Ncuti Gatwa on intersectionality: ‘I’m aware my experience is not the typical Black queer experience’
Exclusive: "There are many people that are in my intersections that don’t get a chance to just exist," says the star
Ncuti Gatwa has reflected on his intersectional identities in a new interview with Attitude.
The Doctor Who star appears on the cover of our 358th issue, available to buy on shelves, order online and read on our app now, to mark our 30 years in LGBTQ+ publishing.
In a wide-ranging interview, the 31-year-old touches on Barbie, the Oscars and, as asked by Attitude editor Cliff Joannou: “Between being a Scottish, British, Black person, an immigrant, and a queer person, do you ever find your intersexual identities in conflict with one another?”
“Going into the barbershop, you still lower your voice” – Ncuti Gatwa
Ncuti replied: “It’s funny, when I’m chatting with other queer Black men about what it’s like going into the barbershop — you still lower your voice and put a spring in your step. At times, in the past, I felt like that, although not so much anymore.
“I feel like I’ve kind of reached a place in my personal journey where I just am who I am, and that doesn’t have to change wherever I go. I just have to exist. And it’s a privilege to do so in my position because there’s many people that are in my intersections that don’t get a chance to just exist.
“I think that’s the reason why I say that I struggle with hope sometimes, because there’s a lot of things protecting me from the experiences that I could be having, should be having and have had. And I’m aware of that. I’m aware that my experience is not the typical Black queer experience. So, I’m like, ‘Shit is hard!’
“Just because I’ve now been cast as Doctor Who, all problems of inequality are now fixed? Things don’t work like that. But yeah, now personally, I don’t feel like they’re in conflict with each other, but they can do for people and have done for me in the past. But I’m now just learning not to care what other people think.”
Doctor Who season 14 will begin on Saturday 11 May 2024. Issue 358 of Attitude magazine is available to order online here, and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.