As a Black transgender man, it's already difficult to find representation in person and on social media -- incredibly harder in movies and television. I submit to countless literary submissions and read and ingest dozens of online creations and literary works to try and find and spread the word for one thing: Black, gay, and transgender representation. I particularly write about the black, gay, and trans-male experience whether that be through playwriting, prose, or poetry. As I attended a PWI, or a Predominantly White Institution -- the summer after my spring semester -- it dawned on me. I have to be the one to make change and push the cause. There are very little of us (Black trans men) and especially those of whom that are gay, don't quite identify inside the gender roles even in binaries, or fight for alternative causes rather than just our identities. As I looked back on the poem that enabled me to be a nationally published author, my body naturally inclined to the iconic quote from Tarell Alvin McCraney's Moonlight: "In midnight, Black boys look blue." And that's when it hit. Many boys like me blend in so blue with the night that we aren't even represented in most places, let alone talked about in general. Tying this in with my literary journey to eventually establish a career as an author, I had a firm plan: create a queer literary magazine specifically catering to Black trans men. As of right now, the official title of the non-profit magazine/organization is The Moon Boys Archive, where I am hoping to spread and circulate the literary works and accomplishments of trans Black boys and men all over the world, as does other literary homes for Black voices such as midnight & indigo. I want to create and further pioneering and crucial representation to not only help other young Black trans men see themselves, but to also witness another Black trans man running a project as large as a queer magazine solely for Black trans men. As I do love and cherish spaces available for Black, trans, and queer creators: this particular space needs to exist. A place needs to exist for Black transmale writers that isn't just the night. To be able to pull a community together of supporters, allies, queers themselves and an editing team that does not see trans men as the spotlight, but rather to put the spotlight on them, would be incredibly astonishing to me. Thank you.

Growing up as a small Black girl, it was already difficult to get a glimpse of POC representation without the stereotypes and disposable-black-peoples archetype. Even as I was coming up, seeing a black girl reflected in towering European structures, thrones, corsets and Victorian Era dresses -- I could see myself in the power, but not the narrative. Now, as a transmasculine Black man in university who also happens to identify as gay and aroace, this has become increasingly difficult. It isn't uncommon to see the average White enemies-to-lovers relationship on TV or bursting on social media. But as I grew further and further closer to my identity then, I realized I personally had never seen a written or filmed story of two trans Black men in love. It is already difficult to find proper trans representation that does not treat the central trans character as a individual that revolves around the lives of other characters, a fetish, or as a problem that needs to be resolved. But on that note, the same story is eerily reflected onto my life. My family is not supportive. I have been constantly misgendered, invalidated of my identity, interrogated, and on occasion breached of my privacy and disrespected outright. As I become and am in the becoming of being a trans man; I decided to take the task upon myself. I realize my passion lies in writing stories for the minoritized - ones who've felt seen yet unseen as they watch an "all inclusive" queer show that happens to have a predominantly White cast or centered around a White love story. What I also happen to see are Black love stories revolved around promiscuity and/or sexual behavior. I want to show that Black queer love can be slow, comfortable, soft, and fulfilling. I want to show that not all Black women have to be shoved into the "Angry/Loud-Black-Woman" stereotype, or that the Black gay male doesn't always have to be feminized or vulnerable for simply proclaiming who they love. I want to show that my writing is not an overwhelming act of advocacy, or that I'm taking a step that has not already been carved by my ancestors and Black and Brown peoples before me. I want to write about queer love that isn't ostracized in our own communities, with that being the Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA2S+ community itself. I want to be able to perform in a show that I personally feel comfortable in because there is at least one other originally Black trans man written into the cast, and not see myself as a stepping stone. I want to create more spaces where Black queer love isn't seen as a stepping stone or a colossal movement of expression. Eventually, my ultimate wish is to begin a non-profit theatre organization dedicated to encouraging, casting, and commemorating POC LGBTQIA2S+ youth interested in writing or acting productions or pieces in the performing arts. I feel these are the spaces desperately needed for intersectionality and representation. This is what I yearned to have growing up as a young Black trans queer activist.