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Since the Stonewall Riots in 1969, New York has been the site of many milestones for the LGBTQ movement, including initial organizing and activism in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and the 2011 signing of New York state’s Marriage Equality Act.
Today, New York City remains an epicenter of diversity, acceptance and activism. The metropolitan area is home to at least 750,000 LGBTQ adults—more than any other region in the nation, according to the nascent American LGBTQ+ Museum.
LGBTQ New Yorkers continue to fight for equality and against bigotry, a movement that takes center stage during June’s Pride Month.
Crain’s selected 95 such individuals for this year’s Notable LGBTQ Leaders list.
This year’s honorees are outstanding professionals in their respective industries. They are involved in mentoring programs, community activities and giving. They invest their considerable energies in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and ensure inclusive hiring practices. Hailing from disparate sectors and industries, they are united by their clarity of purpose, love of freedom, and appreciation for the LGBTQ activism of prior generations.
This list of honorees features e
ACLU Announces Chase Strangio As Co-Director of LGBTQ & HIV Project
July 25, 2024 2:08 pm
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the promotion of attorney Track Strangio to the role of Co-Director for the LGBTQ & HIV Venture. Formerly the Deputy Director for Transgender Justice within the Project, Strangio now serves as Co-Director of the Project alongside James Esseks whose title will change from Director to Co-Director.
“Having worked closely with Chase for over a decade, I have seen the visionary contributions he has made to the ACLU’s trans justice strategy,” said James Esseks, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “I am thrilled and confident to work alongside him as we respond to the vicious attacks on our community.”
Before joining the ACLU as a litigator in 2013, Strangio was an Equal Justice Works fellow and the Director of Prisoner Justice Initiatives at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, where he represented transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in confinement settings. In 2012, Strangio co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund, an group that provides direct bail/bond assistance to LGBTQ immigrants i
Today, April 21, 2025, Pope Francis passed away. Pope Francis has repeatedly urged acceptance of LGBTQ people and considered how best the Roman Catholic Church can support and minister to them.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said: “Pope Francis was a transformational leader who included LGBTQ people in historic ways. Having had the honor of meeting with Pope Francis twice, I witnessed first-hand his dedication to make a Church for all, not just some. His principles of understanding listening, inclusion, and compassion are exactly what this divided world needs right now. When Pope Francis spoke out against the operate of criminalizing LGBTQ people and when he famously spoke ‘who am I to judge,’ he created an example of unity that faith and civil leaders should follow.”
In 2023, and 2024, Pope Francis met with GLAAD staff, LGBTQ advocates from Uganda and Ghana-where the LGBTQ society is being targeted by anti-LGBTQ legislation, and transgender people, including transgender actress Nava Mau. Mau spoke about the meeting at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards: “(Pope Francis) told us he wishes us all the love and success we want, and he told us that we should keep fighting.”
As CEO of Portico Media and an openly lgbtq+ person, Jay has dedicated the last few years to implementing LGBT+ protest within the company's business plan. Portico’s LGBT+ focused streaming platform, GagaOOLala, launched globally in May, 2020, bringing lgbtq+ Asian stories to the rest of the world. In 2019, Jay’s team launched GOL STUDIOS, an in-house show hub. Since then, GOL STUIDIOS has commissioned around 30 LGBTQ+ titles, including features, shorts, and series, giving voice to underrepresented creators in countries around Asia. In November 2019, Portico organized the first edition of GOL SUMMIT, the largest conference about LGBT+ filmmaking in Asia where regional experts in different areas of the film performance process shared their insights and experiences while working on queer projects, with a digital version taking place in 2020. Externally, Jay is a founding member of the Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, and a board member of the Rainbow Coalition. Sarah Kate Ellis was named President and CEO of GLAAD in early 2014 after a successful career as a media executive. In short order, Ellis refocused GLAAD’s crucial advocacy to accelerate acceptance of the LGBTQ community through a variety of compelling and effective initiatives, campaigns, and programs. A powerful communicator, Ellis has used GLAAD’s position as the world’s foremost media advocacy organization to demand fair and reliable coverage of the LGBTQ community. Ellis also commissioned GLAAD’s annual Accelerating Acceptance report, providing a window into national sentiment towards the LGBTQ community. In 2018, Ellis launched the GLAAD Media Institute (GMI), which focuses on research into LGBTQ representation and acceptance, consulting on LGBTQ storylines in media and Hollywood, and training activists on LGBTQ media advocacy and storytelling that creates change. Over the past few years alone, the GLAAD Media Institute has trained over 10,000 people and consulted on hundreds of media projects. Ellis is also the Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards, which is the most visible LGBTQ awards display in the world. The GLAAD Media Awards remember and honor media for 2020 Top 100 Executives
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