Monday, December 03, 2012

JET Magazine celebrates marriage of African-American gay couple

There is nothing more invigorating than opening your computer and being hit in the face with good news:

According to GLAAD:

JET Magazine, the nation’s preeminent African-American biweekly magazine, in its December 10th issue, featured Dr. Ravi Perry and Paris Prince as part of its December JET LOVE wedding series.
Ravi, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Mississippi State University, and Paris, a licensed real estate broker and anti-discrimination compliance expert, were married in August at their home in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The biweekly feature, which traditionally showcases straight couples, includes a short bio of the couple and explains how the couple fell in love.

"We are excited and honored to have our wedding featured in the historic yet ever-current JET Magazine.  Long the hallmark in publishing news, culture, and events pertaining to the Black American experience, Jet's publishing of our union is historic" said Ravi and Paris.

 As part of our year-round work to raise visibility of LGBT people of color in the media and to grow acceptance of LGBT people in these communities, GLAAD worked closely with Ravi and Paris to help them shape their story and also worked with JET to feature the couple.

Over the years, GLAAD has highlighted the work of JET Magazine, including drawing attention to their coverage of LGBT stories such as their feature on Kye Allums, a former George Washington University student who made history as the first Division I college basketball player to come out as transgender while competing, and  applaud JET Magazine for continuing to recognize that all loving and committed couples deserve respect. Last year, JET Magazine featured its first lesbian wedding, telling the beautiful story of Nyema Vernon and Dr. Tenika Jackson.

I'm sure there will be haters but who cares? Let 'em hate. To this gay black man right here who is writing this post, something like this in JET Magazine is long overdue.

And the visibility is very much needed in the black community.

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