In a historic first, Black, openly gay activist Reverend Darrell Goodwin is elected to a senior leadership role in the United Church of Christ. Meet a man whose story emphatically demonstrates how much authenticity and determination can deliver, both personally and for the people we love and are lucky enough to be loved by in return. [read more]

Curtis Holder cannot recall a time when he did not sketch. His earliest memory is of drawing a house that looked nothing like the other houses drawn by his infant school classmates. 

“Why are their skies one shade of blue? That’s not how I see grass. I don’t care if they want to draw a house that way. I see it differently.”

Forty-seven years later, Curtis Holder is the 2020 Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year award-winner, while working part-time as a primary school teacher in London. He talks about the things that motivate him.

The night my body gave up the ghost and left me covered in shit didn’t afford me pause to go and clean up, take a shower and prepare for the next caper. Jewel was closing soon, and I needed more crack. Now, more than ever as the shame of having defecated on myself began to emerge in my fragile conscious, I knew I had to pull this one off and quickly. The dinosaur's prayer came readily to mind: Lord a little more time. It was good an invocation as any. Could I do it? Would the smell give me away? 

What do you do when your friend turns to a life of porn? Do you sneak online and check him out, or do you clutch your Bible, stomp your feet and pray that God almighty will show him the errors of his way? We caught up with Conrad Mitchell, AKA "Jiggy Mann" in the gay adult entertainment industry. 

You cannot help but warm to Deondray and Quincy Gossfield. They are easy on the eye, easy to smile, and easy to talk to. There’s a relaxed familiarity between the filmmakers who brought the world “The DL Chronicles” that instantly puts you at ease. They share the same surname, so perhaps they were related. I wasn’t making any assumptions when I met them for a virtual chat. Among other things, I wanted to find out how they got started making films.

I first met Patric McCoy in The Market Tavern pub in Vauxhall on the day a Bosnia war protester set himself on fire outside the House of Commons. It was Patric’s photographs of this horrific event that were syndicated around the world on that Wednesday, 28 April 1993. A case of right place, right time.

He beamed at me from the bar as I walked up to him and said, you must be an American. “Guilty,” he replied, laughing, and asked me how I knew. Because we Black Brits don’t smile at strangers, I told him, especially not at each other. We’ve been friends ever since.

Black Gay Blog caught up with human rights activist Cheikh Traore to find out how he’s been settling in Lagos, Nigeria, after a life in London, Paris, New York. "One way to deal with homophobia is to get involved in gay rights," said Traore. "That helps."

When I meet Cyril Nri for our interview over Zoom, it’s a week after burying his mother. He’s surprisingly jovial, considering. I think of how I was weeks after burying my old dear when it was hard for me to crack a smile. It’s the actor in him, I told myself. The show must go on. But I'll let you decide.