On the Fly - February 23 - NGPA - The Worldwide LGBTQ+ Aviation Community

Friend, welcome to the February 2023 issue of On The Fly!

NGPA Family,

Happy Black History Month! As we move into the final weeks of February, it is important to reflect on our past, present, and future as it relates to what it means to be LGBTQ+ in our society. As members and allies of our community, it is important that we band arms with other minorities to continue taking steps forward in the fight for equality.

I hope that you’ve all made it home safe and have had some time to recover from this past week’s festivities! We had such a memorable time in Palm Springs, and we hope that you did too! As we move towards our goals for our social media, we will need content to post to ensure an upward trajectory! Please share your images with us, so we can use them in future editions of On the Fly or on our social media.

Following our debut of #iamngpa, we encourage you to use this hashtag anytime you post images on social media related to NGPA alongside #ngpaeverywhere. This could be career or life successes, celebrating connections to NGPA (scholarships, events, etc.), or sharing the love and solidarity we have within our NPGA family. Using this hashtag will help grow our social media, allowing our message to be spread far and wide, and to reach people around the world, ensuring that we are building, supporting, and uniting the LGBTQ+ aviation community worldwide. Because together, we are NGPA.

Dear Friend,

When I was tasked to write something about Black History Month, aviation, and NGPA, I struggled to find the words to convey my thoughts. Being Black in gay spaces, I have felt unseen. Being gay in Black spaces, I have felt unwanted. And, being Black and gay in aviation, “ain’t been no crystal stair.” The intersectionality of these three worlds is often at odds with each other, but all live within me.

Friends,

There is an old African proverb that says, “it takes a village to raise a child.” Our aviation industry is a small one, but it leaves a big impact on so many. My journey of becoming a pilot would not be possible without the many trailblazers who led the way for people like me and many others to earn their wings. Being black and queer presents its own challenges, but when you stand on the shoulders of giants, you can reach for anything.