Soul Train Awards Proves Progress Is Possible, Renames a Gendered Award to Celebrate Janelle Monáe

This year’s Soul Train Awards celebrated Janelle Monaé with a powerfully inclusive honor: The Spirit of Soul Award.

BET announced earlier this month that it would be renaming its longstanding Lady of Soul Award in order to properly honor Monaé, who is nonbinary and uses they/she pronouns. At a time when awards shows are increasingly being urged to eliminate or otherwise alter gender-based categories, and are dragging their feet to do so, this is a huge step forward.

“There’s nothing like being recognized by your own family,” Monáe said in their speech. “I’m so honored to have something like this for us that continues to evolve and showcase so many different forms of what soul can be.”

This is an incredible step, but it is still just one step toward full inclusion. It’s fantastically progressive for the Soul Train Awards to rename this honor to show Monáe the respect they deserve. But other categories are still gendered, including Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, for which Monáe was nominated.

Ideas of gender are rapidly changing, especially as Gen Z is already coming into adulthood. It’s inevitable that institutions like awards shows, that are rooted in strict binaries, will have to change. It’s nice to see progress being made and now we just have to keep that momentum moving forward.

(via Them, featured image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)