2021 Preview: Looking Ahead To The Most Anticipated Black LGBTQ+ Contributions

2021 Preview: Looking Ahead To The Most Anticipated Black LGBTQ+ Contributions

Congratulations! If you’re reading this then you managed to survive the worst of the global coronavirus pandemic to ring in the new year. While we’re not completely out of the woods yet, many medical professionals are predicting that life as we once knew it is poised to make a gradual comeback in the third quarter of 2021 as Americans continue to receive the coronavirus vaccination. If nothing else, being quarantined provided an opportunity for artists and thought leaders—many of whom identify as LGBTQ+—to dig deeper, which will undoubtedly result in a plethora of new and exciting projects that will influence the culture in 2021. 

The Reckoning has comprised a list of new works from Black LGBTQ creatives, authors and musicians slated to be released in 2021 that are on our radar, and we feel should be on yours. This list is not exhaustive, and some projects will likely fall under our radar, but here are a few books, television shows, films, and live theater moments you should look out for in 2021.

 
 

B-Boy Blues: The Film

It’s been nearly 25 years in the making, but “B-Boy Blues,” the debut novel and magnum opus from author James Earl Hardy is finally coming to the big screen. Jussie Smollett (Empire) is heading the creative team as director with Madia Hill Scott, openly gay comedian Sampson McCormick, and choreographer/creative director Frank Gaston producing. The film began production in October 2020 and stars Timothy Richardson (Mitchell), Thomas Mackie (Raheim), “P-Valley” star Brandee Evans (Michi), Broderick Hunter (Adam), Marquise Vilson (Babyface), and Grammy-nominee Ledisi (Ann). 

Love The One You’re With

Openly gay comedian Sampson McCormick didn’t let the pandemic stop his creative output in 2020. The comedy veteran released a stand-up special, produced and appears on-camera in the upcoming “B-Boy Blues” film, and is releasing his own film centering Black gay relationships with the February release of “Love The One You’re With.” According to McCormick, the film is a “romantic dramatic comedy that takes a look at the reality of relationships and state of affairs in the current dating world.” Spencer M. Collins IV directs with Donnie Hue Frazier, Anthony Bawn, Danny Royce, Hope Flood, and McCormick rounding out the cast. 

The Prophets 

“The Prophets,” the debut novel by openly gay author Robert Jones Jr. (Son of Baldwin) is easily one of the most highly-anticipated American novels of 2021. The Prophets tells the story of a forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. If the early book reviews are any indication, Jones is headed for The New York Times Bestseller List. The Prophets shakes right down to the bone what the American novel is, should do, and can be. That shuffling sound you hear is Morrison, Baldwin, and Angelou whooping and hollering both in pride, and wonder.” –Marlon James, author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf

The Prophets is available for purchase wherever books are sold on January 5. 

All Boys Aren’t Blue

From the page to the small screen, queer author George M. Johnson’s young adult memoir, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is being developed for television with the help of actress Gabrielle Union’s “I’ll Have Another Productions.” Union has optioned the book rights to develop the series with Sony Pictures. “I didn’t have stories like these growing up and honestly I don’t have many now so I knew I needed to do my part to make sure the next generation of black queer children had something they could relate to and connect with,” said Johnson in an interview with Deadline. “There are days I look at TV and film and still don’t see myself represented. So, my ultimate goal was providing the story I didn’t have but always needed and to be the vessel so that so many can feel seen and heard.”

P-Valley

“Down in the valley where da girls get naked.” Fans of the hit STARZ series “P-Valley” are waiting with bated breath in 5-inch clear stilettos for the girls to make their weekly return to The Pynk in season 2. The play turned TV series from creator and showrunner Katori Hall also utilizes the talents of openly gay filmmaker Patrik-Ian Polk who serves as a producer and writer. “P-Valley” stands alone in the TV landscape for displaying love onscreen between two Black queer characters; the non-binary Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan) and cisgender rapper Lil Murda (J.Alphonse Nicholson). "I wanted people to be able to see the possibility that it can happen, that love can be expressed, that it is normal,” said Hall to TV Guide. “We have normalized heteronormative relationships. I thought, 'It is time to give that to this community, the care and respect.”

POSE

The pandemic also halted the filming of season three of the FX hit POSE. But after a brief hiatus, the children are expected to return to the ballroom floor in 2021. Filming for season three began in October, and barring any further disruptions, fans should find out what’s next for The House of Evangelista later this summer. Led by the Emmy-award winning and openly gay actor Billy Porter, who is also slated to direct an upcoming episode, it’s the trans women whose stories are the heart and soul of the show that deserve as much if not more recognition. In addition to rising star Jeremy Pope (Hollywood) joining the cast, producers say that fans should expect a new House of Evangelista and the possibility of Blanca finding love outside of her children. 

The Return of Broadway 

Broadway has been hit hard by the global coronavirus pandemic, resulting in the longest shutdown of Broadway theaters in history, with thousands of performers, technicians, stagehands, and front of house staff losing income along with millions of tourist dollars to New York’s local and state economy. But with more Americans receiving the coronavirus vaccination, 2021 may be the year we see the marquees light up once again. James Harkness, a cast member of “Ain’t Too Proud,” tells Living Out Loud 2.0 that “the life of an artist, especially actors, dancers, singers,—you go from job to job to job. In between those times, you have no idea what’s coming, so you’re constantly preparing yourself for the unknown. This is a bigger unknown, but nonetheless in some ways still the same." Black Broadway Men is a new organization born amid the pandemic to “strengthen the bond of healing and unity for all Black men in both the Broadway and theatre community.”

HANDS UP

7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments. Originally commissioned by the New Black Fest in response to the 2015 events in Ferguson, MO, where a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, Hands Up is comprised of separate monologues written by seven Black playwrights. The play depicts the realities of Black America from the perspective of varying genders, sexual orientations, skin tones, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The collection includes Superiority Fantasy by Nathan James; Holes in My Identity by Nathan Yungerberg; They Shootin! Or I Ain’t Neva Scared… by Idris Goodwin; Dead of Night… The Execution of… by Nambi E. Kelley; Abortion by Nsangou Njikam; Walking Next to Michael Brown by Eric Holmes; and How I Feel by Dennis Allen II. Hands Up is directed by Keith Arthur Bolden and Alexis Woodard with sponsorship by CNP and is scheduled to run from Feb 1-28 on The Coca-Cola Stage at The Alliance Theatre

 
 

MLK Weekend 

Referred to by many as Winter Pride—the precursor to the annual Atlanta Black Gay Pride—MLK Weekend usually draws thousands of Black LGBTQ+ locals and visitors to party in the city during the King holiday observance. Despite the global coronavirus pandemic, party promoters are gearing up for the holiday weekend by offering a slew of party options that are expected to be well attended. 

LGBTQ+ Musicians 

Music is the universal language, and for many, it played a huge role in getting us through the challenges of 2020. Here are a few of the openly LGBTQ+ musicians that kept us sane last year and whose musical output we’re looking forward to in 2021.

 
 










Darian Aaron is Communications Director of CNP and Editor-At-Large of The Reckoning. He is also the creator of Living Out Loud 2.0 and a contributing writer for Edge Media Network. Darian is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

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