Actor Justice Smith, best known for films like Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, has come out as queer amid the Black Lives Matter protests in the country over the death of George Floyd.
Smith made the revelation in an Instagram post on Friday and also used his coming out to call for the inclusion of black queer and trans people in the movement against violence and systemic racism.The 24-year-old actor shared a video from a protest in New Orleans.”We chanted ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’, ‘Black Queer Lives Matter’, ‘All 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,” he wrote alongside the clip.Smith also shared that he and Queen Sugar actor Nicholas Ashe, 25, are a couple.Using the hashtags #blackboyjoy, #blacklove and #blackqueerlove, Smith said of Ashe, “You’ve been my rock and guiding light through all of this and I love you so much. I know that on the other side of this is change, though the fight is far from over.”The actor reiterated the importance of including black queer and trans voices in the ongoing protests.”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,” Smith said.Revolution, he said, is about “the right to exist”.”To live and prosper in public. Without fear of persecution or threat of violence,” he added. (PTI)