“This leads to a lot of unnecessary questions from people”, Ibi tells PinkNews. She fears just being seen with Goshen could trigger suspicions, especially as she is dating a person who doesn’t conform to the societal standards of femininity or masculinity. Ibi likes to take photographs of herself and her partner, Goshen, who she has been dating for over a year, in their shared apartment or when they are out having a good time.īefore publishing them on her Instagram, she always selects the “close friends” option. “If my family says they don’t want to have anything to do with me when I come out, which would hurt, I know I won’t be dependent on them,” she says.
The couple are considering leaving Nigeria, but Ada is also preparing for an alternative path. But right now she is working towards financial independence. “One of Blessing’s love languages is physical touch and there are times when she wants to hold me in public and I pull back because I’m really conscious of my environment and in that moment I can actually see how hurt she feels when I do that,” she says.Īda wants to come out to her family – she’s started to put “more queer content” on her WhatsApp statuses, “because it creates more of a soft landing for me when I eventually come out”. I have so many super badass, bad bitch, trans women friends that I’m just like, ‘I bet people think this shit is a walk in the fucking park because of how you get up and get out the house every day and be this badass bitch.’ But I know it’s fucking hard.Ada is aware of how her not being out impacts Blessing. “… All the beautiful Black trans women that I have in my life that I’m able to just witness - not only living their true fucking power - but be courageous and be fearless and then fiercely educate everybody around them and just be a force in this world! They do it so effortlessly that it comes off almost easy to people who don’t know them. “I’m really appreciative for the people who take time to do that,” she said. She thanked her fans and loved-ones for helping her navigate “teachable moments,” admitting she sometimes has missteps when addressing gender and sexual identity. Kehlani also expressed optimism about the future, as she sees society becoming much more accepting and inclusive, which has ultimately allowed other LGBTQ artists to express themselves more freely. “That’s all privilege and I think that there are quite a few artists who were truly at the forefront but weren’t able to make the strides that I was able to make being 100 percent myself because of the way they present and the biases and the phobias of the American public and the world … I’ve been lucky, super lucky.”
“… I don’t walk down the street and people look at me and go, ‘Oh, I bet she’s queer.’ Or ‘I bet that she’s into women’ or anything like that because of the way I present,” she continued. She expanded on her privilege while addressing the queer artists who came before her-many of whom were denied opportunities due to societal biases as well as trans- and homophobia. It’s tougher for Black masculine gay women.” “I have a lot of privilege cisgender-presenting, straight-presenting,” she told the outlet. “I think a lot of artists who we talk about and say, ‘Oh, they had to come out or they had to do this,’ a lot of them can’t hide it. SZA Calls Kehlani a ‘Living Goddess’ After Comments About Success and Colorism