Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts have just become the first same-sex couple to appear on the cover of Essence magazine, a Black women-centered lifestyle publication created over 50 years ago.
“Making H E R S T O R Y 💫👑🖤” Nash celebrated on Instagram. “Thank you @essence for choosing The Betts as your FIRST same sex couple to cover you [sic] magazine! #BettsOfWorlds #MakingHistory #Herstory #BlackHistoryMonth”
Betts also took to social media to share some words about their historic cover: “H E R S T O R Y 🦋 Thank you @essence for allowing L❤️ve to win! First #SameSex couple to Ever grace the Cover 👽🙏🏾”
The new issue is to release on March 1st and features Nash and Betts sharing the story of their love.
“The least of my attraction is gender,” Nash told the magazine. “What I was and am still attracted to is Jessica’s soul. She was the most beautiful soul I had ever met in my life. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t imagine going through life without it.”
“I absolutely feel fully seen,” Betts noted. “I feel like all of me is accepted. All of me is loved—and not just the part that I present, but the part that I don’t necessarily show to everyone else.”
The couple has been happily married for nearly two years.