Native Son, a content and storytelling platform for Black gay and LGBTQIA+ men, has revealed its annual Native Son 101 List.
The honorees are recognized for creating space and impact throughout the year, and the 2024 roster features some leading creative talent from the Black gay and LGBTQIA+ community. Celebrity stylist Law Roach, designer Telfar Clemens and the Tony award-nominated Jeremy Pope made the cut this year. Aside from his acting credits, Pope is widely known for his leading role in the Calvin Klein underwear Pride campaign that he starred in earlier this year.
Jeremy Pope at The Standard’s Met Gala after party held at The Boom Boom Room in May.
Lexie Moreland/WWD
Roach, whose clients have included Zendaya, Celine Dion and Ariana Grande, detailed his hardscrabble fame in his book “How to Build a Fashion Icon.” During a “Fashion Icons” talk with Fern Mallis in New York in October, he spoke of the importance of his pioneering style. Roach told Mallis at that time, “To be a queer Black man and have people appreciate my contributions to fashion and the ways that I’ve opened doors for people, who look like me, is the most important thing to me.”
Clemens, who has called for greater inclusivity in the fashion industry for more than six years, introduced a unisex denim collection last spring and debuted a New York City store last month.
Telfar Clemens
George Chinsee
Grammy-winning musician Lil Nas X, journalist and former CNN host Don Lemon and producer and director Lee Daniels, whose credits include “The Deliverance” and “The Butler,” are among others on the list. Native Son founder Emil Wilbekin started the list to salute people breaking barriers in their respective fields, professions and areas of expertise. This year’s list was illustrated by Adrian Armstrong.
An illustration of Law Roach in the 2024 Native Son 101 list.
Illustration by Adrian Armstrong/Courtesy
This year’s list has a new element. Native Son’s second digital cover can be found on its new channel on LGBTQIA+ culture and entertainment site, Queerty, through a partnership with the LGBTQIA+ media company Q.Digital. The cover story spotlights Lemon in conversation with Color of Change’s president Rashad Robinson. The duo touch upon the presidential election, the changing landscape in media and misinformation. Lemon’s book “I Once Was Lost,” which delves into faith and spirituality as it relates to politics, is another subject they discuss. The video interview was inspired by the 1971 one between the literary powers Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin. Baldwin, the late “Notes of a Native Son” writer and social justice activist, was the subject of the Native Son Channel’s first digital cover.
