Daren is asexual and monogamous. Jenn is queer and polyamorous. Their 18-year marriage is proof that love has no limits.

Meet Daren and Jenn M. Jackson, whose love for each other radiates through the screen as we chat on Google Hangout. In talking to them and in listening to their podcast That Black Couple you get the sense that theyve known each other forever (true!), can complete each others sentences (it happens several times in our interview) and have a huge commitment to Black lives, storytelling and encouraging people to unabashedly live their truths.

In 2020, the Jacksons, both 39, made an announcement on That Black Couple to help them show up in the world as their authentic selves: Jenn is a queer, androgynous lesbian who is also polyamorous. Daren is asexual and monogamous. For years prior, each of them had been thinking about their gender and sexuality knowing that they hadnt adequately figured out how to make sure their inner feelings were aligned with how they presented themselves to others. Each of their upbringings had socialized them to believe that their lives needed to look and feel a certain way.

Jenn and Daren effortlessly welcome listeners into their lives on their podcast, as they talk about what it means to be Black queer millennials in America today. They make it immediately clear that whatever you think you know about polyamory and asexuality, youre probably wrong especially when it comes to Black love.

Polyamory is not about just the romantic ties, its about building community and collective power, said Jenn, who is a professor and author of Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism . Theres other Black folk out there who are navigating the world like us, who are trying to figure out how to parent in this place that wants to annihilate us, who are trying to figure out how to subsist as queer folks, who are trying to build families. So this has always been about trying to find that community.

Daren said his journey to asexuality started with a ton of research: He read literature about what it means to be asexual and learned of the wide spectrum of identities within that sexual orientation. He immediately started to recognize himself in those descriptors.