The 33rd GLAAD Media Awards returned to The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on April 2, 2022, and for one night, the room belonged to us. The Reckoning's Darian Aaron captures the full sweep of an evening where LGBTQ+ people of color took center stage, from Michaela Jaé Rodriguez's tearful acceptance of the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Marvel's Victoria Alonso putting Disney's Bob Chapek on notice, all set against the backdrop of a country rapidly moving to erase queer and trans lives through legislation.

Black LGBTQIA+ relations to their heterosexual counterparts is seldom part of the public narrative about Black LGBTQIA+ life, though their presence and relationship as bell hooks tells us in 1992’s Black Looks: Race and Representation has always been a seamless part of our collective community.