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Black Men And Women Are Beautifully Celebrating Themselves With The "Black Gay Slay" Hashtag

They came. They slayed. They conquered.

On Friday morning, Mike Mason, known to his Twitter followers as @Mikey_Talks, tweeted a few stellar selfies of himself along with the caption, "If you came to slay tonight, say I slay!" Afterward, #BlackGaySlay was born.

"If you came to slay tonight, say I slay!" - BeyoncΓ©. Black Queer folks, join in the fun! #BlackGaySlay

Mason is 18 years old and lives in Kalamazoo, MI. He told BuzzFeed News that he's a writer, and that the idea for his much-talked-about hashtag came from listening to BeyoncΓ©'s "Formation". The album led him to think of a way that black LGBT people could express their truths and be proud of themselves.

According to his Twitter, Mason wanted to highlight black queer people since "It's way too many white gays in #BoysKissBoysSelfies," another tag that caters gay people, though it's overwhelmingly white.

It's way too many white gays in #boyskissboysselfies. So I started #BlackGaySlay for us!

"I think a problem that I have with the LGBT community publicly as a whole, is they don't do a good job of representing LGBT people of color," Mason said. "I was only seeing LGBT people who were white and it just really bothered me."

Mikey also noted on his account that "gay" was used as an umbrella term for the tag, and he welcomes all types of LGBT-identifying black people to celebrate themselves in the hashtag.

And if y'all feel uncomfortable with the way things went today, I don't want to erase anyone's sexuality... other tags can be arranged.

Soon after Mikey's initial tweet was sent out, several people began blessing their respective timelines with incredible selfies β€” and to say that they ~delivered~ would be an understatement.

I am here for the #BlackGaySlay party ...

People posted their most fire selfies, exuding confidence and killing it in flawless fashions.

Also lemme give you that slight femme. #BlackGaySlay

They slayed in makeup.

Yes, cheekbones!

They slayed in glasses.

#BlackGaySlay. Can I still apply even if I'm bi ?

Come through, million dollar smile.

And they slayed in different hairstyles.

#BlackGaySlay is the perfect day to come out as Queer on twitter!

Just radiant in every way.

Queer people of all shapes and sizes dominated the tag, too.

slay is basically my second language. #blackgayslay

Mikey created an inclusive trend for black LGBT people to unapologetically be themselves.

Ugly, then make it fashion #BlackGaySlay

Naturally, there were tons of people who looked on and praised the beauty of the movement.

Folks could not get enough.

Me watching all of the gays flourish up and down the TL #BlackGaySlay

And some were a little shook.

This #BlackGaySlay thing has me shook!!! Y'all look so amazing!!!

In a word, it was fierce.

Everyone on #BlackGaySlay is so beautiful😭

Mason added that seeing people take to his hashtag made him "really emotional."

"And that just shows you that it was necessary because so many people were reposting it and blogging β€” even people who weren't black and LGBT were sharing it," he said.

They came.

#blackgayslay I didn't get the invite but I'm here for this πŸ’…πŸΎβœ¨

They slayed.

#BlackGaySlay πŸ‘©πŸΎβ€πŸŽ€

And they conquered.

okay YES @ this hashtag #blackgayslay

Phew.

It's time to play #BlackGaySlay πŸ˜‡πŸ˜

Per Mason's Twitter, the hashtag is something that he'd like to make a regular occurrence.

He told BuzzFeed News that he hopes to get the tag to trend at least once a month and he compared the movement to Black Out Day, which is another trend that celebrates blackness. "I have T-shirts avaliable and I also have some other things so the community can feel a little more unified," Mason said while discussing upcoming ventures.

"For everybody that has been harassed or attacked in this tag, I want them to know they're valid in loving themselves ... I just want them to stay strong and do their best to keep slaying," Mason said.

UPDATE

This post has been updated to include quotes from Mike Mason, the creator of the hashtag.