While searching for something good to watch on her 4th generation Apple TV, Alia Daniels noticed something missing: LGBTQ+ programming. At the time, 2015, there was significant buzz around the device’s upgrade, which would allow users to choose from the full App store instead of the usual streaming suspects (Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video etc.). But even with the expanded options, there were no apps, shows or movies focused on the POC queer community.
“I knew we had to do something,” Daniels told ESSENCE. She joined forces with her friends LaShawn McGee, Damian Pelliccione, and Christopher Rodriguez to create a home for LGBTQ-first content in a way they hadn’t ever seen before.
Later that year the four of them launched Revry, a play on the word “revelry” which is a nod to the fantastical notion of launching such a game-changing platform. Although the idea of a queer-only channel isn’t new (i.e. Logo), Revry’s earnestness sets itself a part.
“One of the things we’re individually and collectively committed to is inclusivity,” McGee, Revry’s Chief Product Officer told ESSENCE. “That’s not what you get with other LGBTQ+ content platforms. Usually it’s geared towards white cis men, and there’s a place for that. However, that is not the direction the world is going in. That’s not the climate and the environments a lot of us live in. So we wanted to see content more reflective our realities.”
2022 Gallup survey results show a record 7.1% of Americans self-identify as LGBTQ+, up from the previous year’s 5.6%. The findings also showed that of the surveyed group, a record 21 percent of adult-age Gen Zers are the generational group with the largest proportion of LGBTQ people. Among millennials, 10.5 percent indentify as queer.
“We’re actively looking for ways to tell real stories,” Daniels shared, who acts as Revry’s COO. Revry is a one-stop shop, in which they source, produce, greenlight and distribute their own content. “We need this because so much of the community has been left out of the conversation.”
That means centering queer stories from those who have largely been underrepresented including people of color and trans people.
“Our job is to really create a space for the community to truly see themselves,” Daniels said. “That’s why we have multiple channels. When you go and look at our electronic program guide, you’ve got Revry, which is just our general entertainment. But you also have Revry News, RevryHer, RevryLatinx, which is the first-ever LGBTQ Spanish language channel, and RevryBrazil, which is the first-ever Portuguese language LGBTQ channel. And we’re really doubling down into the culture of queer, and that continues to expand, and it’s only going to get bigger and bigger.”
To find out more about the streaming platform and tune into its programming, visit Revry.TV.