LGBTQ+ Creators to Watch in 2021

June is Pride Month and a celebration of the LGBTQ+ Community. We wanted to showcase our favorite up and coming, as well as OG creators and influencers.

History of Pride Month

On a hot summer’s night in New York on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside. Among the many leaders of the riots was black, trans, bisexual woman, Marsha P. Johnson — leading the movement to continue over six days with protests and clashes. The message was clear; protestors demanded the establishment of places where LGBT+ people could go and be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest.

Pride Month is largely credited as being started by bisexual activist, Brenda Howard. Known as, “The Mother of Pride,” a year after the Stonewall Riots, Brenda organized Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade. This eventually morphed into what we now know as the New York City Pride March, and from where parades and marches across the world evolved.

the_stonewall_inn_photo_ben_hider_getty_images_141510668_resized.jpg

LGBTQ+ Creators To Follow

Cristian Dennis

Cristian Dennis is a 24 year-old African American content creator who makes beauty, fashion and lifestyle content on social media. Whether he is doing makeup or wig tutorials, dancing to the latest trend or playing pranks on his boyfriend, creator Tyshon Lawrence, this superstar creates entertaining and engaging content daily across all social platforms.

Jony Sios

Jony Sios is a 23 year-old social media creator based in the UK who is best known for his innovative costume and makeup transformation videos. Responsible for the rise of the Main Character challenge - Jony is a charismatic performer who was featured in TikTok's Top 100 of 2020.

Tyler Gaca

Tyler Gaca, is a 26-year old artist and content creator based in Los Angeles, CA. He is best known for his creative, comedic, and “chaotic” TikTok videos. He was named TikTok's LGBTQ Trailblazer in 2020 and is also an advocate against racism and intolerance.

Tyshon Lawrence

22 year-old Tyshon Lawrence is a content creator that wears many hats. When he isn't creating comedy skits and reaction videos, Tyshon loves to explore fashion trends and find new ways to express his outgoing and bold personality.

Antonio Garza

Antonio is an 18 year fast rising YouTube sensation who went viral with her beauty and makeup transformation videos. Her self-titled YouTube channel has earned over 3.6 million subscribers, and she has a reach of over 9.8 million across all platforms. She is known for her mastery of makeup palettes, Antonio is a tongue-in-cheek breath of fresh air.

Blair Imani

Blair Imani is a critically-acclaimed historian, outspoken advocate and activist, and dynamic public speaker. The author of two historical books: Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History and Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and The Black American Dream, she centers women and girls, global Black communities, and the LGBTQ community.

Jazzmyne Robbins

Jazzmyne is a plus size model, activist, and Buzzfeed video producer who curates content celebrating color, curves, mental health, and the LGBTQIA+ community. She helped launch the Diversity and Inclusion program at Buzzfeed driving conversations that weren’t spoken about and making content around people just like her.

Jesse Sullivan

Jesse is a 31-year-old Transgender dad based in LA, who uses his platforms to showcase how he is parenting his 12-year-old daughter, Arlo. He is newly transitioned (Began January 2020 right before the pandemic hit) so his experience has been very different, as most of it has been done at home and not in front of the public. Because of that he has a really unique perspective and has taken to social media in hopes of opening up the conversation around emphasizing the T in LGBTQ+.

Joey Zauzig

Joey has built his brand around the importance of having a strong connection with his audience and having transparent conversations with them. Joey moved to NYC after growing up in Virginia and started his career in Fashion PR & Editorial. After recognizing his true love for fashion, he took a leap of faith to establish his brand and left his corporate job after five years.

Joey is a major advocate and figure in the LGBTQ community and consistently speaks with his audience directly about his journey. He is involved in LGBT Center community service, The Ali Forney Center, and is trained to answer chat messages or texts online from young people who are struggling with issues such as coming out, LGBTQ Identity, Depression and Suicide on the Trevor Project platforms.

