Three Black gay men—a Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright, a Tony award—nominated actor, and a possible future Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter— are having the time of their lives professionally and creatively. And to some extent, they credit the coronavirus pandemic.

Rob Milton, 33, is one of them.

While pundits and social scientists have debated whether the pandemic has led to a “Great Revelation” of some sort, Milton, and others, credit the pandemic with giving him the motivation needed to have the career he always wanted.

“I have pretty much surrounded myself with people who are creative, and post-pandemic, a beautiful thing has happened,” Milton told The Reckoning. “In some respects, the pandemic leveled the playing field. It caused a lot of the people I know to stop and think about how important it is to do the thing or things you are called to do.”

For just about everyone, year one of the Coronavirus pandemic bought both losses and gains. Self-described “outrageous storyteller” Ashton Pina was no exception: Starting the lockdown as an up-and-coming communications professional in a committed relationship, the queer storyteller ultimately ended the first chapter of the Covid crisis as an unemployed, single man.

From those losses, however, came one tremendous gain—the framework for a cinematic exploration of love and transition that, until recently, had only lived in his very creative head.

The fruit of his journey materializes in “Nana’s Boys,” a feature-length film – his first – set to make its local debut at Out on Film in Atlanta this month. In it, Pina explores themes of beginnings and endings, artifice and reality, hope and despair, all against the backdrop of a seasoned relationship between two Black gay men.

In his debut novel, “Desire Lines,” author Cary Alan Johnson births a story about Black queer friendship, desire, and addiction during the onset of the HIV epidemic in New York City in the 1980s. Desire Lines marks Johnson’s first foray into long-form fiction after spending much of the last decade breathing life into characters aimed at centering the experiences of Black queer men in an HIV narrative where they have historically been forgotten.

“Of all the really great books, movies, and shows produced about gay men’s experience with AIDS in the 1980s, none have focused on Black gay men,” said Johnson. “Of all the great work about cocaine and crack addiction, none focused on the experience of Black gay men. The 1980s was a period of hysteria and pain, but it was also a moment of intense introspection and spiritual alignment. You either sank or you swam. Many of us swam and continue to swim, and I want to tell this story.”

In Desire Lines, readers follow an unnamed Black gay narrator as he grows up in Brooklyn captivated by a vision of life on the other side of the river, where the sparkle and glitter of Manhattan beckon. Coming into adulthood, he finds himself living in a five-floor walk-up in Hell's Kitchen just as the AIDS epidemic is hitting the city. We follow him and his group of friends as they experience the first wave of illness and death and then accompany him on a two-year journey to Zaire, Central Africa, where he must confront corruption and homophobia in new and unexpected ways.

Los Angeles-based gay filmmaker Michael Donte hasn’t been called to preach, but he has been called through his art and his latest short film “The Spirit God Gave Us,” to create a world that reimagines what is possible for Black queer people outside of the confines of the Black church.

A multi-hyphenate talent, in addition to directing, Donte also pens the screenplay and is a producer of Spirit. Full disclosure: Counter Narrative Project, which powers The Reckoning, is also an executive producer. The 20-minute short film, which stars Nic Ashe (“Queen Sugar,” “Choir Boy'”) and Elijah Boothe (“Luke Cage,” “Coin Heist”), had its world premiere in May at the Inside Out LGBTQ Film Festival in Toronto. “The Spirit God Gave Us” is an intersectional story of faith and queer love through the lens of Malcolm (Ashe), and Shamont (Boothe), two young Black men who volunteer as ushers for their Baptist church and are faced with reconciling societal and religious expectations with an intense longing for connection and intimacy.

While the history of homophobia in the Black church is well documented, Donte tells The Reckoning that he decided to take a different approach in his screenplay for Spirit.

“Writing the script was a kind of therapy for me,” Donte said. “Challenging the narratives that we often see in media—that was the hardest part about writing the script. I wanted to acknowledge the conflict without making it the centerpiece. And I think we did that,” he said.

