PS: One of the key findings I found interesting is that Black queer youth are just as diverse in their sexual identities and gender expression as non-Black queer youth. Was that known quantitatively before this study?
MPF: It's interesting — it was there, and I think a lot of people haven't dug deeper into that. But there have been studies that have come out that have found that Black youth are more likely, even, sometimes — compared to non-Black youth or white youth — to identify as LGBTQ.
"Once we say, 'Okay, now we're talking about Black LGBTQ youth,' it's easy to just say, 'We've gone deep enough.'"
And so I think it's oftentimes overlooked. I wouldn't say it hasn't been out there before, though; I've personally seen news articles about this topic. But I do think it's important to point out, because we often think of identities as sort of monolithic. Once we say, "Okay, now we're talking about Black LGBTQ youth," it's easy to just say, "We've gone deep enough." But it's important to continue to go deeper and look at this as continuing to be an array of identities, even within this smaller subset of the population.
PS: I would imagine reading these findings, it might be very affirming for some folks — just to understand that the diversity is there in terms of sexual identity and gender identity.
MPF: Absolutely. It gives a voice to youth who may feel that, "I can't identity that way because it's not something my community is, I haven't heard that in my community." You do have a larger representation, too. I think people like Janelle Monae identifying as pansexual, [who] I believe recently has sort of said, "I'm not necessarily cisgender, either," gives a voice to these youth to say, "I can have these more complex identities and also be Black."
![PS: One of the key findings I found interesting is that Black queer youth are just as diverse in their sexual identities and gender expression as non-Black queer youth. Was that known quantitatively before this study?
MPF: It's interesting — it was there, and I think a lot of people haven't dug deeper into that. But there have been studies that have come out that have found that Black youth are more likely, even, sometimes — compared to non-Black youth or white youth — to identify as LGBTQ.
"Once we say, 'Okay, now we're talking about Black LGBTQ youth,' it's easy to just say, 'We've gone deep enough.'"
And so I think it's oftentimes overlooked. I wouldn't say it hasn't been out there before, though; I've personally seen news articles about this topic. But I do think it's important to point out, because we often think of identities as sort of monolithic. Once we say, "Okay, now we're talking about Black LGBTQ youth," it's easy to just say, "We've gone deep enough." But it's important to continue to go deeper and look at this as continuing to be an array of identities, even within this smaller subset of the population.
PS: I would imagine reading these findings, it might be very affirming for some folks — just to understand that the diversity is there in terms of sexual identity and gender identity.
MPF: Absolutely. It gives a voice to youth who may feel that, "I can't identity that way because it's not something my community is, I haven't heard that in my community." You do have a larger representation, too. I think people like Janelle Monae identifying as pansexual, [who] I believe recently has sort of said, "I'm not necessarily cisgender, either," gives a voice to these youth to say, "I can have these more complex identities and also be Black."](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/nhxvvTISHWO1Ec8uERsjfu-TNsE/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2020/10/30/978/n/1922729/4715e0d761fc2c4f_GettyImages-1227777140/i/PS-One-key-findings-I-found-interesting-is-that-Black-queer.jpg "PS: One of the key findings I found interesting is that Black queer youth are just as diverse in their sexual identities and gender expression as non-Black queer youth. Was that known quantitatively before this study?
MPF: It's interesting — it was there, and I think a lot of people haven't dug deeper into that. But there have been studies that have come out that have found that Black youth are more likely, even, sometimes — compared to non-Black youth or white youth — to identify as LGBTQ.
\"Once we say, 'Okay, now we're talking about Black LGBTQ youth,' it's easy to just say, 'We've gone deep enough.'\"
And so I think it's oftentimes overlooked. I wouldn't say it hasn't been out there before, though; I've personally seen news articles about this topic. But I do think it's important to point out, because we often think of identities as sort of monolithic. Once we say, \"Okay, now we're talking about Black LGBTQ youth,\" it's easy to just say, \"We've gone deep enough.\" But it's important to continue to go deeper and look at this as continuing to be an array of identities, even within this smaller subset of the population.
PS: I would imagine reading these findings, it might be very affirming for some folks — just to understand that the diversity is there in terms of sexual identity and gender identity.
MPF: Absolutely. It gives a voice to youth who may feel that, \"I can't identity that way because it's not something my community is, I haven't heard that in my community.\" You do have a larger representation, too. I think people like Janelle Monae identifying as pansexual, [who] I believe recently has sort of said, \"I'm not necessarily cisgender, either,\" gives a voice to these youth to say, \"I can have these more complex identities and also be Black.\"")
