25-year old Get Down actor Justice Smith’s Instagram handle is aptly named ‘@standup4justice’. A penetrating voice amongst a number of Black entertainment stars who spoke up for the Black Lives Matter movement in Summer 2020, Justice used the opportunity to reveal his queerness in an Instagram post captioned: “I want to reiterate this sentiment: if your revolution does not include Black Queer voices, it is anti-black. If your revolution is okay with letting black trans people like #TonyMcDade slip through the cracks in order to solely liberate black cishet men, it is anti-black.”

Justice used this caption to frame a picture of himself and then-boyfriend Queen Sugar star Nicholas Ashe kissing in a photobooth, to underscore that Black gay and trans lives matter, too, and should be visible. Since publicly confirming his queerness, the actor has gone on to secure the lead role of Chester in the new LGBTQ-focused HBO teen series Genera+ion, a role he is thrilled with as he finally gets to be “gay as fuck.”

Text Jason Okundaye