Racquel Chevremont Is Getting Used To Being A Queer Leader

Racquel Chevremont was surprised to get the call that she was being honored with the Trailblazer Award at Live Out Loud’s 24th Annual Homecoming Gala. The event is intended to spotlight community leaders who create and champion safe spaces for New York’s LGBTQ+ community, particularly the city’s queer and trans youth. 

“Have I even done anything?” the Real Housewives of New York star wondered aloud to GO. 

The answer is a resounding yes. Long before appearing on the iconic Bravo franchise, the Bronx native was already a leader in New York’s queer community. She’s the cofounder of The Josie Club, one of New York’s only social impact groups created by and for queer Black women, and of the State Street Salon, a collaborative hub for queer artists in Brooklyn.  

Even off-screen—the part RHONY doesn’t always have time to show—the model-turned-curator’s day job rests just as much on carving out spaces for queer artists of color. As a curator for film and television, Chevremont has platformed queer artists like Mickalene Thomas, whose work she featured when she coordinated art for Empire and And Just Like That. She’s also one of New York’s most prolific art collectors—and without a doubt, the one with the coolest taste. (Among her favorite working queer artists today are multidisciplinary artist Tourmaline, photographer Lola Flash, and sculptor Tau Lewis, but the roster is ever-growing.) 

Then, of course, there’s her reality TV career. In 2024, Chevremont joined the cast of Real Housewives of New York, Bravo’s tentpole franchise, as the show’s second-ever queer Housewife (though the term is hardly applicable to Chevremont, who is always working.) Though she had a friend in fellow Housewife Jenna Lyons—the show’s first queer cast member—Chevremont tells GO that her decision to appear on the series had less to do with her own feelings about the franchise, and more with the opportunity for visibility. 

“It’s like nothing else,” Chevremont shares. A platform to share not just her advocacy work, but an intimate portrait of her life as a Black, queer woman in New York. In her season of RHONY, Chevremont shares everyday experiences like bonding with other “late in life lesbians” and adjusting to family life with her two teenage children and new fiancé, Mel. But she also shares uniquely queer everyday struggles, like grappling with homophobia from her mother, who appears in an impactful episode of the show’s most recent season. All the while, she’s a beacon to New York’s queer youth, a glimpse at the possibility of a full, complex, delightfully queer future. 

Despite Chevremont’s surprise at the honor from Live Out Loud, it couldn’t have come at a better time. The art curator says it’s more important than ever to work with organizations like Live Out Loud, which creates safe spaces for LGBTQ+ teens. 

“I wish I’d had something like this,” says Chevremont, who came out in her early 40s. “Nothing like this existed here when I was young. But it would have changed everything.” 

Plus, she says, as the political climate becomes progressively more dangerous for queer and trans kids, it’s never been more important to show up in person to support the next generation. During the gala, as guests mingled and celebrated, she made a point of spending time with Live Out Loud’s four scholarship recipients, Alexandra Barahona, Akoni Drysdale-Ash, Dani Hidalgo, and Rai-Elle Ingram. All four are graduating high school seniors, preparing to enter a world more dangerous for queer and trans youth than it has been in years. But it’s also a world full of possibility, made fuller by the presence of queer people like Chevremont, who have become the role models their own youth lacked.   

“It’s an honor to even be considered a leader,” Chevremont tells GO. “But I’m here for them. So they understand why they have to keep going.”