Today, Vanessa told me,
“Yell it, scream it, shout it from the
rooftops. Beat your chest. Tear your hair. Bite. Scratch. Be theatrical.
Go wild. The more you mourn, the less you carry.”
I started to cry when she said that.
That’s really what this thing is about.
–December, 2011
The BGD Project is the brainchild of award-winning author Mia McKenzie. What started out as a scream of anguish has evolved into a multi-faceted forum for expression and liberation. BGD seeks to, in as many ways as possible, amplify the voices, experiences and expressions of LGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous and POC.
Beginning with its inception in December 2011, the BGD Blog featured over 300 diverse writers and reached tens of millions of readers from every populated continent on earth. With its focus on social justice, politics, culture, and spiritual/emotional wellness from a QTBIPOC perspective, BGD was and remains the only forum of its kind on the web.
BGD was a place where we could make our voices heard on the issues that interested and affected us, where we could showcase our literary and artistic talents, where we could cry it out and heal together, and where we could explore and express our “dangerous” sides: our biggest, boldest, craziest, weirdest, wildest selves.
Though the blog is no longer active, our archives are still accessed monthly by thousands of people all over the world. And The BGD Project–and its progressive vision–continues to do radical, necessary work, both online and in local communities, through workshops focused on writing, media literacy, and spiritual/emotional wellness.
Bountiful Life and Sow Joyful are BGD’s community wellness projects, offering writing workshops, healing circles, meditation classes, gatherings, talks, retreats, and other programming centered around the emotional, social, and spiritual well-being of Black women and children in Western Massachusetts.
BGD Books, BGD’s print publishing project, publishes books by queer and trans writers of color.
Staff
Board
Vanessa Lewis
Anna Pia Rensi
Jason Sloan
Sarah Wright
Melissa Coates