Alysse Dalessandro Santiago LGBTQ representation in the media often fails to show the true diversity of the queer community. We see trans women of color left out of the conversation and it’s rare to see a wide range of body types and sizes in queer inclusive media. Much like the way that plus size bloggers have transformed the way that mainstream society views larger bodied people, LGBTQ plus size bloggers and influencers are also changing the narrative through their visibility.
During Pride, I wanted to celebrate bloggers and influencers whose visibility helps to empower not only people of all sizes but all sexual orientations and gender identities to live authentically. There are two online media outlets that already do an amazing job of providing an inclusive picture of the LGBTQ community, Qwear and dapperQ.
I helped write a list of 30 LGBTQIA+ folks to follow with Qwear and that’s a great resource as well as dapperQ’s 100 Most Stylish List. There is some overlap between all of these lists but differences as well and when it comes to inclusive LGBTQ style inspiration, I don’t think there’s a such thing as too much!
20 LGBTQ Plus Size Bloggers & Influencers to Know!
1. Nicolette Mason
Nicolette Mason is one of the most well-known plus size fashion bloggers around. From a partnership with Target and a brand ambassadorship with Kate Spade to co-owning her own plus size label Premme and a best friendship with Christian Siriano, she’s always working to make fashion inclusive.
Plus, she taught us all that fat femmes can wear Gucci.
2. Jamal T. Lewis
Jamal T. Lewis aka Fat Femme is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and speaker. Lewis is working on a documentary challenging gay culture’s, “No Fats, No Femmes” mentality. Lewis was named one of Teen Vogue’s “Coolest Queer’s on the Internet” and I couldn’t agree more.
3. Gia Natalia Narvaez
Gia Natalia Narvaez is a transgender Latina influencer with one of the most unapologetic accounts on Instagram. She shares her plus size fashion journey in images and discusses her transition in the captions with a level of vulnerability that is so necessary.
4. J Aprileo
J Aprileo is a nonbinary blogger writing about the intersection of fatphobia and gender identity for their blog, Comfy Fat. They cover travel, self care and accessibility through a queer lens. They are also dating blogger Fat Girl Flow providing all of the fat queer love inspiration I’ve always craved.
5. Ericka Hart
Ericka Hart is a nonbinary femme who first stole our hearts and opened our minds when she went topless to Afropunk in 2016 exposing her double mastectomy scars. She is an activist, writer and sex educator who shares an important perspective on life as a cancer survivor. But her work is about more than that. She told Salty.World, “I am using my body as a tool to shift systems on behalf of black liberation and sexual liberation and freedom from gender expression.”
6. Troy Solomon
Troy Soloman is better known as ABearNamedTroy. He’s an LA-based influencer who uses his platform to show that style should be inclusive, body positive and a form of personal expression. His style is loud, bold and always full of color.
7. Lydia Okello
Lydia Okello is a Canadian-based plus size queer influencer and the former Style Editor for Autostraddle. She uses the tag #TomBabe in her OOTDs and posts super cute pictures with her partner.
8. Lottie L’Amour
Lottie L’Amour is a plus size blogger from across the pond. On her blog, she stands up to diet culture, challenges brands to improve and shares personal stories that allow her to connect with her readers. She recently became a LGBTQIA+ love and sex contributor for Cosmopolitan UK.
9. Jazzmyne Jay
Jazzmyne Jay is an LA-based video producer for Buzzfeed’s AS/IS. She created the contest Feed Famous to find the next social media star and designed her own beret line and self love crop tops in collaboration with Kidd Bell. Her video “I Wore A Bikini for the First Time” has more than 7 million views on YouTube.
10. Marquis Neal
Marquis Neal is a body positive queer femme whose style landed him a colloboration with ASOS when they first launched their new Big & Tall line. Neal is also part of photographer Tarik Carroll’s The EveryMAN Project, which challenges gender norms and hyper-masculinity by highlighting larger bodied queer and transgender men.
11. Laura Du Vè
Australian-based photographer, model and influencer Laura Du Vè describes herself as “gay is the day is long.” She has modeled for JBC Lingerie and walked in Melbourne’s largest fashion event, VAMFF. As a photographer, her work focuses on creating representation for fat queer femmes.
12. Jari Jones
Jari Jones is a plus size model, actress, singer, photographer, videographer and a trans-femme public figure. Basically, she does it all and she does it well. She recently appeared on the cover of New York Times magazine with her wife celebrating love between two trans women.
13. Jazmina Daniel
If you think Jazmina Daniel looks familiar, it’s probably seen her lips before. She’s a makeup artist who really puts the A in MUA. She recreates everything from famous paintings to iconic album covers all with her lips as the canvas. But when she started posted OOTD images on her Instagram over the past year or so, she showed she wasn’t just a makeup maven but a fashion influencer too.
14. Shane Stinson
Shane Stinson is a newer influencer but he is doing important work in the fashion community. He created the hashtag, #PlusSizeTransGuy and a corresponding personal style account because he didn’t see any representation for larger bodied trans folks. His style is chic with a hint of retro and he can style a button down like nobody’s business.
15. Dexter Mayfield
Dexter Mayfield is a plus size model, choreographer and actor. You probably saw his iconic runway walk from LA Fashion Week in 2015 or perhaps you spotted him in Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” video. He graced the cover of Gay Times Magazine in May 2018 and his star power seems to only be continuing to rise!
16. Beth Delude
Beth Delude is an American plus size blogger based in the Netherlands. She’s 6’3” and definitely a great person to follow for plus size tall fashion inspo. Plus she posts really adorable pictures with her partner Ro that might make your heart explode.
17. Ashlee Marie Preston
Ashlee Marie Preston is a transgender activist, writer and speaker. Her work has appeared on Teen Vogue, Mic, The Root and most recently as part of Playboy’s Pride Series. She’s a great follow on Twitter and she’s always sharing stunning selfies and red carpet images on her Instagram.
18. Ady Del Valle
Ady Del Valle is a plus size model and style influencer. He has been featured in a number of runway shows including NYFW and he was part of the recreation of a Calvin Klein ad with plus size men. He was recently featured in Obvious Magazine’s Model Watch.
19. Ashleigh Shackelford
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYSbZYTj-B7/?taken-by=ashleighthelion
Ashleigh Shackelford is a nonbinary fat femme who is an artist and writer. Ashleigh is the creative director for Free Figure, a Southern Body Liberation Organization. With Ashleigh at the helm, Free Figure collected data for a Fat Census in 2017 and is currently collecting data on queer domestic violence and sexual assault.
20. Shay Neary
Shay Neary is a plus size model who made history in 2016 as the first plus size transgender model to be featured in a major fashion campaign with Coverstory. She has modeled for Yours Clothing, Ellos, and Woman Within as well as being featured in Cosmopolitan Let’s (Actually) Talk About (Actual) Sex series.
As with any list, this is truly just scratching the surface of LGBTQ+ bloggers and influencers. Please leave your favorites we missed in the comments below and make sure you are also following both myself and Brianne as your TCF resident queer contributors!
Who are your favorites that we’ve missed?
Drop their IG, Twitter, FB, and website links, so that we can follow!
This article is fan-freaking-tastic! By that I mean I’m fanning out over all these beautiful people and now I’m following them all. Thank you for bringing attention to them.
Dang, can you edit that to “bringing” attention? Dammit!
Thanks so much Michelle!
Edits made 😉
I love @loudshopper for plus size too! He is forward and has great style!