Breaking Down Barriers: Famous and Prominent Queer Black Women

Gloria Bigelow

Like the other women on this list, she’s black, gay and a woman, but she’s also a comedian. And sometimes those different aspects of who she is impacts her standup comedy. She told Cherrygrrl.com, “I think it’s proved interesting when I get to the clubs because a lot of times I don’t do only gay shows, I do mainstream shows – just rooms with straight people in them. And so I find it really interesting the dynamics of the club, where it’s okay to insult folks for being black, it’s okay to call people fags, and it’s always okay to insult women and call your wife a bitch. You know what I mean? So that’s always interesting to not know which part of my identity is going to be attacked on any day I go into a club. But as far as how that plays out with me getting work, the LGBT community has been really supportive of me and the other comics have been really supportive too, so that’s how a lot of work happens – like comics passing your name along or they vouch for you.”