With a bearded, high-heeled Saucy Santana featured in mainstream music videos and a pony-tailed Billy Porter hosting ballroom legends on the BET Awards, it’s become easy to think that the Black queer man has claimed his seat at the mainstream table. It took just one cable show and a blink-and-you’d-miss-it sex scene to prove otherwise.

In 2023, hip-hop turns 50, and in 2022 it’s time to give Common his flowers. It was 20 years ago that the Chicago native and conscious MC bravely denounced his previous homophobia on “Between Me, You & Liberation,” a track from his 2002 album “Electric Circus.”

A week after his appearance on the popular pop culture podcast, For Colored Nerds, author Aaron Foley hadn’t listened to the episode.

“I trust that it is good,” he told The Reckoning. “I am not a big fan of hearing my voice recorded, so I haven’t listened to it and probably won’t.”

Just being on the show was a career highlight for Foley, who works full-time as a senior editor for PBS NewsHour’s Communities Initiative. To be there talking about his debut novel, Boys Come First made it all sweeter.

“It’s all been unreal, to be honest,” he said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all.”

As a journalist, Foley seeks to tell authentic, informative, and educational stories about real people and real life. Boys Come First is no different. As a Black, gay, millennial from Detroit, he wanted to tell a truthful story about his beloved city and Black gay men. It is something, he said, he does not always get to do in journalism.

We’re days away from closing out Pride Month, but we’re not letting this unwelcome fact slow down our celebration or our steady march toward the dance floor. The Reckoning has created the ultimate DIVAS! #Pride 2022 playlist to keep the party going beyond June 30th.

Sandwiched in an alleyway on the northeast side of Washington D.C., Black queer, gay, and lesbian artists like Wayson Jones cultivated fertile ground in a coffeehouse. What they did in the cramped space is the stuff of legends, yet the coffeehouse is long gone—much like the city of old. A documentary recently released online captures what the coffeehouse meant—and continues to mean—to Washington, D.C. as well as to Black and queer histories.

"Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse" has been making its rounds at select screenings. The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse was a performance and rehearsal space for a cohort of artists, a gathering spot; plus a meeting place for political organizations. This was almost hallowed ground for Black artists to share and workshop their craft. Jones, Essex Hemphill, Cheryl Clarke, Audre Lorde, Blackberry, Casselberry-Dupree, and Pomo Afro Homos all stepped foot into the former carriage house-turned-coffeehouse between 8th, 9th, I, and K Streets, NE. The space at 816 Eye Street, NE was brick, the size of a large walk-in closet, but had great acoustics.

"The intimacy lent itself to that feeling of being part of the family," Jones said.

The film "Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse," celebrates this time.

While much of heterosexual Black America has spent the spring debating the impact of Will Smith’s slap, a quieter event has taken precedence in the minds of many Black gay men: The April 1 release of “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel,” comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s latest HBO special and, unexpectedly, his coming out story.

Married couple David Wilmott and Darnell Morgan, co-owners of the successful Kennesaw, GA restaurant “Forks & Flavors,” will step onto the national stage during their television debut on the May 12 episode of “Restaurant Impossible” on the Food Network.

The Chef Robert Irvine-hosted reality show, now in its 19th season, works to turn around restaurants that are facing impending demise within 48 hours on a $10,000 budget. On day one, Irvine assesses the business by observing the staff and kitchen during a full service. He then updates the menu and makes aesthetic changes to the restaurant in preparation for the grand reopening the following day.

But there’s one thing that separates “Forks & Flavors” from the majority of restaurants in crisis that have appeared on the show; they are thriving.

The twice-married gay couple who first appeared in a feature story on The Reckoning in March 2021, says they experienced a significant increase in business after their story was published, with old and new customers clamoring to experience their cuisine or to get the tea on their interesting relationship journey directly from the source. So when Morgan says the Food Network contacted them in August 2021, to apply to be on “Restaurant Impossible,” instead of the other way around, it’s not surprising.

Playwright Robert O’Hara knew exactly what he was doing when he named his hit 2011 play “Bootycandy.” The provocative title generates interest and all kinds of assumptions about the semi-autobiographical comedy deeply entrenched in the Black queer experience. On May 14, Atlanta audiences will be able to experience O’Hara’s play when it opens at Actor’s Express.

