Dr. Nadine Nakamura is an associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of La Verne where she teaches multicultural psychology at the masters and doctoral level. Her research relates to multiculturalism and intersectionality and include immigration, HIV, and ethnic and sexual minority health and mental health, as well as understanding the unique needs of LGBT people of color, LGBT immigrants and asylum seekers, and LGBT international issues. Media includes: APA Monitor, CNN.

Zahara Green is the Founder and Executive Director of TRANScending Barriers, a trans-led group whose mission is to empower the transgender and gender non-conforming community in Georgia through community organizing with leadership building, advocacy, and direct services. Zahara is the board President of Black & Pink Inc a prison abolitionist organization supporting LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners. Media includes: Buzzfeed, Rolling Stone, INTO.

Glennda Testone joined New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center as its first female Executive Director in 2009. Since then, she has strengthened The Center’s programs for adults, youth and families, ensuring all LGBT New Yorkers have an opportunity to live happy, healthy lives. Testone also spearheaded the launch of innovative and groundbreaking programming at The Center for LGBT youth, transgender community members and LBT women. Media includes: The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, CNN.

Kierra Johnson is the Deputy Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. She has a wealth of experience in program development, youth leadership and reproductive justice. Johnson previously served on the National LGBTQ Task Force’s board of directors and on its National Action Council, and has keynoted at the organization’s annual Creating Change Conference. Media includes: Newsweek, The New York Times, Fox News, Feministing.com, NPR.

Dr. Melissa R. Michelson (PhD Yale Univ.) is Professor of Political Science at Menlo College. Author of five books, she is a nationally recognized expert in voter mobilization, Latino politics, LGBTQ politics, and California politics. Her ongoing work looks at the politicization of Latino immigrants, how to increase voter turnout in communities of color, and how to increase support for transgender rights. Her books include Listen, We Need to Talk: How to Change Attitudes about LGBT Rights and Mobilizing Inclusion: Redefining Citizenship through Get-Out-the-Vote Campaigns. Media includes: The New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, The Los Angeles Times.

Marcie Bianco, PhD, is an associate editor at the Stanford Social Innovation Review, where she leads the multimedia DEI initiative and oversees the Books, Field Reports, and Last Look sections of the print magazine. She was formerly the Editorial & Communications Manager at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, where she served as editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter, Gender News, and the annual print publication, upRising, in addition to being the founder of the Clayman Institute Feminist Journalism Writing Fellowship. Media includes: Pacific Standard, Quartz, Rolling Stone, Salon, Vox, and Vanity Fair, NBC.

Danielle Joy Healey is a transgender civil rights advocate who has been active in LGBT cases in federal courts and agencies and has lobbied Texas state legislature on transgender issues. She is currently senior principal at Fish & Richardson and is the only "out" transgender partner at a big firm in Texas. Media includes: Wall Street Journal, Houston Business Journal, Law360, ALM publications, Outsmart Magazine, Houstonia Magazine.

Reverend Irene Monroe is an ordained minister, motivational speaker and she speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. She writes a weekly column in the Boston home LGBTQ newspaper BayWindows and has stated that her "columns are an interdisciplinary approach drawing on critical race theory, African American, queer and religious studies. As an religion columnist I try to inform the public of the role religion plays in discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Because homophobia is both a hatred of the “other ” and it’s usually acted upon ‘in the name of religion,” by reporting religion in the news I aim to highlight how religious intolerance and fundamentalism not only shatters the goal of American democracy, but also aids in perpetuating other forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, classism and anti-Semitism.” Media includes: The Advocate, Huffington Post, BayWindows, NPR.

Professor Nancy Williams is an inorganic chemist specializing in organometallic chemistry. Williams came out as a queer, transgender woman in 2013, and has been active in voter canvassing efforts intended to protect trans rights and reduce prejudice against trans people in Los Angeles, Miami, and Tacoma. She is also proud to sing with the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles and has been singing in choirs for thirty years; for trans women, whose voices do not become higher when they transition, vocal performance is an act of public visibility and broadens our conception of what women's voices sound like. Media includes: New York Times Magazine, Pride, NPR.

Yesenia Chavez, a daughter of Mexican immigrants, serves as the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Policy Analyst within the National Political Advocacy Department. Previously, Chavez was a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Representative Raúl M. Grijalva where she led successful efforts that resulted in the HHS publishing a rule to protect children from sexual assault in ORR custody, DHS releasing the "Transgender Care Memo" for the health and safety of LGBT immigrants in ICE detention, and an investigation of the high volume of sexual assault claims in ICE facilities. Media includes: The Atlantic, Good Morning Washington.

