as embodying "diversity and individuality; she is not scared to be truly herself." It added that it did not "stand or accept any form of racism, but we also believe Munroe's comments have been edited out of context by a certain media title (who we won't bother naming) without telling a true story".

In June 2020, during the international George Floyd protests, Bergdorf called out L'Oréal Paris for posting on Instagram that they stood in solidarity with the Black community. She noted that she had never received an apology from L'Oréal. In response, the company announced that they would create and appoint Bergdorf to a U.K. Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board. Bergdorf shared on Instagram a number of abusive messages she received on that platform following her appointment.

The same month she was hired by Illamasqua, Bergdorf gave a verbal performance of Maya Angelou's poem " Still I Rise" for a short film directed by Bec Evans and Laura Kirwan-Ashman.

In February 2018, she was appointed as an LGBT adviser to the Labour Party, which she resigned from the following month after her previous homophobic and misogynistic comments received attention. Bergdorf apologised for her past comments. Bergdorf later blamed " Conservative media" for using her as a "political pawn to bring down Jeremy Corbyn" and that the Labour LGBT advisory board was being targeted to be shut down, stating "when I left they went after somebody else, and then when that person left they went after somebody else" in order to "discredit Jeremy Corbyn".

As of April 2019, she has made frequent appearances as a guest commentator on ITV's Good Morning Britain and This Morning.

In June 2019, Bergdorf was stripped of her role as an ambassador for Childline two days after being appointed, when journalist Janice Turner and others questioned her suitability for the post as somebody who had modelled for adult magazine . Several days later, the NSPCC offered Bergdorf a 'full, frank and unreserved apology' for the way in which it had handled her dismissal. The NSPCC's CEO, Peter Wanless, explained that Bergdorf had been dismissed 'because of her public statements, which we felt would mean that she was in breach of our own risk assessments and undermine what we are here to do'.

In July 2019, Bergdorf was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Brighton in recognition of her campaigning for transgender rights.

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Munroe Bergdorf ( Beaumont; born September 1987) is an English model and activist. She has walked several catwalks for brands including Gypsy Sport at both London and NYC Fashion Weeks. Bergdorf was the first transgender model in the UK for L'Oréal, but was dropped within weeks after a racial row.

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Watch TV programmes from the Black & British collection on BBC iPlayer.

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Watch and embed this video on your website. Simply play and click on the embed icon upper right to copy the embed code. "It's All About..." Black History Month on ITV
Black culture is brought brightly into focus from today on ITV as viewers will see brand new on air trails along with channel idents marking and celebrating Black History Month.

The creative work will complement newly commissioned programmes and content showing across ITV channels and platforms throughout October.

The campaign by ITV Creative (ITVs in-house creative team), who conceived and produced the layered animation, draws on the rich contribution to British life of black figures and culture across a wide range of areas from literature, history and science to music, food and fashion to deliver a visually vibrant, upbeat and thought-provoking palette.

The concept "It's all about" sees icons from Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Amma Asante, Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE and Dame Linda Dobbs to Arthur Wharton, Alison Hammond, Craig Charles, Fuse ODG and David Olusoga appear in vision amid a kaleidoscope of cultural imagery and textures as narrators Ashley Banjo, Noel Clarke, Maya Jama and Angela Griffin tell us "It's all about" everything from "the music... the style...the literature... the arts... the discovery... people coming together" to "... It's all about the past....the future...it's all about the culture."

Creatives Adie Headley and Anthony Dziworshie, who led the project for ITV Creative, said in a joint statement: "The inspiration behind our spot was to celebrate Black culture and all its many facets. We wanted to create a piece of work that showed the vast range of skills, talents and professions that Black people have thrived within across Britain, for many generations. Too often Black people are portrayed as being monolithic, so from shining a light on staple-holds such as Mary Seacole to modern day writers like David Olusoga, we wanted to show the breadth of how Black culture has influenced Britain."

The core team at ITV that worked on the trails also includes producer Angela Lyttle and production assistant Ttwarna Cordwell. The team worked in tandem with freelance design director Ogo Okpue and collaborated with music producer Khwezi on the bespoke and distinctive soundtrack, with sound design by Alex Bingham at Machine Sound.

Throughout Black History Month, ITV's on air branding will be designed by Black artists, who have created artwork for the channel idents as part of ITV Creates. This is a project that has seen artwork by individual and community group artists feature in channel idents since 2019.

Artists include: Hamed Maiye, Neequaye Dreph Dsane, King Owusu, Alfie Kungu and Carleen De Sözer.

