Justice Smith calls for more queer and trans inclusion in Black Lives Matter

Actor Justice Smith has shared that he is queer and in a relationship with fellow actor Nicholas Ashe, while highlighting the need for queer and transgender voices to be included in the Black lives Matter movement.

Smith, who has starred in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Detective Pikachu and All The Bright Places, shared the news about his sexuality and relationship on Instagram. His partner Nicholas Ashe appears as Micah West in the TV series Queer Sugar. 

In his Instagram post Smith shared that he and Ashe attended a Black Lives Matter protest in New Orleans but he was disappointed that people were not as enthusiastic as chanting “Queer Black Lives Matter” or “Trans Black Lives Matter”.

“As a black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added. 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. You are trying to push yourself through the door of a system designed against you, and then shut the door behind you.” Smith said. 

“It is in our conditioning to get as close to whiteness, straightness, maleness as we can because that’s where the power is. And if we appeal to it, maybe it’ll give us a slice. But the revolution is not about appeal. It is about demanding what should have been given to us from the beginning. What should have been given to black, queer, and trans individuals from the beginning. Which is the right to exist. To live and prosper in public. Without fear of persecution or threat of violence.” 

He signed off the post thanking Ashe who he described as a “rock and guiding light through all of this.”

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