Ariana DeBose has opened up about being a Black queer actress in Hollywood, her favorite things about being queer, and her coming out story in an intimate new interview published on Monday with British Vogue.
In the article, the West Side Story actress said representation was “paramount” in Hollywood. “It’s really important to grow up and see humans moving through the world that show you possibilities, who look like you, sound like you, who may identify like you,” DeBose said. “The more positive representation and accurate representation we have in the world, the more we can understand ourselves better.”
In many ways, DeBose embodies the power of representation; in March, she became the first openly queer Black woman to win an Academy Award in an acting category for her role as Anita in West Side Story. She’s brought her identity front and center as an actor, referring to herself as an “openly queer woman of color and Afro-Latina who found her strength in life through art” in her acceptance speech.
In her British Vogue interview, DeBose further attested to the strength of the queer community, sharing that she couldn’t choose “just one joyful thing” about being LGBTQ+. “I mean, we’re fabulous, darling,” she said. “We’re diverse. We are loving, we are accepting. We’re like one big family. That doesn’t mean we don’t disagree from time to time. But I think discourse is positive.”
The actor also shared her belief that “advocacy is joyful,” pointing to the way that lesbians and queer women showed up for gay and bisexual men amid the AIDS crisis in the ‘80s.
“I think that’s really important, and how we all continue to show up for our transgender brothers and sisters and non-binary humans,” DeBose said. “I think the way that we rally around each other is important to note. And it’s, I think, an example perhaps to the rest of the world at large how we can be supportive of each other and also find joy in our differences.”
DeBose shared further thoughts on advocacy, stating that “those who consider themselves allies have to really start to show up in a different, bigger, broader way.”
“When you see something, say something, raise your voice,” DeBose said. “Write to your government officials about how you would want to be treated in the world. Because if you wouldn’t want it to happen to you, I can tell you something, we don’t want it to happen to us, you know?”
Allyship is more important than ever in the midst of the current crisis facing LGBTQ+ people, which DeBose also acknowledged. “We are taking many steps backwards, which is troubling,” DeBose said. “In my country, there are groups of people who are actively trying to take away our voting rights: people of colour, people who belong to marginalised communities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, right now our government’s coming after women’s rights, or women’s reproductive rights. And that applies to the trans community, by the way, and the non-binary community.”
“And the sad thing is, if they’re willing to go after those rights, they are willing to go after marriage equality, they are willing to continue to take away voting rights,” DeBose added. “And those rights are human rights. It’s my honour to stand up and speak out and do everything within my power in both a small and large way to try and change that.”
She added, “We’ve always been here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
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