“i found out about @cascade_hu on Twitter and Tumblr and just through research i was doing before i got to Howard.  i’d just come out to people in my high school after i graduated and i needed to find queer people, queer black people in particular, cuz i knew queer people in high school, but there’s something about black queer people that i wanted to be around. i went to the first mixer during my freshmen year and i’ve been consistently involved ever since. probably one of the best organizations i’ve ever been about part of.”

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“As a black, queer female student of the Atlanta University Center, I must navigate spaces that often require me to choose which identities I being into any given room. In an HBCU setting, a culture that is often cultivated in patriarchy and heteronormativity, position race as the central marginalized identity in discussing matter of oppression.

In the fever of achieving equality, an “oppression Olympics” ensues, denying my lived experiences that are much more nuanced than a linear discussion of just race. Daily, I find personal empowerment is disrupting those systems by consistently bringing all of my identities into space unapologetically. I am not letting the experiences of my full self be denied or silenced. It is my action in greater fabric of resistance done daily by folks by folk who stand at the crossroads of intersectional oppression. It is not enough to just speak out of my blackness, but also what it means to be black and queer specifically, black and a woman specifically, a black woman and queer specifically, and much more. All of those factors make for a truth that disrupts the monolith of my existence that is always being made. I am not just a black student. But a black, queer, radical, femme woman AND more. And It is an act of radical self-love to resist being factored down to any singular category. ” –Lexus

I knew Howard University was the school for me when I attended Youth Pride in Dupont Circle during my senior year of high school and amongst the predominantly white table vendors, I was shocked to see a table full of beautiful, black queer people representing one of the most distinguished historically black universities in the country. Their overwhelming warmth and love for me convinced me that Howard was the emblem of progression in the black community. Though I was not totally disappointed, especially after hearing about the accomplishments of powerhouse black LGBTQ activists such as Victoria Kirby York, Sterling Washington, and Amari Ice, I realized that the obstacles facing our community had a different dynamic. I could be black, queer and masculine presenting with the Coalition of Activist Students Celebrating the Acceptance of Diversity and Equality (CASCADE), but in the classroom or amongst other organizations, only my blackness seemed pertinent to the conversation. Gender was and still is a non sequitur. I have been told that there are organizations that are not meant to serve as a platform for the LGBTQ movement and in those spaces, I wondered if they would stand next to me at Pride just as we stand together during Million Man Marches and Black Lives Matter Rallies. Now, as a graduating senior, I am in a place where I accept my whole self and I expect those around me to do the same, even if it means accepting that I will bring ALL of my identities into the conversation. At this point, it is a matter of getting the administration and faculty to do the same.