In this installment of 12 Days of Pride, BET.com is proud to feature Hope Giselle—an acclaimed author, activist, and speaker whose voice is transforming the landscape of Black LGBTQ+ visibility. 12 Days of Pride is BET.com’s digital series celebrating the voices, stories, and resilience of Black LGBTQ+ trailblazers who are reshaping our culture. Hope Giselle brings an unflinching honesty to her work, combining lived experience with deep advocacy to fight for trans justice and Black liberation.

“I don’t get to just put on my trans hat and say screw everything else,” she says. “As a Black trans woman who has all of these intersections and crosses all of these paths, the same stories that a lot of these people that are sitting on all these margins are having—I’m having them twofold. And then having people tell me they don’t care because of this one part of my identity—and that sucks. But I do the work anyway.”

Hope has never been afraid to take up space and make her voice heard. Her segment in this series is a testament to the strength it takes to confront bias, create safe spaces, and build a legacy rooted in truth. With every word and every action, Hope is not just making change—she is the change, embodying a future where all of us can live boldly and unapologetically.