Happy Valentine’s Day! I don’t know about you, but I’m filled with the existential dread and anxiety of a thousand unyieldingly uncomfortable suns. That being said, I know there’s only one cure for Black queer pessimism, and that’s looking at adorable Instas and reading up on gossip about Black queer couples that make me feel like love is real, possible, and waiting for us all.
We here at GO have compiled a cute little list of some very fabulous, very adorable couples that we believe are #BlackQueerLoveGoals. So it’s time to let go of all that fear, look into these portals of empirical truth, and envelop your senses in fan-queering these beautiful and inspiring Black queer-lebrities! You owe it to yourself! You are beautiful!
Ericka Hart and Ebony Donnley
Body positivity activist, sex educator, and breast cancer survivor Ericka Hart and their partner, audio engineer and writer, Ebony “Eb” Donnley are the exemplifications of #BlackQueerLoveGoals. On both Ericka’s Instagram and in their lives, they are committed both to their healthy and evolving relationship to each other as well as to a bevy of social justice projects and causes. Whether they are just sharing their perspectives and lives on Ericka’s Instagram or rightfully calling out the growing corporatization and complicity of Afropunk, they are a couple that stands up for the rights of Black folks and is a force to be reckoned with. Having first gotten together after meeting on Tinder and deciding to go on a date in Brooklyn, they’ve been together for more than two years. The care and energy between them is so palpable, beautiful, and uniquely Black in everything they do. Said Ericka Hart of Eb in an intimate Youtube video for The Skin Deep, “You [Ebony] intend to touch every Black person that you see, and that inspires me.”
Camae Ayewa (of Moor Mother) and Rasheedah Phillips
If you’ve ever seen Moor Mother live or attended an exhibition or performance of Black Quantum Futurism, their ongoing interdiciplinary archive and performance project with their partner Rasheedah Phillips, you know that both of these black folks are insanely smart and badass af. The fact that they are low key an art scholar power couple just adds to the contagion of goosebumps that are released whenever one is within 50 feet of them. There’s something truly inspiring about a couple that blends art, music, life, and activism in as poignant and intricate a way as both Moor Mother and Rasheedah Phillips do in their projects together. Though they always have a slew of events and exhibitions happening around the same time (#busy) & though their artistic practice literally blows my tiny brainwaves into a new dimension (#NonLinearTime #BlackFuturism ##DifferentDimensions), when you get a chance to actually interact with them at a performance or event, they manage to be very down to earth and, dare I say, über chill. Plus, they’re Instagram is like Neil Degrass Tyson for queer intellectuals *curtsies and coyly kisses my own ring*. So, ya know, énchante, as they say. *guzzles free art gallery wine while stealing handfuls of hors devours; chacuterie and crudités*
Lena Waithe and Alana Mayo
Everybody needs somebody to hold them down and keep them grounded, especially if you’re a total superstar in the public eye for making incredible content—and especially if you are as incontestably flawless as Lena Waithe. Well, sorry entire universe, but Lena Waithe already has that role in her life filled, and I doubt you could compete with Alana Mayo, to be honest. In an interview on The David Chang Show, Waithe said that when she came home from the Emmys, Mayo reminded her to do some chores around the house. “The great thing is, she’s not jazzed by it,” Waithe said. “She definitely helps to keep me grounded… When I get home from winning an Emmy, she’s like, ‘Don’t forget to take out the recycling.’ It’s those things that I think are really helpful. She’s so laid back about it all.” The love, my friends, is real. #RealLove #BlackQueerLoveGoals
Janelle Monae and Tessa Thompson
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Obviously, this couple is too cute for words. Of course, I’d like to just point out that they are literally Black excellence by squealing and flapping my arms: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH! THEY’RE SO CUUUUUTE! *gasps in Black teen gay* *collects self in Black queer opulence*
OK. So their Instagram flirt story, coupled with Janelle Monae’s amazing sonic film for Dirty Computer that tells a quasi-fiction sci-fi about them having been lovers in an afro-futurist society before a purge of queer android consciousness, is almost too much #BlackQueerLoveGoals to bear. But I’ll bear it. Now that they’ve come out as companions (however restrained they’ve been in announcing it to the media), it’s so much easier to just completely fan-femme out and obsessively like all their pictures.
Queen Latifah and Eboni Nichols
We all know that Queen Latifah is not incredibly forthcoming when it comes to rumors about her lesbianism or her longtime girlfriend, Eboni Nichols. In a world that still makes being queer in public a hard and complicated thing to do, fully coming out with a rainbow flag (with the black and brown stripe) in one hand—and the trans flag in the other—isn’t really for everyone. That being said, rumors have been circulating since last October that they are engaged and having their first child. It’s hard to confirm via their social media, either to the contrary or affirmative, but if this is true, it’s likely that they’ve already welcomed a little one into the world. So… congrats?!
Either way, the very idea of these couples warms our hearts here at GO. On Valentine’s Day, it’s encouraging and totally adorable to see all these super cute couples living their best life and loving the lives they live. So GO forth! Let #BlackQueerLove be your guide this Valentine’s season! You can do it! I know you can! *wink*
