Singer Marsha Ambrosius’ New Video Celebrates Queer Love

The British songstress takes a bold stand against homophobia in the black community.

By Jamilah King Jan 06, 2011

Back in December when we put together a list of some of our favorite soul singers, British songstress Marsha Ambrosius just missed the list. There are reasons, of course. Ambrosius, who’s more widely known as one half of the duo Floetry, isn’t releasing her first solo project "Late Nights & Early Mornings" until February. But this week the singer released a powerful new video for "Far Away," the second single off of her first solo project. The video tells a beautiful and heartbreaking love story of a black gay couple who are shunned by their community and ultimately torn apart when one commits suicide. And it’s definitely gained attention in the LGBT community.

The issues of homophobia in the black community and LGBT youth suicide made headlines in 2010 when close to a dozen young people took their lives because of relentless anti-gay bullying. As Kai Wright pointed out in the middle of the onslaught of awful news, the search for answers isn’t too hard to find:

Justice is a big concept, often far too grand to wrap our individual heads around. And there are many, many difficult things we must do as a society to achieve justice for LGBT youth, particularly in places like the Bronx. But justice is also simple. It’s loving others as you would want to be loved, and the rest follows from there. A society truly built on this principle could not help but be just. And the first step in that direction is that all of us who believe in it must have the courage to stand up and act accordingly.

This is just one singer’s first step, and it’s a powerful one.