A big part of being an ally to the LGBTQ community is actively seeking friends and investing in relationships. After all, how can you honor a group of people who are widely judged and misrepresented if you don’t get to know them? This June, as we celebrate Pride, consider following these LGBTQ influencers. They use their platforms to drive change, to educate and to, of course, inspire all. Here, our top picks of the most influential Instagrammers:
Peppermint 247
Peppermint, or ‘Miss Peppermint’ as she is widely known on Ru Paul’s Drag Race and her other acting roles, shares glamour shots. But more importantly, she shares her Pep Talks, a series that streams live on Twitch each week. She also sprinkles (no pun intended) in snippets of her Twitch and YouTube videos, including a recent interview with John Cameron Mitchell, an actor, writer and director extraordinaire. She speaks up for trans rights and doesn’t shy away from politics or essential issues — most recently, she touched on the Chauvin trial verdict and showed her support for BLM.
Once Upon a Journey
If you’ve been dreaming of far-away lands and exciting adventures abroad, you’re going to fall in love with this profile — and this love story. Roxeanne and Maartje are a couple who travel the world and document it on their wanderlust-worthy Instagram. They were nomadic for three years, but as of 2020, they are based in the Netherlands. They travel throughout the world (in normal times, of course), sharing beautiful landscape shots as well as inspiring shots of the two of them together. Along with their Instagram, they document their experiences on their blog Once Upon a Journey, which has filled a niche as an online travel resource for lesbians. Together, they have visited 45 countries around the world — some that are LGBTQ-friendly and others that aren’t. As they say on their website, “visibility matters, and we hope our travels can help LGBT people globally to have hope, to inspire them to think bigger.”
Kenny Ethan Jones
He’s a model, activist and entrepreneur who aims to lift people up and inspire meaningful conversations through engaging Instagram posts. His work focuses on menstruation, body politics, mental health and intimacy. As a trans man, he’s focused on creating more allies by encouraging everyone to have candid, open and educational conversations around the transgender community. His lifelong goal is for the world to have trans equality and to see trans people displayed positively in the media. He became very popular after Pink Parcel’s IM ON campaign. He became the first trans man in history to be one of the faces of a period campaign. Talk about game-changing! But when he’s not sharing something activist-related, he shares his experience working in the fashion world being “the shortest man on the runway.” (His claim.)
Chella Man
If you want to be wowed, you’re about to be with this incredible Instagrammer. Chella Man is translates popular songs into American Sign Language via his popular YouTube channel. Not only is he a successful model and actor, but he also fights for equality for Chinese-Americans and the deaf community. In 2020, he became a Calvin Klein model for their limited-edition Pride collection. When he’s not sharing chic fashion shots, he’s shedding light on something that hits close to home: the importance of disabled actors playing disabled characters for proper representation and deconstructing stereotypes.
NikkieTutorials
Nikkie de Jager, the woman behind the popular YouTube channel Nikkietutorials, came out in 2020 in a video titled, “I Am Coming Out.” In the video, she told her followers to “live your life with no restrictions” — something that she has done so boldly. But most of the time, you’ll catch her posting incredible makeup looks on REELs along with her YouTube channel. To date, she has nearly 14 million subscribers on YouTube, grabbing the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, Selena Gomez and Lauren Conrad. In fact, Selena and Lauren appeared in videos on her channel!
Munroe Bergdorf
Munroe was the first transgender model in the United Kingdom. Although she sprinkles in beautiful fashion shots (seriously, she’s major outfit inspiration), she speaks up about political and social unrest around the world, too. She’s also not afraid to stand up for herself: She famously called out L’Oreal in 2017 after they dropped her from a modeling campaign for comments she made about rampant racism. Since coming forward about what happened, L’Oreal offered her a spot on their diversity board, which she welcomed, saying she was excited “to provide a voice and a champion for Black, trans and queer voices in the beauty industry is important for me.”
Ready to Stare
This plus-sized model uses her website and Instagram to champion the LGBTQ community. Most of her page shows colorful photos of her showing off her latest fashions — funky colors, bold designs, and her signature red lip. But she doesn’t shy away from talking about the stuff that matters: Most recently, she celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia with a powerful message to her followers. “One of the issues I want to draw attention to is happening in the US. Transgender youth are under attack every day with new bills targeting their ability to access affirming healthcare, play sports and live as their authentic selves,” she wrote.
Cosmic Phenomenon
The Queer model and advocate gives advice on gender fluidity, sharing her personal experiences with her 35k followers. Her photos are great, but it’s really the captions that drive her point home: In her latest post, she wrote about a recent transphobic comment she received and how she handled it. She offered a unique perspective on the situation, closing out her message with, “Or maybe, I don’t need revenge at all. Maybe I can just drink my coffee. And exist. And be happy.” For reasons like this one, her page has become a community for those who can relate, often asking for advice and voicing their support.
Ericka Hart
As a breast cancer survivor, this influencer confidently posts photos of her mastectomy scars. As a ‘Black queer non-binary femme,’ her goal is to encourage others to talk about their experiences and create equality and support for all. Along with some serious interior decor inspo, you’ll learn more about sexuality, race, sex, gender and health through Ericka’s posts. She is here to shatter the norms about Black femme women: “So may this be a reminder that Black femmes do not have to be kind, easy-going, smile, vegan, thin, light skin, attractive or activists to be honored, celebrated and respected virtually or IRL. We are deserving of our autonomy simply by existing,” she wrote in a recent post.
Dadndaddies
Devon Gibby is a single dad with two adorable children. He lives in Salt Lake City and always seems to be exploring the area, documenting it all for his followers. Sure, he’s got abs and a super hunky boyfriend, but it’s really all about the positive energy on his page. He often touches on the complications that come with divorce and living in a more conservative state like Utah: “Though parents are raising my kids with very different views, there is much common ground to be found. I really hope more Utahns and members of the church will be able to open their hearts to the plight of the LGBTQ individuals among them and find more acceptance and love for them. Those in the rainbow community deserve to have a place in every community, including religious communities, if that’s where they choose to be,” he wrote in a recent post.
