Imagining Black Queer Futures: Lady Phyll Guest Edits DIVA Magazine
Black queer people have always imagined beyond the limits placed upon us.
I am incredibly proud to have guest-edited this special edition of DIVA Magazine, dedicated to Black Queer Futures.
At the heart of this issue is a question I return to often: what becomes possible when Black LGBTQIA+ people are given the space not only to survive the present, but to imagine the future?
For generations, our communities have created possibility in places where possibility did not always appear to exist. We have built community where there was none, created movements when we were told to wait, challenged systems that were never designed with us in mind, and found ways to make joy, culture and family on our own terms.
Our futures deserve that same imagination.
Creating space for our stories
When I was invited to guest edit this issue, I wanted it to reflect the brilliance, complexity, creativity and political imagination that exists across our communities.
It was important to me that Black lesbian, bi, trans, queer and asexual voices were not simply included in conversations about the future, but were helping to shape those conversations.
Across the issue, contributors explore activism and accountability, mental health and wellbeing, academia, solidarity, storytelling, environmental justice and the ways we can collectively create something better.
These are conversations about the challenges we face today, certainly. But they are also conversations about possibility.
Because Black queer futures should not only be imagined through the lens of what we are fighting against.
We must also have the freedom to imagine what we are fighting for.
The power of storytelling
It is also a joy to have the brilliant T’Nia Miller as the cover star of this special edition.
T’Nia's work, presence and commitment to storytelling embody so much of the spirit behind this issue: visibility with purpose, creativity without limitation and the courage to occupy space unapologetically.
Throughout the edition, she is joined by an extraordinary collection of voices contributing their experiences, ideas and visions for what comes next.
I am deeply grateful to every person who trusted this issue with their words, their experiences and their thinking — and to the DIVA team for trusting me to help shape this edition.
An invitation to imagine
Black Queer Futures is not simply an issue about where we are.
It is an invitation to think beyond the present.
To imagine our communities thriving.
To imagine our trans siblings safe and protected.
To imagine Black LGBTQIA+ people leading institutions, creating culture, shaping policy, telling our own stories and building movements.
To imagine joy without qualification.
To imagine freedom without having to ask permission.
The future is not something that simply happens to us. We have a right to participate in creating it.
And I hope this edition encourages all of us to imagine boldly.
When you think about Black queer futures, what future do you want to help create?
Get the Black Queer Futures issue
The special Black Queer Futures edition of DIVA Magazine, guest-edited by Lady Phyll, is available now.
[GET YOUR COPY → https://www.divadirect.info/diva-oct-nov-2026-pre-order/
Photography: Ruth Crafer
