Before Lady Gaga released her gay anthem “Born This Way” in 2011, singer Carl Bean, an openly gay Black man signed to Motown Records released the soul-stirring disco gay anthem “I Was Born This Way,” 34 years before it was in vogue to be anything other than heterosexual publicly, or even an LGBTQ+ ally. The gay-affirming single, which cracked the top 20 on the Billboard charts is one of many groundbreaking achievements by Bean—the recording artist turned social justice activist and minister with deep roots in the Black Pentecostal experience, dating back to his childhood at Providence Baptist Church in his native Baltimore, Maryland.

Three is not a crowd for Que Brown, 28, Tye Brown, 26, and Martel Star, 27. The Tallahassee, FL and Mansfield, OH transplants are one of many Black gay polyamorous triads or “throuples” in Atlanta who are finding and creating healthy romantic partnerships outside of the traditional two-person monogamous relationship model. However, there is one distinction between their triad and others— these men are living and loving out loud, online and off, and are rejecting the stigma associated with polyamory that often pushes those within this relationship structure to the margins of society.

Eventually, Agarrat’s work ethic would command the respect of Barclay, and the hungry intern who began making coffee would be trusted to write music video treatments alongside the in-demand music video director, ultimately becoming responsible for Snoop Dogg’s 1993 debut single, “What’s My Name?.”

“I’m gonna get hurt.”

That’s what Deondray Gossfield, 47, recalls saying to himself in the fall of 1996 after meeting Quincy Gossfield, 46, through mutual friends. Together for 24 years and married for seven, the directing/producing duo behind the indie hit gay series The DL Chronicles, has experienced magical highs and devastating lows in their decade's long relationship—long before their nuptials were televised in front of an audience of millions at the 2014 Grammy Awards, and long before they became the public face of Black gay relationship longevity.

Gay dating coach and matchmaker Lamont White, 40, has been successfully introducing single Black gay men in Atlanta and across the United States to their ideal mate through his dating service Better Way To Meet since 2014. The Pittsburgh, PA native who works in public health by day, was already using his master's degree in professional counseling by providing therapy for gay men and couples as early as 2004. So when a gay friend mentioned his less than stellar experience as a client of a matchmaking service, it lit the fuse for White to create a new model tailored for gay men.

At 45-years-old, Darnell Moore is coasting on blessings. For much of the last decade, Moore has been a formidable force in the movement for Black equality and LGBTQ+ liberation, while meticulously providing a blueprint for Black queer men to claim our freedom. With every media appearance, speaking engagement, article, or book, Moore continues to lay the foundation for a legacy that will be remembered and studied long after his work is completed in the physical. He is our ancestor’s wildest dream—living, breathing, teaching, learning, and thriving in the fullness of his badass Black, queer self.

Juan Smalls says he simply wanted to be liberated. As one half of the highly visible married couple known by many as Juan & Gee and the owners of Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen and Bar in College Park, along with the non-profit The Gentlemen's Foundation—this Atlanta Black, gay power couple raised more than a few eyebrows after revealing that they’re in a non-monogamous marriage in the pages of Gee Smalls’ memoir “Black Enough Man Enough.” The spiritual and emotional capacity for the life partners of over a decade to define their relationship on their terms required both men to release themselves from the expectations projected onto their relationship from those within the Black LGBTQ+ community who often refer to their union on social media as #couplegoals. For Juan Smalls, the process was not overnight, and the lightbulb went off when he least expected it—during a six-hour flight delay at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport en route back home to Atlanta.

There’s a three-day period in Lovell Lykaon’s life where he has no recollection of the events that transpired that caused him to be admitted into the hospital as a non-disabled person, only to leave with all of his limbs amputated. The 27-year-old Atlanta native, graphic designer, musician, and adult entertainer tells The Reckoning that his usual stroll in the park during the fall of 2019 turned out to be the beginning of a dramatic shift in his life within a matter of days.

Perry Meeks, 39, master barber and owner of The Grain Grooming Studio in Buckhead is affectionately called Blanca by many of his clients—a reference to the character and mother of The House of Evangelista played by trans actress MJ Rodriguez on the hit show “POSE.” The Grain is nestled on the corner of North Fulton Drive before a row of beautiful homes in Buckhead, and if you drive too fast you’ll most likely miss it. But the same can’t be said for the Black gay men and other members of the community who regularly flock to Meeks’ shop for his cutting expertise and the de facto community center environment he’s created in the absence of an actual LGBTQ center in Atlanta. At The Grain, Meeks and his staff are providing more than just haircuts, they’re changing the narrative about how Black gay men should expect to be treated once they enter a Black barbershop by expanding on the model that has historically been unwelcoming to gay men by making the experience more inclusive.

During that visit, Nolan invited me to meet him at James’ house for a few libations before his flight back to St. Louis. James was the consummate host, and he welcomed me into his home as if we were old friends. We were a group of Black gay men sharing a bit of what we all hoped that the New Year would bring our way. None of us could have predicted the confluence of crises that would play out in 2020, and James certainly had no way of knowing that this New Year’s celebration would be his last. This time, Nolan was coming to Atlanta, not to visit James, but to attend his funeral. James, a healthy man in his mid-40s, was one of the more than 350,000 Americans to die of COVID-19.