Ade Rawcliffe, ITV Director of Diversity & Inclusion, said: "ITV has never marked Black History Month in quite this way before. In our Diversity Acceleration Plan, which we launched in July, we committed to ensuring that ITV commissioning better represents contemporary British life on screen within the next 12 months. As well as commissioning programmes showcasing Black British talent, both onscreen and behind the camera, we have also organised a range of talks from amongst others David Lammy, Munroe Bergdorf and David Olusoga and events for all ITV staff, led by our staff network ITV Embrace.

"Our ambition is that the legacy of Black History Month remains across our output, on screen and off and all year round."

The new ITV shows coming up in October are: IRL with Team Charlene; Alison Hammond: Back To School; Sorry I Didn't Know Craig & Danny Funny, Black and on TV. These will be shown along with updated programmes including David Harewood-presented film In the Shadow of Mary Seacole and Martin Luther King by Trevor McDonald, alongside acclaimed documentary First Among Equals: The Laurie Cunningham Story.

And ITV's flagship daytime shows will be supporting Black History Month with a range of on air activity throughout the month of October.

ITV's flagship daytime shows will be supporting Black History Month with a range of on air activity throughout the month of October.

Today, (October 1st) Good Morning Britain launched it's series of 'Black History Icons' short films to run throughout the month, which will recognise and celebrate the black figures and events that have changed history, all voiced by The Chase's Shaun Wallace.

Lorraine's award-winning 'Change And Check' campaign returns featuring the show's Dr Amir and his mother, Mama Khan, who discuss the importance of routine breast screenings for BAME women following her breast cancer diagnosis during a mammogram. Plus Lorraine's fashion expert Candice Brathwaite will look at what growing up as a British black woman means to her.

On This Morning Alison Hammond will take on the special role of Guest Editor, plus there will be regular health features - Black Health Matters - throughout the month that will focus on the issues affecting the BAME community. The programme will also deliver hair and beauty advice, musical performances and exclusive case studies to get everybody talking.

And as part of their Inspirational Women strand, Loose Women will be honouring black British women who have changed the world we live in today, featuring empowering interviews with guests such as Baroness Doreen Lawrence. Loose Women will also continue to tackle important taboo subjects close to our panellists' hearts. Kelle Bryan, Judi Love and Brenda Edwards will be leading the debate on issues such as why magazines are still not embracing black cover stars, exploring that little-discussed issue of secondary trauma and why black mums face discrimination in the labour ward.

BritBox is also showing the Black History Month Collection - details further below.

All Black History Month content will be available on ITV Hub, which will also feature an exclusive collection of drama, documentary and comedy content to mark Black History Month. Viewers will have a second chance to watch the pioneering true crime film The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, a well as Stephen Lawrence: Has Britain Changed?, a special programme examining how equal Britain really is. Comedy comes courtesy of Timewasters series one and two, Kate and Koji, Comedy Basement, panel show Don't Hate The Playaz series one and two and sketch shows The Ty and Ky Show, Pranksterz and All About the Bants. Unsaid Stories, a four part collection of short films inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, is also available on the platform.

The new ITV programmes are:
IRL with Team Charlene - TX 3 October on ITV and CITV
IRL with Team Charlene is a new show that aims to break down and explain major issues for children. In this special, ITV News Presenter Charlene White is joined by her team of celebrity friends, experts and young people from across the UK. They'll talk about everything from what racism is and the Black Lives Matter movement to why we have different skin colours. Through a mix of animation, musical performances and personal stories the team takes an engaging and accessible approach to serious events.

The programme will transmit simultaneously on CITV and ITV. Charlene White is the co-producer with Jessica Symons as Executive Producer for ITN Productions.

IRL with Team Charlene is commissioned for ITV by Paul Mortimer, Head of Digital Channels and Acquisitions, Michael Jermey, Director of News and Current Affairs and Gemma John-Lewis, Assistant Commissioner, Entertainment
Alison Hammond: Back To School - TX 6 October at 9pm on ITV
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Alison Hammond goes on the ultimate school history trip with a twist. In her own unique and inimitable style, Alison will be travelling the length and breadth of Britain to key historical sites - from Hadrian's Wall to Hampton Court looking at the history we're all taught in schools, but from a different angle. Revelatory and personal, the journey will uncover black figures throughout the ages who have been overlooked from the pages of British history and school textbooks. Alison will be given an insight into the significance of black people in Britain's history by experts who open her eyes to a new perspective on our country's past and will explore our current teaching of history in schools. Directed by Ryan Samuda and Mariam Hussain and Series produced by Anna Manton. Sue Walton and Noleen Golding are executive producers for ITV Studios Daytime.

