Deviant is a movement towards a free, inclusive world for all queer people of color. We create safe & supportive spaces for Black and Brown queer people to explore their sexual & social identities while unpacking the prison of shame.
WAY MORE THAN A party.
At Deviant, you can always expect to have an amazing time. What may catch you off guard and exceed expectations is safe & supportive community of queer people of color formed around you. Our curated environments are just that: Safe and Supportive spaces made by and for Black and Brown LGBTQ people.
We keep the safe space going by providing health and wellness resources that uplift social confidence, sexual competence and harm reduction. We meet the community right where they are (and want to be) and get everyone the tools necessary to live their lives free from the shackles of shame.
We welcome & celebrate bodies of all shapes, shades and sizes, helping others & ourselves celebrate beauty in true inclusion & diversity. At Deviant, everyBODY is welcome & celebrated.
Safe Spaces Forever.
At the end of each Deviant event, we send our guests home with the best party favors on the planet: candy, condoms, lube, and life-saving health information.
We, Deviants, take the tools we need to keep living our best lives. At Deviant, we not only show you a good time but help you live your best life moving forward.
We are sex-positive, believe there’s nothing sexier than consent, that safer sex is life-saving, wellness is a must, and consent is mandatory. We do everything we can to spread these truths while showing everyone the best time of their lives.
Love yourself.
Take care of yourself.
CELEBRATE yourself.
Joy is the greatest act of rebellion.
Founding Deviants.
Founded in 2019 by Micah Marquez, Deviant was born from an experience of self-love, self-learning, friendship, and empathy. Growing up as a queer black man in a straight white world, Micah struggled to learn about his true self, let alone learn how to love himself. He finally found joy, acceptance, and self-love by exploring circuit parties, and he wanted everyone to experience that same sense of freedom.
Yet when Micah heard that a dear friend felt excluded, unwelcome, and self-conscious at the very circuit parties he so loved, it simultaneously broke his heart and blew his mind. His friend explained that because his skin was a different shade because he didn’t have chiseled abs and pecs, he felt rejected from all angles. Other queer people didn’t engage with him, and no one flirted with him, no one found him attractive or desirable; in short, he was never able to experience the promised environment of love and acceptance.
Micah realized the freedom he experienced within circuit parties was due to a certain form of “pretty” or “body” privilege. Circuit parties had long been in an environment radically different from socially accepted norms, founded on high ideals. The only thing they lacked? Intentionality around creating spaces for black and brown bodies of all shapes and sizes.
Thus, Deviant was born, offering a party that truly lived up to the ideals of sex positivity, body positivity, and harm reduction. That love of friendship led to a determination to create safe spaces that truly offered everyone - regardless of skin color or body type - the same level of freedom that Micah had always felt within the circuit party atmosphere. At Deviant, we aim to be wholly inclusive of the people in our community, especially those who are commonly unappreciated in these spaces. We aren’t “tokenizing” diversity because it’s easy to still wind up with white-washed beauty and body standards. To truly uplift our community, we have to be body positive; we have to hire black and brown, large and small, abled and disabled creatives, encouraging them to blend in music and culture authentic to their upbringing.
The Deviant team soon grew when that foundation of friendship led to the inclusion of Montell Stansberry. Micah and Montell met at the gym in 2015, where they clicked right away, sharing workout tips. That soon grew into a workout partnership and a blossoming friendship, as they had deep conversations while working out, discussing navigating life through childhood trauma, life’s struggles, celebrations, romantic relationships, and family.
When Montell learned about Micah’s mission with Deviant, he was so proud of his friend and excited for the future he was building. Despite not knowing much about circuit parties, Montell was supportive and eagerly followed Micah’s journey, before ultimately joining the team in late 2020, leading operations and managements, with an eye for helping to elevate our brand.
The more he understood the mission of Deviant, the more Montell began to think about his own journey of reaching true authenticity, loving every part of himself, especially those he used to hate and hide. Thrilled at recently finding that self-love within, Montell was determined to develop the tools his younger self wished he could have had to reach that place of authentic appreciation and confidence. That’s what he brings to Deviant each day as Chief Operations Officer.
Circuit party culture’s roots are throughly black, thanks to House artists like Robin S, CeCe Penninston, and Crystal Waters. At Deviant, we intend to remind our patrons that they are not guests here; each Deviant party goer is a creator and owner of this magical space of freedom, joy, acceptance, positivity, and most of all, radical self love.
We hope you’ll join us at our next event and share in creating safe spaces with us!