This year for Black History Month, we launched Black, Out & Proud, an interview series with Black queer celebrities across various industries, from music and fashion to acting and beauty.
One of the many questions we asked was about their first queer crushes. Here's how everyone replied.
Pose star Angelica Ross: "My first queer crush was Darryl Stephens in Noah's Arc. Hey, boo!"
Rapper Da Brat: "My first queer crush was...Michael Jackson? I didn't have a first girl queer crush."
Beauty entrepreneur Jesseca "Judy" Harris-Dupart: "My first queer crush was Da Brat."
Comedian Kalen Allen: "My first queer crush was Usher. In kindergarten, I saw him on the Confessions tour. I was there thinking, Wow, this is changing my life."
Shea Couleé from RuPaul's Drag Race: "I was really young. I was 4 years old. It was Patrick Swayze in the movie Ghost. When he was making that clay pot with Demi Moore, I wasn't looking at Demi Moore."
Rapper Monaleo: "I always thought women were beautiful. I don't know who it was first. Maybe Kehlani."
Nicco Annan from P-Valley: "Gene Anthony Ray from Fame. He played Leroy. He had those thick thighs like me. I was like, 'That's mine!'"
Actor Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor: "My first queer crush was a girl named Carolyn. She used to ride the bus with me — Bus 211 in Magnolia, Mississippi. Oh my god, I was in love with her!"
Rap Sh!t's Jonica Booth: "I love Nia Long, but I also love Hennessy [Carolina]! She needs to stop playing! Hennessy needs to call me. I don't have [money] like Offset has with Cardi B, but I got a little somethin', somethin'!"
Rapper Kidd Kenn: "Tyga. I [saw his] OnlyFans...I'm in love."
Reality TV star Ts Madison: "My first crush was Larenz Tate. I wish he was queer. Chile, I would have sliced that thing up and sopped it up with a biscuit."
Mal Wright from The Ultimatum: Queer Love: "Nia Long — or Phylicia Rashad. I had a little thing for Topanga, too. She was spicy in a different way. I was like, Wait a minute. What am I feeling for this girl?"
RuPaul's Drag Race's Monét X Change: "Raz-B from B2K."
The Blackening's Dewayne Perkins: "Thomas Ian Nicholas. He was the lead in Rookie of the Year, the baseball movie. I remember being young and thinking, This man is everything. He was so charming, cool, and athletic."
All Boys Aren't Blue author George M. Johnson: "My first queer crush was Allan Houston on the New York Knicks. He was a shooting guard when they went to the finals in 1999. He was something to look at."
Brian Michael Smith from 9-1-1: Lone Star: "You tryna get me in trouble with my wife? I'm passing this question!"
Singer and songwriter Iniko: "Do animals count? I'm thinking of Nala from The Lion King — she was so pretty! Also, Janelle Monáe. Before that, Corbin Bleu. His face was so soft. He had the big curls. It was giving what it needed to give."
Taste! You can read more of our interviews from Black, Out & Proud here.