”Bootycandy,” tells the story of Sutter (Damian Lockhart), who is on an outrageous odyssey through his childhood home, his church, dive bars, motel rooms, and even nursing homes. O’Hara weaves together scenes, sermons, and sketches to create a kaleidoscope that interconnects to portray growing up Black and gay.

Charlotte-based director Martin Damien Wilkins is at the helm of the Atlanta production. Wilkins has a long history with Actor’s Express and “Bootycandy,” having directed the show for Actor’s Theater of Charlotte in 2017. Like O’Hara, Wilkins is intentional about amplifying the Black gay experience in "Bootycandy," particularly after a 2017 performance where he says an audience member rejected the existence of a Black gay experience during a post-show talkback.

It’s been 40 years since Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker released her magnum opus “The Color Purple,” and since then, the critically acclaimed novel has been adapted for the screen and the Broadway stage, winning the prestigious Tony Award for Best Revival of A Musical in 2016. Now, Walker’s story is being presented to Atlanta audiences in a new production at City Springs Theatre currently running through May 22, that harnesses the brilliance of Walker’s words, the cultural shift propelled by the film, and the unrestricted celebration of the Black and queer experience on stage.

With a soul-stirring score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel, African music, and blues, “The Color Purple” tells the story of Celie (Felicia Boswell) in early 20th century Georgia as she is subjected to and ultimately triumphs despite physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of both her father and husband, Mister (Gavin Gregory). The all-Black cast and creative team are led by Kamilah Long (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), in a rare appointment as a Black woman director of a show traditionally led by white men.

Dating in Atlanta is serious business. While many singles are swiping left or right on dating apps to find their person, those who can afford to are turning to Atlanta’s elite matchmakers to find love. And Black gay men are no exception.

On “Love Match Atlanta,” the new reality show debuting on Bravo on May 8, viewers are given a look into the professional and personal lives of a group of highly-sought after matchmakers as they use their charm and skill to compete for the hearts and dollars of Black Atlanta’s most eligible singles. The cast includes professional matchmakers and business owners Ming Clark, Joseph Dixon, Kelli Fisher, Tana Gilmore, and Shae Primus.

In a city that has developed a reputation for simultaneously being an oasis of Black wealth and opportunity, and for some Black gay men, a consistent disaapointement where quantity outweighs quality in terms of finding a potential partner, the dating experiences of both gay and straight singles in Atlanta provides more than enough source material for the one-hour show.

With so many podcasts to choose from, it can be incredibly difficult to listen to all the less-than-stellar podcasts to get to the good stuff. Similar to the Black LGBTQ+ blog explosion that occurred in the early aughts—if you have a computer, a microphone, and a closet to generate the best sound quality, anyone can produce a podcast. But it takes a unique personality along with great content and a distinct point of view to attract listeners and keep them engaged.

It should come as no surprise that Black LGBTQ+ podcasters are dominating the podcasting scene and are behind some of the most listened to and culturally relevant podcasts in the market today.

On The Reckoning, we’d like to eliminate the chore of listening to multiple episodes to determine if a podcast is a good fit. So we’ve compiled a list of eight Black LGBTQ+ podcasts that we think should be added to your rotation if they’re not already. While this list is not exhaustive, the consistency in publishing new episodes, along with dynamic content and consistently engaged listeners, landed all eight of these podcasts on our list. Get into our picks inside.

For many Black gay men, there are certain films in the Black theatrical cannon that continue to resonate decades after their release—” Waiting To Exhale,” the 1995 blockbuster based on the best-selling novel by author Terry McMillan and directed by Forest Whitaker, is one of those films. The impact of the original goes far beyond the popular gif of Bernadine (Angela Bassett) flicking a cigarette as she walks away from her husband’s torched luxury car. Now, writer and director Anthony Green (Cagebird Productions) is taking the commercial and cultural success of the film and adapting it for the stage in “When Boys Exhale,” an original reimagining centering the experiences of Black gay men inspired by the classic film.