Heidi Peck Breaux, LCSW-R, possesses an expertise in counseling individuals of marginalized identities, training staff that serve diverse populations, and teaching anti-oppressive practice in higher education. As the Associate Director of Adult Services at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in Manhattan, she oversaw grant-funded programs, lead LGBTQIA+ cultural competency trainings, and provided testimony to the NYC Council Commission on Human Rights. Breaux has also served on the NYC Department of Health LGBTQ Employee Resource Group as a leader for the transgender and gender non-conforming inclusive sub-group and participated in developing programs for the Women Who Have Sex with Women group and Transgender Practice Patient training. Media includes: The New Social Worker Magazine.

Evie Litwok is the Founder and Executive Director of Witness to Mass Incarceration (WMI). WMI’s mission is to end mass incarceration by placing formerly incarcerated women and LGBTQIA+ experiences at the center of the fight for alternatives to mass incarceration. Litwok works to change the narrative from invisibility and victimization to empowerment through documentation, leadership training, organizing and advocacy. Her hard work has led to a growing network. Litwok is a part of the National LGBT/HIV Criminal Justice Working Group who meets regularly with the Bureau of Prisons to discuss increasing safety and dignity for LGBTQ prisoners. Media includes: The Heat, The Nation, Forward, Ravishly.

Ana L. Oliveira became the President & CEO of The New York Women’s Foundation in 2006. Previously, she has worked in the health and human services field for over 22 years, developing programs for vulnerable populations throughout NYC. She served as the Executive Director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis for over seven years, overseeing a complete turn-around of the agency. Before working at GMHC, Ana directed innovative community-based programs at Samaritan Village, the Osborne Association, Kings County and Lincoln Hospitals. Ana has served as a member of the New York City HIV Planning Council, in the New York City Commission on AIDS, chaired the NYC Commission for LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth, and, most recently, Co-Chaired Mayor Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative. Extensive media experience.

Recently named to Politico's Power List, attorney and political strategist Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza provides commentary for print media, radio, and television on law and politics. Areas of legal expertise include the Supreme Court, the federal judiciary, civil rights law, military law, and Indian law. As a lesbian and a Latina, topics of particular interest include LGBT rights, racial justice, criminal justice reform, women’s rights, voting rights, immigration, and gun control. Media includes: Daily Kos, Democracy Journal, The Daily Beast, Pacific Standard, The Nation, The Atlantic, Politico, CNN, NPR.

Jennifer Chrisler is the Executive Director of Family Equality Council, and one of the foremost national advocates dedicated to full equality for modern American families. As head of the Family Equality Council, she works to support, represent and connect the one million families in the U.S. with parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and their two million children. Under Chrisler’s leadership, Family Equality Council has grown into the leading policy advocate on federal and state issues that impact today’s modern families, including foster care and adoption, safe schools, family medical leave, parenting protections, domestic partnership and marriage. Media includes: The New York Times, The Huffington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, CNN, NPR.

Alexis Clements is an award-winning writer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Her feature-length documentary film, All We've Got, which focuses on LGBTQ women's spaces at a time when many are closing, premiered in October 2019 at NewFest. In addition to her creative work, her nonfiction writing and filmmaking primarily focuses on the arts, the arts economy as experienced by artists, the intersections of arts, culture, and social justice work, as well as LGBTQ arts and culture. Media includes: The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Guardian, Bitch Magazine, American Theatre, The Brooklyn Rail, Nature, NY1, WNYC.

Through research, writing, legal services, and organizing, Andrea J. Ritchie has dedicated the past two decades to challenging racial profiling, police violence, criminalization and mass incarceration, with a particular focus on the experiences of women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of color. She is author of Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States (Beacon Press 2011). Media includes: The New York Times, Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Yahoo News, NowThis, MSNBC, NBC, NPR.

For over fifteen years, Ileana Jiménez has been a leader in the field of social justice education. A 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching, her research in Mexico City focused on creating safe schools for LGBT youth. Passionate about creating inclusive schools, Jiménez believes in transforming education for gender, racial, and economic justice. In 2005, she founded the New York Independent Schools LGBT Educators Group, providing educators professional development and networking opportunities. Media includes: The Huffington Post, The Atlantic, MSNBC.

Elizabeth Schroeder, EdD, MSW is an internationally-recognized educator, trainer, and author specializing in sexuality education pedagogy, curriculum development and LGBTQ inclusion. Dr. Schroeder has worked with schools, parents and youth-serving organizations in countries around the world for more than 20 years, including, in 2015, creating the first-ever online training course on human sexuality for teachers in East and Southern Africa for UNFPA and UNESCO. Media includes: The New York Times, Associated Press, NPR.

Tarah Demant is the Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA. She leads the organization’s work on women’s rights, LGBTI rights, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and sexual and reproductive rights. She brings over fifteen years of experience in global gender issues and has advocated for human rights at the United Nations, the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, USAID, Capitol Hill, and with many foreign governments. Media includes: The New York Times, Al Jazeera, Time, USA Today, The Nation, PRI, CNN, BBC.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian documentary filmmaker, activist, cultural worker, writer, and international lecturer whose work, for the past 25-years, examines the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. Her work is informed by her lived experiences as a child sexual abuse and adult rape survivor. Previously, Simmons produced, wrote, and directed the 2006-released, Ford Foundation-funded, internationally acclaimed film, NO! The Rape Documentary. The film brought together leading and emerging Black scholars, theologians, artists, activists, men, women, and survivors to break silences and commit themselves to reshape patriarchal cultures of violence against women and queer communities. Media includes: Essence Magazine, ColorLines, All In the Family, NBC.