Manny Mua

Manny is a beauty creator who has flipped the world of conventional beauty upside down. He began his journey on Youtube less than four years ago in his room in San Diego, California. Since then, he has accumulated over 11M engaged fans who label themselves as “Mannyacs” across his socials. Online, his savvy business knowledge has been recognized by publishers for summits for the likes if AdWeek and Forbes, who placed him on their annual 30 under 30 list for 2018. He's also ventured into acting, taking a leading role on the Youtube Original Series Escape the Night.

Nicolette Mason

A powerful voice in the LGBTQ and plus-size communities, Nicolette Mason breaks the media molds of beauty standards with the mission that people of any size, color, background or sexual orientation should take risks with their style and embrace their inner voice. Featured as one of Forbes Top Fashion Influencers in 2017 Nicolette is a multi-talented writer, design consultant, public speaker, and personality. She previously served on the board for Barbie's efforts to create more inclusive and progressive dolls for future generations, and worked as a consultant for Target for their Ava and Viv plus size line.

PJ and Thomas

Husbands PJ and Thomas launched their Instagram account in 2015 to document their journey taping Down to the Studs: a series showcasing the renovation of their 1950s-era home for HGTV. Today, their devoted following has followed them to YouTube, where they share DIY home improvement tips, recipes, and peeks into their daily life together as an LGBTQIA couple embracing their small-town Tennessee community.

Probably This

Matt and Beau of Probably This are an LGBTQ+ couple living in New Orleans, Louisiana, focusing on all things home and lifestyle. The self-proclaimed "Gay Martha Stewart's" introduce their audience to vintage interior design on their highly engaged Instagram, an innovative twist on Soul Food through their popular recipe series on their namesake blog, and the things they are doing everyday to reduce their impact on the environment, through clean beauty and sustainable shopping.

Team 2 Moms

When Ebony and Denise made their first YouTube video in 2012, they just wanted to celebrate the fact that President Barack Obama had won a second term and had finally declared his support for marriage equality. The positive response to their video was overwhelming and more than eight years later they have amassed a global audience of over 4.7M across Tik Tok, YouTube and Instagram, maintaining their mission of "normalizing" LGBTQIA+ parenting, all while spreading love and positivity. With their 3 children, 9-year-old Olivia and 3-year-old twins Jayden and Lucas, the family share everything in their lives from their journey to having their children to their son Jayden's autism diagnosis.

Terrell & Jarius

Terrell and Jarius are millennial gay dads raising their two darling toddlers in Atlanta, GA. The couple met freshman year of college at a haunted house and got engaged exactly two years following. They bought their first home in 2015 when they were just out of college at the age of 22 and immediately sought a surrogate to start their family before the dynamic duo exchanged vows in 2017. Their unconventional journey has been a beacon of hope for the LGBTQIA+ community, and their mission has been steadfast in breaking stigmas and stereotypes around same-sex parenting.

Jake Thiewes

Jake of Out Motorsports empowers LGBTQ+ and allied automotive and motorsports enthusiasts to show up as their full, authentic selves in every automotive endeavor they pursue and share their stories across all walks of the automotive spectrum. We aim to be the premier community by and for LGBTQ+ and allied automotive and motorsports enthusiasts.

2 Travel Dads

Chris and Rob Taylor, are all about taking their sons out into the world and experiencing it as an LGBTQ family, learning about culture, having great food, and playing in the sand. Their mission is to normalize non-traditional families and promote acceptance of loving, caring people no matter the family makeup.

Together they run the original, the first gay family travel blog. Yes, our site was indeed the first LGBTQ family travel blog but we’re excited to share that more Dads and more Moms are starting to share their experiences and recommendations too, which rocks.

Tipping Bottles

Tim and Jonah share their love for great wine and travel. Married since 2014, you can find this couple popping bottles of great wine all over the world. Be sure to follow them, and their adorable dog Sophie on their adventures.

With so many great LGBTQ+ creators , we know we barely scratched the surface. So please tell us who we should be watching in 2021 and beyond.