Amandla Stenberg Talks Being Black & Queer in Very Straight Hollywood

Over the weekend, openly gay The Hate U Give star Amandla Stenberg was honored with this year's Visibility Award at the Human Rights Campaign's annual New York gala. 

"I must be pretty darn blessed if I can stand up here and accept an award just for being me," the actress, who came out as gay in June of 2018, said at the beginning of her acceptance speech. "It can definitely be strange to be vulnerable in matters of personal identity when you’re navigating it in a public manner, specifically within the very straight confines of Hollywood. I’m super thankful for the recognition of that challenge, but I also know there are so many others who do not have the support that I do who definitely aren't receiving any awards for being out and proud. So I dedicate this award to those people. I dedicate to everyone in this room. I never would have felt comfortable being me had I not seen the unapologetic and brilliant way in which you do you."

Later in her speech Amandla talked about the importance of representation in helping people discover who they are and their sexuality, especially for queer women of color. 

"Had I had more representations of black gay women growing up, I probably would have come to conclusions around my sexuality much earlier because I would have had more of a conception around what was possible and okay," she said. 

She continued: 

"Reflecting on this makes me recognize the weight of this award and just what visibility means. It is a privilege to create visibility just by existing, but I feel like I have a lot of work to do in exhibiting just what it means to be visibly queer and proud for those that have been steeped in self-denial for too long."

Watch the entirety of Amandla's inspiring speech in the video below!