Moonlight writer: Many miles to go for LGBT+ people

The writer of Moonlight says he feels a "responsibility" to represent young black LGBT+ people.

Tarell Alvin McCraney describes the film's three Oscar wins as a "milestone".

"But there are many miles to go," he tells Newsbeat. "It feels good for people to see you. At the same time, being seen means responsibility for me."

He says it's helped people from his hometown see their lives are important.

Image caption Tarell and director Barry Jenkins at the Oscars

"One of the things that has been overwhelmingly positive [since Moonlight came out] is people from where I'm from are less afraid about thinking about their stories and what their lives are like."

Moonlight was the first film with an LGBT+ central character to win best picture.

The story of an African American boy coming to terms with his sexuality in a tough neighbourhood is loosely based on Tarell's own childhood in Liberty City, Miami.

"The young people we encounter are thankful for it, because they can see themselves in some of the portrait.

"But they also know that they have space to add, there's room for their portraits on the wall," says Tarell.

"We've got young people who've taken to wanting to do cinema, or write, or make music, and that's been gorgeous to see."

After the awards ceremony he went back to working with students at Yale University, where he is chair of the playwriting department.

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He's in London performing in a reading of his play Wig Out! at London's National Theatre.

It tells the story of two warring communities of drag queens in New York, and explores how drag can become a "family" for marginalised people.

Like Moonlight, it was inspired by Tarell's own life.

Image caption Tarell at the GLAAD Media Awards

"I'd fallen in love with a person who at the time was transitioning [from male to female].

"She introduced me to the world of drag balls and [how in that] she had a 'chosen' family that was more close to her than her own sisters.

"Most of these drag houses are [made up of] black and brown people, in the United States. There's something radically beautiful about that."

He says RuPaul's Drag Race has helped those people make themselves more visible in society.

Image caption The finalists of the latest season of RuPaul's Drag Race

"That show is moving culture ahead in so many ways.

"There are people who don't identify with the LGBT community now saying things like 'shade'. Drag terms that ten years ago that weren't part of [common language]. There are people in the community who need that visibility."

With the UK's biggest Pride parade taking place in London this weekend, Tarell says it's important for LGBT+ people to celebrate each other.

Image caption In rehearsal for Wig Out!

"Sometimes even the table of Pride can be a very exclusive one, and that can be kind of sad.

"There's definitely moments in Pride, even in Miami, that I've felt like 'oh this Pride is not necessarily for me. I'm the only one that looks like me, that thinks like me...I don't feel like I'm being welcomed.

"Sometimes we're really good at showing that compassion for each other, sometimes we're not."

Wig Out! is on at the National Theatre at 7.30pm on 7 July.

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