Taurean Brown | Contributor

Taurean Brown is a community activist and freelance writer based in Durham, N.C. Follow him on Twitter @TheBlackVoice or visit blacksankofa.wordpress for more of his writing. 

Black people for so long have been the victim of a vicious system that has done its best to destroy our beautiful presence.  In the early 1900s, terrible images depicted us with outrageous overgrown red lips and dumbfounded expressions of our own faces to make us seem inhuman. Even today in America the standard of beauty has not been favorable to our people. However, most of us can now say that we believe that Black is truly beautiful and nobody should be judged by the color of their skin. Sadly, many people now judge others just because of who they choose to love. Even sadder, many of our own people exclude gay people from the label “Black is Beautiful” just because their lifestyle doesn’t coincide with certain people’s beliefs.

As much as our society has grown and people have become more open-minded, it still seems that many cannot shake their ignorance when it comes to homosexuality, especially Afrikan Americans. Homosexuality is as old as humanity itself, though many people treat it like some contagious disease that you can catch if you are not careful. In the Black community, deep rooted religious ideologies and traditions have caused us to chastise homosexuality, even though most of us have a homosexual friend or family member. However, I am stepping out today to say that all people are beautiful, including my wonderful Black people in the LGBTQ community.

Homosexual Black people have made significant contributions to not only the Black community, but to the world as well. Beautiful people like James Baldwin whose powerful mind and writings changed the mindsets of people all across the globe when it came to the matters of racism, equality, and homosexuality. Beautiful people like Bayard Rustin who organized the march on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his timeless “I Have a Dream” speech.  Beautiful people like Angela Davis who epitomized “Black is Beautiful” and Black Pride during the 1970s in the highlight of her career in activism. Countless other Black individuals who identify as members of the LGBTQ community have done some amazing things in this world; it is crazy that people still continue to judge them just because of who they choose to love or how they choose to live their life.

It is time for us as people to put aside our ignorance when it comes to homosexuality.  Just because homosexuality might not be right for you, does not automatically make it wrong for someone else.  If your religion causes you to hate someone else, then maybe you should find another religion. We have to start opening our minds and accepting the fact that everyone is not the same as us. The fact that we are all different is one of the great things that make us beautiful.

Many of us have adopted the same mindset towards LGBTQ members, which many racists have towards Black people. We have to see our Black LGBTQ brothers and sisters as just that- our brothers and sisters.  We must understand that we are all connected through our struggles, and when one of us struggles, we all struggle.  Black is beautiful because we are all children of the Most High, no matter who we choose to love or the life we choose to live. Fill your heart with love and see the true beauty inside of a person no matter what their lifestyle is.