This year's Pride Month has been one for the history books, shaped by a pandemic and protests in support of Black and trans lives across the globe.

In honor of Pride Month, Insider hosted a discussion with David Johns, the executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, and Alex Blue Davis, an actor who plays Dr. Casey Parker on "Grey's Anatomy."

"The movement for radically inclusive social justice has been going on for a lot longer than Black Lives Matter has been trending in this moment, and that legacy is connected to a tradition of Black queer, trans, and non-binary folks sacrificing themselves for the rights that people too often take for granted," Johns said.

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Davis reflected on how roles for transgender people, in particular, has shifted in the last decade.

"The reality for most Black queer people is we live with other Black people," Johns said. "We are disproportionately concentrated in the South, we live in the states where it is permitted to discriminate against us based on race and legally permissible to discriminate against us based on perceived or actual sexual identity, gender orientation, or expression."

With existing mental health disparities exacerbated by the pandemic, as Davis and Johns noted.

"My dad died when I was very young, so I've been dealing with grief and loss, and I've been in therapy for a very long time so I know those things about me and I've been privileged that I've been able to work through a lot of that," Davis said.

Because of the nature of the National Black Justice Coalition's work, Johns said June has been an extraordinarily busy and difficult month.

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LGBTQ Pride Month looks different than ever before. National Black Justice Coalition's David Johns and 'Grey's - Business Insider India