Black men making films about Black men is a revolutionary act!

The circumstances under which I became familiar with the work of Joe Beam very much mirror the dismay he himself had in discovering the lack of Black gay male voices in literature.

In summer of 2015, I attended a book event at the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia. The event focused around a then recently released anthology titled, "Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam's Call," a collection of writings about and inspired by the work of Joe Beam. A few of the anthology's contributors were there, reading excerpts of their pieces aloud to the packed audience in William Way's ballroom. While listening, I remember getting upset as the contributors honored and reminisced about Joe. Not because I wasn't enjoying the event, but because I was receiving an education that I should have gotten long before the event. I thought, "How could it be that as a Philadelphia native, creative entrepreneur, and Black gay activist that I don't know more about Joe Beam, who himself was all of these things?" He paved the way for everything I had done professionally and politically up until that point and I had no idea. So, from that moment on, I was determined to form a connection with  Joe on my own and share his story through film.