Every Thursday, we’ll be introducing you to the amazing people working for Tagg Magazine. We call them the Tagg Team. From editors to photographers, these individuals have a commitment to serving our community.
Get to know our team. First up is our favorite Lezbro from South Africa. Angelo C. Louw is passionate about telling the stories of queer women of color and educating people on HIV, and we thank him for that.
Name: Angelo C. Louw
Age: 30
Single, in a relationship, or it’s complicated?
Can “looking” be an option? Because, I feel like that best suits my current situation.
What do you do and why do you do it?
I am a cause communicator, which is basically a media strategist that works with organizations that advocate for social justice. You could say I am a professional rebel. As Tagg’s Assistant Editor, I’ve helped the magazine expand its footprint as it’s relaunched nationally. I suppose, I do what I do because achieving social justice only stands to improve my quality of life.
What was the most rewarding part of coming out?
Man, I just love that I don’t have to come up with fake girlfriends and constantly lie about my life. I am very privileged to be able to live my truth – even at work, because of our amazing anti-discrimination laws in South Africa.
However, coming out is not easy and I would never advise anyone to do so if it puts their lives at risk in any way; violence, job loss, homelessness. Rather, be strategic: finish school, find a job, move out, gain experience at your company, find a job in a more tolerant environment.
Sometimes I feel like LGBTQ activists scream and shout from their safe spaces for people to come out, not understanding the real danger that exists. I am not saying hide away, there are many safe spaces that exist for you; I am just saying that another dead queer person adds no value to our struggle. We need young LGBTQ to grow up and become policy makers and lawyers and police.
What is your favorite social media app?
Jack’D is a social media app, right?
Biggest pet peeve.
I hate when people don’t respond to my texts – also, this is why I am still looking, as per the first question.
Favorite emoji.
The middle finger emoji, of course.
If you were a clothing store, what store would you be and why?
Probably Andrew Christian because I have no butt, like a lot of their undies!
What do you like to do on the weekends?
I like to go out and look beautiful around beautiful people and soak up the sun… but what I end up doing is sleeping in, only leaving my apartment for food runs, doing laundry, and telling myself next weekend will be better.
What’s one issue you are passionate about?
Right now, I am especially passionate about reparations, and I have been discussing this more and more. Anywhere you go to in the world, one thing is constant: people of color remain the face of poverty and inequality, but more so, black people. This is not only a reality in countries where black people are a minority, but also where they are a majority population. It is ironic, to say the least, that we continue to be barred from participating in a world that was built on the back of our ancestors. Our humanity will never be respected unless the playing fields are leveled.
If you could pick anywhere in the world to be president, where would it be and why?
Selfishly, I would want to be president of Seychelles – I mean, it’s a country made up of 115 tropical islands! But, we have so much of our own shit to deal with in South Africa, my home country, that I would definitely take office there. The first thing I would do is make all education free because lack of access to knowledge is one of the main contributing factors to continued disenfranchisement of black people.
What’s one thing you want to be remembered by?
I want my work to really have impact. I pour so much of myself in what I do that I would hate for it to go in vein. I was really excited to find an article I did four years ago cited in recent Harvard dissertation on LGBTQ hate crimes; that reminded me of the importance of what I do: making sure no one gets left behind.
