To young Black LGBTQIA+ kids out there,

This letter is laced with the love I only wish my younger self had, this is a letter for you, and you only. I’m not sure where you are in life, what your situation is. But I do know that being Black while also LGBTQIA+ is hard, and I can’t promise that you won’t feel the impact of the things that are happening around you or even inside of you. But what I can promise is that I—and many more of us—will be beside you, hand in hand in the name of resilience, fighting for liberation and defending joy and love every step of the way for us; for Black LGBTQIA+ folks.

I know that the future looks and feels deeply uncertain, I’m scared too. I don’t know if I’m doing the right things, or if my decisions with my identities were the right choice—but it is exactly in moments like this that we call into the space, the love of our ancestors.

We must, and can, keep each other safe during hard times like these.

In this moment, my loves, it is just as important that you treat yourselves, and each other, with the grace, gentleness, love, and compassion that this country has always and is still continuing to deny us. This means doing things with, and being with the people who make you happy. Cultivating Black joy and radical self-love for yourself will be instrumental to developing the resilience needed to fight another day. Find your squad, find the folks who will throw hands for you both intellectually and physically. Nurture your physical and spiritual self – however that may look.

I hope that in the coming days, you are able to find joy, see yourself reflected in other beautiful black faces, be with your people, and get the opportunity to change someone’s day.

I am committed to loving all of you, to recognizing all of you, to validating each and every single one of you. Even if I don’t know all of you, I want you to know that I hold each one of ya’ll tight, ‘cause you are all I got. I dedicate my advocacy to you; I dedicate my education for your prosperity.

Loving each other, holding each other, caring for each other in a world that seeks to destroy us.

We love you and we see you.

I believe that you have full autonomy over who you want to be, and how you want to live your life.

Love,

Briannah

P.S., You can’t separate your Blackness and your queerness/transness, and you shouldn’t have to for anyone. So, don’t.

Briannah Hill is a GLAAD Campus Ambassador and a senior at the University of Colorado, Boulder studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. They are the co-president of the QTPOC club on campus where they advocate mainly for queer and trans youth of color.