Champions of Pride

alabama

“We are not talking enough about the transgender violence that we tremendously face in the South,” says Carmarion Anderson-Harvey, the Alabama state director of Human Rights Campaign’s Project One America initiative. “With the highest violence and death rates in the nation, it appears we are being ignored or erased with no support or actions taken to eliminate the harm our southern transgender communities face.” Anderson-Harvey is committed to making sure that the South is not overlooked when it comes to resources, education, or care. She sees her role at HRC as “changing hearts and minds, advancing enduring legal protections, and building more inclusive institutions for LGBTQ people from the church pew to the workplace.” Anderson-Harvey also cochairs Alabama Department of Public Health’s End the HIV Epidemic campaign. She says the leadership role she has taken in her church “brings me the honor to be labeled a trans-theologian, offering liberation and trans-theology — empowering my transgender community while changing the fundamental Christian teachings that have often excluded, harmed, and discriminated against us.”

Warren Alexander O’Meara-Dates initially became a preacher but left a year into his ministry in search of his true calling. He found it in centering and celebrating those who (like him) are living with HIV. In 2010 he founded the 6:52 Project, a foundation focused on HIV prevention and education. Since 2014, he has worked with the Alabama Department of Public Health’s Office of HIV Prevention and Care. “The HIV epidemic in the South is quite complex,” O’Meara-Dates says. “Specifically in Alabama, most people contend with a lack of health care access, transportation, community resources, and housing, to name a few. If you add the intersectionalities of faith and politics, there is an increased risk because of an unwillingness to meet people where they are and understand their individual needs may differ from the ideologies these two things promote.”

alaska

After realizing that their home state of Alaska lacked spaces where Indigenous LGBTQ+ and two-spirit folks could gather and be celebrated, Jenny Irene Miller and cofounders Will Bean and Tuigana McDermott created Aurora Pride. “We wanted to create a space where Indigenous LGBTQ2+ and our allies could come together and be their full selves,” Miller says. “Some queer spaces can often be unaware of the realities Indigenous folks face and go through, so we felt it was necessary to have an Indigenous-centered group.” Being Indigiqueer also informs Miller’s art, which is grounded in their storytelling, identity, and community. Miller is getting their master of fine arts degree, and their practice is informed by Indigenous writers, policies that impact Indigenous peoples, and special collections that contain materials made by their ancestors and those from the Old Bering Sea culture. “In my practice, I am figuring out how to then turn this research and knowledge that has been found and shared into works that inherently speak to ways of reframing the past, what it presently looks like to me, and what the future can hold,” Miller says. “How can I make tangible the memories and stories of kin?” They hope that sharing their art and their story “will show other Indigenous LGBTQ2+ folks who don’t have the same privilege I do to be fully out as a queer person that they are not alone and that they matter.”

Quinn Christopherson ends his song “Erase Me” with a scream. The Ahtna Athabaskan and Iñupiaq singer-songwriter says, “We have to be loud sometimes. It’s OK to be loud.” The song was inspired by seeing just how differently the world treated him after he transitioned and features the lyrics “I’ve got a voice now / I’ve got power / I can’t stand it.” He explains, “I wasn’t prepared for the way people began to treat me differently as a man. Better. I didn’t really think I was being treated poorly before, until I experienced the other side. And I hated that. I hated that for my sisters, my mother, and every woman in my life.” In 2019, Christopherson won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, chosen out of thousands of applicants. Soon after, he signed with a label, and this spring he recorded his debut album. “When I write songs I don’t get wrapped up in following rules like structure or length or anything,” Christopher shares. “I just focus on what I’m trying to say. My grandma always told me words are powerful and no one can take that from you.”

arizona

One of out gay Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s earliest hires was Arlando S. Teller, an Arizona Democrat. “I am proud being an openly gay Navajo man working in a fantastic administration,” says Teller. The new deputy assistant secretary for tribal affairs at the DOT, Teller, who resigned from the state legislature to join the Biden/Harris administration, comes to his new job with a deep well of experience. Aside from membership in the Arizona House’s LGBTQ Caucus, the 47-year-old served in the Indigenous Peoples Caucus and was a member of the transportation, land, agriculture, and rural affairs committees. Teller is a respected figure in tribal communities, having advocated for COVID-19 protocols — he and his mother both caught the disease in November — as well as for the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Teller describes himself as someone “who has strong ties to his traditional values [while] living in the modern world.”