After a sold-out premiere run in 2019 at Anacostia Arts Center in Washington, D.C, Green, in partnership with Tre Productions, is bringing “Exhale” to the Atlanta area on April 22. It’s an exciting time for the D.C.-based artist and his cast, who says he never imagined his play would mount a full production, only to have the pandemic completely halt all plans for the show’s immediate future.

“After we had those sold-out shows, we were going to do some more in DC because the demand was high, but then COVID hit and we had to cancel that, and I had to put When Boys Exhale on the shelf. I wasn't going to even touch it again,” Green says.

Upon learning the play’s origin, it’s plausible that Green’s “Exhale” would have been placed on the shelf following its initial success and not given a second thought by the man who penned the script.

For Black gay filmmaker Micheal Rice, 2020 was a tipping point.

Like the rest of the world, the Brooklyn-based documentarian (“party boi,” “black diamonds in ice castles”) began the first quarter of 2020 avoiding transmission of the coronavirus by isolating himself under strict quarantine guidelines by state and federal officials as COVID-19 cases and deaths in New York City soared. It was a safety precaution implemented to curb the spread of one deadly virus while another continued to rage, leaving Rice and other Black and queer people susceptible to state-sanctioned violence and a never-ending loop of Black trauma on the evening news. Although Rice says he felt powerless at the time, he knew he had to use his artistry to respond. “Black AS U R,” Rice’s new documentary film premiering at Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival in April, is his response.

“BLACK AS U R” weaves through the complexities of Black queerness by taking audiences on a journey through the homophobia that penetrates many Black spaces. The film examines the impact of HIV stigma, sex work, suicide, bullying, and acts of violence against Black trans people, including the vicious mob attack of Iyanna Dior at a convenience store in St. Paul, MN only days after the fatal killing of George Floyd in neighboring Minneapolis. The film also features the first time a documentary has highlighted the story of Dominque Rem’mie Fells, a young Black trans woman whose murder reignited the “Black Trans Lives Matter” movement of 2020.

A decade ago, Gerrick Kennedy was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight.

He was in Los Angeles covering the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Party. He had worked feverishly to convince his editors that it was worth covering the reunion of Brandy and Monica. They were set to perform their newest duet, “It All Belongs to Me.” It was their first performance together since the release of their Grammy award-winning hit, “The Boy is Mine.”

He was sitting with the ladies and Davis when out of the corner of his eye he saw her; one of his biggest idols, Whitney Houston. She had appeared from out of nowhere. The next day, news broke that she had died in the bathtub of her hotel room.

“I was thrust into the spotlight because I was on the scene that weekend,” Kennedy told The Reckoning. “To get a story like that! That was a breakout year for me.”

In the first national tour of “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations,” Broadway actor James T. Lane, 44, transforms into Paul Williams, the embattled original lead singer, and choreographer of the legendary Motown singing group. The tour will begin a six-day residency at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on March 8. Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, and winner for Best Choreography, “Ain't Too Proud” tells the thrilling story of brotherhood, family, loyalty, and betrayal, as the group's personal and political conflicts threatened to tear them apart during a decade of civil unrest in America.

For eight shows a week, the openly gay actor embodies the highs and lows of a tortured artist incapable of escaping his own demons. It’s a story that parallels a period in Lane’s life that makes his casting feel more like a divine assignment than an additional credit on an already impressive resume. From the moment he showed up to audition for the role, to belting out Williams’ signature song, “For Once In My Life,” Lane has been appointed for such a time as this.

“The final audition was an in-person audition in New York City at Pearl Studios and there was no one there for the role,” Lane says. “I don't know what was happening, but I was the only one there. I couldn't get through the song [“For Once In My Life”] in the audition without bursting out into tears because it just meant so much,” he said.

Actor Brandon Black (“Dear White People,” “Insecure”) is aware that his performance in Tyler Perry’s new film “A Madea Homecoming” as the first openly gay character in the history of the 23-year-old franchise is bigger than entertainment.