How couples use Instagram to spotlight black queer love

For soon-to-marry couple Dominic Spence and Nick Gilyard, Instagram has become a place where together they show others what a young, black, queer relationship looks like.

Their joint page, @dom_and_nick, recently had a moment when the Instagram account The Way We Met profiled the 27- and 25-year-olds, who live in Brooklyn. Their photo and story of growing up in South Florida and knowing each other for many years before dating became one of the most popular posts with 17,500 likes in the past week.

"Dominic and I met as teenagers. We went to different high schools but they were close in proximity, so we had a lot of mutual friends. High school was also the time period in which we both came out to our families, although at separate times and unknowingly of each other's personal journeys. After graduating high school, life took me and Dominic in different directions. He went on to attend UCF in Orlando while I went to college in Kentucky. We reconnected one summer when I was in Orlando helping a friend move into her dorm and asked Dominic to have dinner with me. That night we talked for 4 hours and shut down the restaurant. Shortly after, Dominic asked if we could make it official and so our long distance relationship began. But the distance wouldn't be ending anytime soon. After college, I moved to New York for work and Dominic moved to D.C. to go to law school at Georgetown University. Finally, after 7 years of the back and forth, we are finally living together in Brooklyn... and engaged! Dominic and I feel lucky to have found love at such a young age. However, falling in love with another black man was scary in ways neither of us could have ever imagined. It forced us to face the very real resistance from society for being not only homosexuals but black men as well. We had to confront the stereotypes of being largely defined as uneducated, disloyal, untrustworthy, and unreliable individuals. But together we chose to rise above those prejudices and rewrite our own story- one of inspiration. We want others to see that our union is marked by achievement, love, friendship, respect, and unconditional support. We hope to encourage other black and brown men and boys everywhere to be true to who they are. And when they find love in each other's eyes, to know that their love is just as strong and beautiful as anyone else's." Read more...