arkansas

Drag superstar Symone captivated RuPaul’s Drag Race audiences with her charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, making her one of the season’s most beloved queens. The 26-year-old from Conway, Ark., is a member of the Arkansas-founded House of Avalon art collective, and spent her time on Drag Race serving up some ferocious looks that drew awareness to worthwhile causes (her “Say Their Names” look is one of the most memorable and timely political messages ever brought to the runway) and bringing authentic representation to Black queens and other queer femme people of color, who still rarely see themselves represented in mainstream LGBTQ+ media. “Growing up in Arkansas, I felt like I couldn’t really be myself. I thought being Black and gay was wrong and that ultimately there was something wrong with me. Drag gave me permission to not only express myself, but also gave me a voice. Creating Symone is one of the single most important things I’ve ever done because through her I have found self-love and the ability to help others find it within themselves. Drag has also taught me that absolutely anything is possible no matter where you come from, what you look like, or the circumstances surrounding you. Through my art, I’ve been able to achieve my dreams and I think that is so important for people to see right now especially for those in smaller or more rural places.”

Recognized by the National LGBT Bar Association as one of 2021’s Best 40 LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40, Jordan Blair Woods has a passion for justice and equality for underrepresented communities. It informs the way he, as a gay 37-year-old University of Arkansas law professor, teaches the next generation of lawyers and policymakers. “My commitment to equality and justice for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized groups has been and continues to be my life’s work,” Woods says. “In a state like Arkansas, there is so much work to be done. It makes striving for change and being a visible advocate for the LGBTQ+ community all the more meaningful.” Through the past year, Woods continued to serve the community. “The shift to remote learning added new stresses and feelings of social isolation for many students and faculty. Political unrest and social injustice has taken further toll on students and faculty from marginalized backgrounds.”

california

A Mr. Leather title holder, Dr. Ali Mushtaq describes himself as a cisgender gay Muslim, “South Asian mutt” and “inequality activist.” He’s also a professor, influencer, entrepreneur, and journalist. “I raise awareness around racism and other aspects of marginalization in LGBTQ communities. In the past, I’ve fundraised for multiple HIV/AIDS charities…and served as senior leadership to a nonprofit that serves racial and sexual minorities.” He’s also a peer educator around sexuality and empowerment, and teaches classes about LGBTQ+ issues and intersectionality. This year, Mushtaq says he has “continued to raise awareness around LGBTQ issues, racism, and social inequality by serving on panels and giving (online) talks.” He’s proud to have “finally” submitted for publication a book he co-authored on Black women AIDS activists “after several years’ worth of work.”

A longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ people with her activism, fundraising, and mentorship, as senior manager in Brand Social Media, for Freeform Network, Kimberly Eaton is in a position to share her unique voice with hundreds of thousands of people across platforms. Eaton describes herself as “6-foot, 3-inch bisexual BBW (big beautiful woman) and charming troublemaker.” In her role at Freeform (the network behind Good Trouble and The Bold Type), she is able to “amplify news and stories in the community that deserve a wider audience, and [goes] a step further for the fans who appreciate our programming by recognizing the lives they lead unapologetically to make this world better,” she says. Mentorship is a big piece of Eaton’s mission. “Not without my share of confrontation and struggle, I have been afforded a very encouraged life. That is what I want for others, especially the young folks while they still believe in a world of such immense possibility,” she says. “It never feels like a burden to offer myself in that way. … I am a Black bisexual woman in a country and a world with a history of relegating those identities to positions of disadvantage. I was raised with love of self to defy that,” she says. “Being someone to talk to, showing up for other folks when it counts, even when you can’t speak personally to their experience but are ready to do the work of being a legit ally, not letting the difficult conversations disappear into the ether because they make people uncomfortable, and just reminding people to smile, laugh, dance, exhale…these are the spaces where I show up for others.”

colorado

For high school science teacher Sam Long, the call to activism came from wanting to spare others the difficulties he endured. “I transitioned while in high school and every day was a struggle against my institution,” explains the 29-year-old first-generation Chinese-American-Canadian. “I didn’t want today’s trans youth to shoulder the same burden.” Rather than just focus on creating a safer space, Long sought to change the system itself. He cofounded the Colorado Transgender/Nonbinary Educators Network, which focuses on providing visibility and legal protections for trans K-12 educators. An educator himself, Long also understood that inclusive science-based curriculum was key to changing minds with facts, so he cofounded Gender-Inclusive Biology. It provides training and lesson resources as well as consultation on how educators can tailor their curriculum to provide accurate and inclusive biology instruction. He’s also affecting the lives of young students on a personal level. “I think that it makes a big impact for me to be visible as a trans educator at the helm,” Long says. “Teaching every day and driving a larger conversation about how LGBTQ+ identity relates to biology.”

Two-time U.S. national champion skier rocked the sports world when he revealed he was gay last year, and now he wants to put that visibility to good use. Roberts has taken on adversity in many forms: for example, he suffered a broken femur in competition at the age of 9 but was soon back out on the slopes.