Alison Hammond: Back To School is commissioned for ITV by Satmohan Panesar, Factual Commissioning Editor.
Sorry I Didn't Know - TX 6 October at 10.30pm on ITV
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Sorry, I Didn't Know is a brand new panel show with a twist that will start airing on ITV during week 41 (3-9 October).

Airing during Black History Month and part of specially commissioned shows on the channel the show will be bold and tongue-in-cheek viewing.

Sorry, I Didn't Know will be hosted by Jimmy Akingbola (star of hit ITV sitcom, Kate & Koji) and he'll preside over two raucous teams headed up by Chizzy Akudolu and Judi Love.

Each episode will see the two teams (of three) battle it out over four rounds, unveiling interesting Black history facts along the way.

The show will be a riotous showcase of some of the hottest comedians from diverse backgrounds as they have their knowledge tested of untold stories and unsung heroes.

Guests appearing throughout the four episode run include Angie Le Mar, Humza Arshad, Verona Rose, Toby Williams and Shaun Wallace.

Sorry I Didn't Know is commissioned for ITV by Joe Mace, Entertainment Commissioning Editor and Gemma John-Lewis, Entertainment Assistant Commissioner and is produced by TriForce Productions.
Craig & Danny Funny, Black and on TV - TX TBC October
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In celebration of this year's Black History Month, We take a look back on some of Britain's greatest comedy legends. Through a combination of archive footage and star interviews, we'll travel through the comedy years, from Britain's first black comic star, the iconic Charlie Williams, to rising stars of today. We will celebrate genre-defining shows from Desmond's to The Real McCoy and tell the story of Black Comedy Legends that brought laughter to a nation.

This celebration of the work of pioneering stars will draw our focus from their work to the present day to offer an insight into the legacy of decades of comedy talent that has touched the new generation of black comedians who are now shaping the future.

Craig & Danny: Funny, Black and on TV i s commissioned for ITV by Satmohan Panesar, Factual Commissioning Editor. and is produced by Big Deal Films. Series Producer is Marina Warsama and executive producers are Dhanny Joshi, Thomas Stogdon and Maxine Watson.
BritBox Black History Month Collection
Black History Month will be marked with a collection of documentaries, television series and films celebrating Black British voices. Documentaries in the collection include Mo Farah: Race of His Life, Shirley: The Shirley Bassey Story, Africa and Britain: A Forgotten History and the series Africa presented by Ade Adepitan. TV series featured include all six seasons of Desmonds (1989); the classic sitcom set in a Peckham barber shop, and the second season of super sharp sketch show Famalam (2019). Films including Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies (1996) starring Marianne Jean-Baptist and Playing Away (1986), a comedy of manners from Horace Ové starring Norman Beaton complete the collection.

Satmohan Panesar, who has overseen commissioning for Black History Month, said: "These programmes span Factual, Entertainment, and Children's in an effort to reach out to viewers across the board at all levels. We hope viewers will enjoy the incredible stories, wonderful entertainment and fascinating people they focus on as we look at Britain from a vital and different perspective and celebrate the contribution of black people to Britain's story, our culture and our lives."

Two of the original main channel commissions are being made by BAME-led indies and off-screen BAME producers will take on development opportunities as they progress their careers in line with ITV's Step Up 60 initiative.

Panesar added: "Diversity on-screen must be accompanied by a commitment to diversity off-screen, with first time ITV primetime directing credits for Samuda and Hussain and Manton taking the reigns as a new series producer. We look forward to watching their progress in the industry."

Note to Editors: ITV recently ran a series of short films under the banner "Black Voices", which was shown across ITV and STV's promotional airtime, social feeds, as well as a dedicated campaign site at itv.com/blackvoices.

The series offered black voices a platform to share stories of racism and their vision of changes they believe should happen.

Aiming to promote understanding and discussion around a cause of profound importance and to contribute towards inspiring long term change, Black Voices featured a range of people discussing their experiences of racism, including MPs Helen Grant and David Lammy, founder of Operation Black Vote Simon Woolley, journalist Charlene White, actor Jay Kontzle and other colleagues from across ITV.

Also shown in August was Drama series, Unsaid Stories, a series of short films inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Each of the drama shorts featured powerful and impactful stories illustrating the importance of black perspectives.

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"It's All About..." Black History Month on ITV

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Watch and embed this video on your website. Simply play and click on the embed icon upper right to copy the embed code. "It's All About..." Black History Month on ITV Black culture is brought brightly into focus from today on ITV as viewers will see brand new on air trails along with channel idents marking and celebrating Black History Month.