2025 was a masterclass in refusal: a collective rejection of being sidelined, compressed, or tokenized. Across every cultural echelon, Black queer women didn’t just participate in the mainstream; they rewrote its rules, claimed its highest offices, and anchored its emotional heart. From rap’s highest honor to championship gold and vital historical foundations, here is how Black queer women defined the year.
Music
Doechii secured the crown as the undisputed breakout star of the year. On February 2, she captured Best Rap Album at the Grammys for Alligator Bites Never Heal, standing as only the third woman in history to achieve the feat. As a Black queer woman from Tampa stepping up to rap’s highest echelon, her acceptance speech resonated deeply with Black women everywhere. She transformed the mainstream success of her re-released single “Anxiety” (which peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100 in the spring and was crowned Song of the Year by SPIN) into concrete community care by launching a dedicated mental-health resource hub. Billboard punctuated her monumental trajectory by naming her Woman of the Year on March 29.
Screen & Stage
Cinematic and theatrical spaces shifted around the undeniable gravity of queer creators. Tessa Thompson took the lead in Hedda, a queer reimagining of the Ibsen classic directed by Nia DaCosta, which premiered at TIFF in September before streaming on Prime Video in October. By producing the film through her company Viva Maude alongside DaCosta, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Gabrielle Nadig, Thompson not only commanded a queer story on screen but secured an ownership stake in its legacy, a milestone recognized with the Spotlight Tribute at the Gotham Awards.
Television saw the end of an era and the birth of new coalitions. Queen Latifah’s The Equalizer wrapped its five-season run in May. Latifah starred in and executive-produced all 74 episodes, leaving behind a rare blueprint for a network primetime drama headlined by a Black woman and anchored by a legendary queer icon. Meanwhile, Lena Waithe announced a major film project with Issa Rae in October, centering on a complex friendship breakup. The collaboration pairs one of Hollywood’s most powerful Black queer writer-producers directly on screen with Rae for the first time.
On the road and behind the camera, the momentum held steady. Wanda Sykes took her Please & Thank You tour global in March, kicking off in San Antonio before playing Manchester, London, and Brighton in June, proving that one of comedy’s most decorated Black lesbians is still setting the standard with razor-sharp new material at 61. Ayo Edebiri, who is queer, earned two Emmy nominations for The Bear, including a nod for directing. Stepping behind the camera marked a crucial expansion of creative control. Meanwhile, Niecy Nash-Betts (who married singer Jessica Betts in 2020) continued her reign in dramatic television, picking up the Groundbreaker Award at the Celebration of Cinema and Television and the CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Award at the Denver Film Festival.
Literature
In publishing, the financial and creative backing of Black queer stories reached new heights. Leah Johnson and George M. Johnson released There’s Always Next Year on December 2, a YA holiday romcom that marks the debut title from their landmark seven-figure, two-book deal. The project places major publishing power directly behind authentic Black queer joy.
Later, at the Lambda Literary Awards in October, Venita Blackburn earned a finalist nod in Lesbian Fiction for Dead in Long Beach, California, while Nikkya Hargrove was recognized as a finalist in Lesbian Memoir/Biography for Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found, showcasing the community’s power to honor its own literary architects.
Sports
In sports, Black queer women owned the WNBA’s biggest stage. Chelsea Gray, an openly lesbian guard, became the only active player with four championships when the Aces swept the Mercury in the Finals, and the first player ever to win WNBA and Unrivaled titles in the same calendar year. Facing her in that Finals matchup, Alyssa Thomas rewrote the record book in her first Phoenix season: eight triple-doubles, the league’s first three-game streak, and the first 20-point triple-double in postseason history to knock out the defending champion Liberty. Thomas is engaged to Mercury teammate DeWanna Bonner.
The veterans held their ground too. Brittney Griner, a lesbian and one of the game’s most visible queer players, completed her first season with the Atlanta Dream after eleven years in Phoenix, helping propel the franchise to a historic 30-14 record. On the track, Sha’Carri Richardson, who identifies as bisexual, finished fifth in the 100m at the Tokyo world championships in September before anchoring Team USA’s 4x100m relay squad to gold.
In Memoriam
The year’s triumphs stood on the shoulders of giants we lost. Jewel Thais-Williams passed away on July 7 at 86. As the first Black lesbian in the United States to own a queer nightclub, her legendary venue Jewel’s Catch One (opened in 1973) served as an unshakeable sanctuary for generations of Black queer people.
In October, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a foundational Black trans woman and Stonewall veteran, passed away at 78. Her legacy spans five decades of tireless organizing, leading the TGI Justice Project, mentoring incarcerated trans women, and founding the House of GG.
Featured image: Doechii at the Grammys. Photo: Fashion Magazine.
