Darian Aaron

Darian Aaron has a career in media that spans nearly two decades. As a writer, his byline has appeared in print and digital formats. He is currently the Senior Director of Local News: U.S. South at GLAAD. He previously served as Communications Director of The Counter Narrative Project (CNP) and Editor-At-Large of The Reckoning, a digital publication covering Atlanta’s Black LGBTQ+ community. His work on The Reckoning earned him an award for Best Feature Writing—Non-Daily from the Association of LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA), and three consecutive GLAAD Media Awards nominations. He has also worked in television news, most recently as a general assignment reporter for CBS affiliate WRBL in Columbus, Georgia. Aaron is also a contributing writer for Q Digital and has served in this capacity for Edge Media Network, two of the world’s largest LGBTQ digital media platforms.

He first gained widespread attention in 2006 after launching the award-winning blog Living Out Loud with Darian—a platform for stories impacting LGBTQ+ communities of color. In the spring of 2020, he launched “Living Out Loud 2.0” in response to demand from his loyal following.

Aaron also authored the Lambda Literary-nominated coffee-table book “When Love Takes Over: A Celebration of SGL Couples of Color." He received a Special Recognition award from Pride Index in 2021 for years of journalistic service to the LGBTQ+ community and for championing greater visibility of Black gay couples in the media.

Aaron also made history as the first African-American Editor-in-Chief of Atlanta’s Georgia Voice newspaper. Much of his digital and social justice work has intentionally advocated on behalf of LGBTQ people of color, particularly around the intersection of race, sexuality, and religious intolerance. He has used his voice towards LGBT equality and visibility on television and in print as a contributor to several publications: CLIK Magazine (Staff Writer), The Advocate, The Grio, The Body, The Huffington Post, XTRA Magazine, EBONY Magazine, and The Montgomery Advertiser, among a host of other online platforms.

In his career, Aaron has interviewed everyone from the everyday person to activists, thought leaders, politicians, and entertainers such as Academy-Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, Grammy winner Kandi Burruss, Emmy Winners Uzo Aduba, Wanda Sykes, Billy Porter, to Snoop Dogg, Gina Yashere, Keith Boykin, Mykal Kilgore, Keshia Knight-Pulliam, and Patrik-Ian Polk, to name a few.

Aaron was one of a dozen LGBTQ+ leaders selected to attend GLAAD’s inaugural Media Institute in New York City. He received a regional GLAAD award for his work in Atlanta’s LGBT community the following year.

In 2012, he became one of the few out Black gay men to be profiled in EBONY Magazine in the featured piece “Black, Gay and Christian: Where Spirituality and Sexuality Converge.”

In the spring of 2014, as an undergraduate student at Alabama State University, he founded AMPLIFIED, the first-ever LGBTQ+ chartered student organization in the university's history.

He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism from Alabama State University. He honed his craft as an intern at WSFA 12 News and WVAS FM 90.7 in Montgomery, Alabama. He continued to make history as the first undergraduate student to commute to school by plane.

A native of Montgomery, Alabama, he is married and has lived in Atlanta, Georgia, for the past 20 years.

Aaron is a member of the Association of LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA) and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).