Ryann Holmes (born 1984) is an American consultant and the co-founder of bklyn boihood, a collective that empowers " masculine of center bois,

lesbians A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homo ...

queers ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non-cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to r ...

, trans-identified studs, doms, butches and AGs of color." Holmes' work has been recognized by ''

Brooklyn Magazine ''Brooklyn Magazine'' is an online news magazine, focusing on "New York’s most populous borough through the lens of culture, community, commerce, arts and leisure." The company was bought by Michael Bassik and the website was launched in Decemb ...

'', the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, and in a short documentary film, ''Portrait of Ryann Holmes''.

Early life and education

Holmes was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 1984 and raised in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. They stated in an interview that growing up, they experienced rigid standards surrounding gender presentation that did not allow room for fluidity. They are

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and use

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

pronouns. Holmes moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

in 2006. They hold an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

social entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to ...

from

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City, United States. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the colle ...

Career

Holmes worked as the director of community programs at the

MoCADA Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), is Brooklyn's first and only contemporary art museum dedicated to the art and culture of Africa and its diaspora. Since 2023, the museum has operated within an expanded campus which includes ...

from 2012–2015. In 2016, Holmes was featured in a short film called ''Portrait of Ryann Holmes'', produced by Chanelle Aponte Pearson.

bklyn boihood

Holmes founded bklyn boihood in 2009 with close friend Genesis Tremaine after a conversation on the lack of masculine of center representation in queer and organizing spaces and media. The collective developed a 2010-2011 calendar with pictures of masculine of center bois of color and has since been produced annually. bklyn boihood regularly hosts queer-centered parties, and holds workshops on developing healthy masculinity, accountability, and femmephobia. In 2015, the collective released an anthology series called ''Outside the XY: Brown Queer Masculinity,'' written by masculine of center queer people and

transgender men A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

of color.

Accolades

* 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture, ''

'', 2016 * Community Leadership Award, Brooklyn Community Pride Center, 2019

References

External links