Winter is always a unique season for gay independent filmmaker Davien Harlis, who is currently basking in the success of his second feature film, “Some Kind Of Christmas,” which is considered by many to be the first-ever holiday-themed film centering Black gay characters. Harlis debuted the film to Atlanta audiences over a three-day period in November at Cinevision to enthusiastic and sold-out audiences, and is gearing up to share the film during the increasingly popular online “Black, Gay, stuck at home” (BGSAH) series on December 18.

Award-winning chef Deborah VanTrece is laying it all on the line. The highly-respected chef and owner of “Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours” in West Midtown has had to reinvent the model for her successful soul food restaurant more times than she could have ever imagined in 2020. But during times of uncertainty and stress, clarity is not often far behind–or in VanTrece’s case—the desire to no longer publicly sugarcoat the challenges brought on by the pandemic, and the racism that she and other Black colleagues have endured in professional kitchens long before the pandemic upended the restaurant industry.

“This is our time. This is our moment. We are at a very critical juncture as a country and as Black people we’ve always been at a critical juncture, but at this moment I believe that things are shifting.” Devin Barrington-Ward speaks to Charles Stephens for The Reckoning.

Queer couple Ja’Mel Ware, 32, and Alphonso Mills, 29, avoided each other for months after they first met at The Vision Cathedral of Atlanta in 2018. The avoidance—a result of excitement, fear, and an internal knowing that the journey they were about to embark upon would be different than any relationship they’d ever experienced—was cemented during a recent Thanksgiving trip to Disney World. It would prove to be a full-circle moment for Ware, who until recently associated the “most magical place on earth” with one of his most painful childhood memories.

Today, December 1, 2020, is World AIDS Day. And as we reflect on the lives lost to the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic, we also celebrate the resiliency of those living and thriving with HIV. Michael Ward, 34, is one of those individuals. In a year rife with devastating loss, global financial instability, food insecurity, mental health challenges, and a lack of national leadership in response to the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans were forced to navigate life in unfamiliar ways and with varying degrees of success. Ward, whose public profile increased in 2020 is no exception. As the host of CNPs “Revolutionary Health,” a weekly Facebook Live series focused on the health of Black queer men, and as co-creator of “Black, Gay, stuck at home,” a virtual film series centering Black LGBTQ stories and filmmakers, not only is Ward’s visibility increasing, but his vulnerability and willingness to speak about his experience of being a Black gay man living with HIV is as well.

Lyrik London is not interested in being the token gay man for heterosexual consumption, nor is he interested in dimming his light, his strut, his speech, or his art to make others comfortable. To paraphrase the great Black lesbian poet Audre Lorde, he insists on defining himself for himself, rather than being crunched into other people’s fantasies and eaten alive.

For a moment on the evening of November 3, 2020, many Democratic voters feared a repeat of election night 2016, which saw former Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, the clear favorite to win the presidency, end the night in defeat. Granted, many factors ended Clinton’s historic candidacy that paved the way for the Trump era in American politics, but almost no single decision made by the Clinton Campaign came under the amount of scrutiny that the Electoral College faced following Clinton’s devastating loss.

With early voting in Georgia scheduled to end on October 30, and with more than 3.2 million Georgians having already cast their ballot as of October 27, according to data from the secretary of state’s office, early voting turnout has broken records in the state—and depending on who you ask—is an indication of a blue wave in favor of a Biden presidency or an influx of Trump supporters who are secretly casting their ballot for the incumbent. Regardless of which candidate will receive the popular vote on election night, it’s the electoral college that matters—a painful civics lesson that many Americans were forced to relearn on election night 2016. Elections have consequences. And judging by the lines that stretched for blocks and lasted for hours at many polling places throughout metro Atlanta, voters appear to be using the power of their vote in response to a litany of shortcomings from national leadership.

These days, Jericho Brown is planning his laughter. Despite living through a pandemic, the last five months in the life of this Louisiana-bred, Atlanta-based poet certainly isn’t lacking for reasons to evoke joy, after all, he is the author of “The Tradition,” which earned him the 2020 Pulitizer Prize for Poetry—a historic moment in which Brown became one of two openly queer Black men to be awarded the prestigious honor in the same year. Much like his poetry, Brown’s laughter is infectious and unrestrained, soothing and measured, jarring and familiar; delivered with the intonation and cadence of a Kat Williams stand-up routine that leaves you bellowing over in laughter only to realize that he’s delivered a gut-punch that is simultaneously reflective and unrelenting. Jericho Brown is poetry in motion. He’s also in demand. One glimpse at the 326 text messages on his phone, many of which are congratulatory messages sent after his win, speaks to his impact on the world and the literary community. But despite the Pulitzer Prize elevating his career to unimaginable heights, Brown is embracing the journey and prioritizing laughter.

As Americans are laser-focused on the upcoming presidential election on November 3, there’s another local election that may have slipped under the radar for some, but like all down-ballot races, is equally important. Longtime Atlanta politician, Kwanza Hall (D-District 5), 49, a former member of the Atlanta City Council and a former mayoral candidate, is facing a runoff on December 1 against challenger Dr. Robert Franklin (D-District 5) after neither candidate secured fifty-percent of the vote during a special election in September to fill the District 5 congressional seat left vacant after the death of the late civil rights icon John Lewis.

The Reckoning spoke with Hall, who has been endorsed by Lewis’s son, John Miles-Lewis, about his campaign, his political platform, his allyship to the LGBT community, and his agenda for his short stay in Congress, if elected.