BlackOut UK
I heard about Black Out UK when I attended Croydon Pride at Wandle Park in 2019. Black Out were there to celebrate and promote their website www.blkoutuk.com and came with giant flags, including a variation on the mainstream rainbow pride flag. I wanted to understand the significance of this pride flag variation and how it relates to diversity and inclusion within the LGBT+ scene.
The following images were used with permission from BlackOut UK.
BlackOut UK is a not-for-profit voluntary collective of gay black men who celebrate the diversity of views and experiences of gay black men. Founded by Croydon boy Dr Rob Berkeley MBE, and PrEPster co-founder Marc Thompson, BlackOut UK aims to improve the visibility of gay black men and create physical and digital space where necessary conversations can happen between queer black men.
Racism exists within the LGBT+ community. As people battling with our own oppression, it is often assumed that our community is so progressive that we are immune to discrimination. However, we too are plagued by issues of systemic racism within our community, with everyday examples (what some people might refer to as ‘micro aggressions’) that include exclusionary preferences on gay dating apps, underrepresentation in the media, and cultural appropriation by the white mainstream. Groups like Black Out grow out of necessity when people have been singled out, rejected or tokenised because of the colour of their skin.
“Black men loving Black men is the revolutionary act.” - Joseph Beam
David McAlmont performing at Croydon Pride 2019 on the main stage.
Croydon is one of the most culturally diverse Boroughs in London, and it stands to reason that Croydon Pride should therefore represent all facets of the LGBT+ community. One of my lasting memories from Croydon Pride in 2019 was watching legendary Croydon born musician David McAlmont perform on stage in a sexy cop costume, holding a giant flag with the words ‘Black Out UK’. From the audience another flag was waved, a rainbow pride flag with a difference.
Progress Pride Flag, seen at EuroPride, Vienna 2019. Copyright of Bojan Cvetanovic
The Rainbow pride flag has gone through many changes since its inception in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, who never copyrighted the design. The original colours each represented a concept like healing, spirit, sex etc, but over the years stripes were removed or compiled to make it more economically viable to produce the six colour flag we recognise today. In 2017, Philadelphia released a version of the flag containing a black and brown stripe to represent the people of colour who have been integral to the LGBT+ movement but seldom recognised. By 2020 we were introduced to the Progressive Pride flag which features the regular six stripes with a chevron of black, brown, pink, white and blue to represent the inclusion of people of colour and trans people.
Revolutionary Love T-shirt 2019, by BlackOut
Black Out UK have been present at Pride events across the UK including Black Pride. In 2019, the group released a special collection of t-shirts for Pride called ‘Revolutionary Love’. The collection celebrated the legacy of revolutionary black queer icons and a reissue of a rainbow pride t-shirt that was updated with the brown and black stripe and Black Power fist symbol. In 2020 they released the Black Out Hub, a digital safe space and app made for black queer men to communicate and network. Click below to access the BlackOut Hub!