Quita Tinsley is a fat, Black, queer femme that writes, organizes, and overall works to build sustainable change in their home, the South. Tinsley currently serves as the Deputy Director of Access Reproductive Care - Southeast, where they focus on strengthening ARC-Southeast's operations, programs, and organizational voice. As a fat femme, feminist, and queer Black non-binary person, it is through their lived experiences and identities that Tinsley has come to believe in the power of storytelling and the validation of lived experiences. Media includes: USA Today, Feministing, Ebony.

Kersh Branz is a professional photographer, artist, and collaborator with 14 years of industry experience. Branz is a passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, the arts, education and inclusion and is available to speak to both large and small groups about identity, creating art through trauma, healing, and other topics relating to gender and sexuality. In 2014 Branz had created their first independent portrait series called, The Pride & Joy Project that focuses on queer mothers, transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary parents and their families. In 2016 Kersh created the facebook group, Queer Parents (formerly called, Queer Mamas*) that is a vibrant online community of over 19,000 people from more than 60 countries. Queer Parents provides a necessary space for conversation, support, and feedback for queer women, queer mothers, transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary parents and people. Media includes: Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Magazine, Jeanne Magazine.

Pita Juarez is a filmmaker, journalist, and political communications strategist in Arizona. Juarez is a queer immigrant woman from Guatemala who works to uplift the story of marginalized people through effective and compelling storytelling. She received critical acclaim as the director and producer of the award-winning documentary “You Racist, Sexist Bigot”. The documentary tackles the complex identity issues of race, sexuality, and feminism in a patriarchal world from the perspective of marginalized people who harness their power by telling their story and upending stereotypes. Media includes: National Geographic, Remezcla, Univision, CNN Latino, NPR.

Melissa Bird, PhD, MSW is a passionate feminist whose education in social work has led to a career advocating for children, women, and their families. She regularly speaks about topics related to reproductive justice, LGBTQ equality, religious stigma, social justice advocacy, and women in academia. She currently serves on the Influencing Social Policy National Board and is the Secretary of the Church of the Good Samaritan Social Justice Committee in Corvallis, Oregon. As an activist, Melissa has led multiple campaigns to address comprehensive sex education, homeless LGBTQ youth, reproductive justice, and issues affecting homeless women. Media includes: Rewire News, Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune, Huffington Post.

Emily Greytak, PhD, is a national expert on LGBTQ youth and education issues. Currently, she is the Research Director at the ACLU. Formerly, she was the Research Director at GLSEN (glsen.org), the leading organization addressing LGBTQ issues in education. She led all research efforts including the biennial National School Climate Survey, the only regular survey of LGBTQ students’ experiences. As author of the first national study of transgender youth’s school experiences, Dr. Greytak is one of the leading experts on transgender and gender nonconforming students. Research includes an empirical study on the school-to-prison pipeline and LGBTQ youth, a national survey teachers’ responses to LGBTQ issues, and an assessment of the bullying policies of all 12,000+ U.S. school districts. Media includes: The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Mother Jones, The Daily Show, Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Univision, People Magazine, CNN.

Susan Henking is the 14th president of Shimer College, the first woman since its founding in 1853. A scholar of American religion, with 25+ years of experience in higher education, she writes on religion and LGBTQ studies and the history of the social sciences, has a food blog and was co-founder of the first undergraduate major in LGBT Studies at a liberal arts college. Media includes: The New York Times, Windy City Times, Evocations.

For 22 years, Kate Kendell led the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. Through direct litigation and advocacy, NCLR works to change discriminatory laws and to create new laws and policies benefiting the LGBT community. Media includes: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Advocate, CNN, NPR.

Cori Bratby-Rudd is a second generation queer LA-based writer, poet, and co-founder of Influx Collectiv(e)’s Queer Poetry Reading Series. She graduated Cum Laude from UCLA’s Gender Studies department, and received her MFA in Creative Writing from California Institute of the Arts. Media includes: Ms. Magazine, The Gordian Review, Califragile, PANK Magazine, Entropy, Crab Fat Magazine, Impossible Archetype.

Maya Raghu is Director of Workplace Equality and Senior Counsel at the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C.. She leads federal and state policy development and advocacy, litigation, public education, and stakeholder engagement focused on women's economic security and employment opportunity, including equal pay, pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment, with an emphasis on women of color in low wage jobs. The NWLC was invloved in the R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC & Aimee Stephens Supreme Court case which involved employment discrimination and and whether gender identity was covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, PBS, BBC. WNYC.