Champions of Pride 2021 From The Gulf Coast

The Advocate's Champions of Pride 2021 are the unsung heroes who are making inroads for LGBTQ+ people in their fields of work and in their communities every day despite the risks or challenges. More than 100 changemakers (two from each state, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Territories) have been named to the list.

With trans rights and safety under siege across the country, it's imperative to amplify and elevate the breadth of LGBTQ+ identities. The Champions of Pride print and digital editions and virtual event is our way of honoring the diversity and dedication of so many in the LGBTQ+ community.

Join us in honoring our Gulf Coast 2021 Champions of Pride. Be sure to check back each day as we roll out the rest of the regions of Champions.

Carmarion Anderson-Harvey - 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 transtheologian, offering liberation and transtheology -- empowering my transgender community while changing the fundamental Christian teachings that have often excluded, harmed, and discriminated against us."

Warren Alexander O’Meara-Dates - Alabama

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."

Ace Tilton Ratcliff - Florida

"Stay weird. Be kind" is Ace Tilton Ratcliff's motto. The queer, trans-nonbinary, disabled, and neurodivergent writer, artist, and accessibility consultant stresses the importance of not only being kind to others but to yourself, especially around mental health. "In 2021, I'm honestly most proud of making it through the year," after the pandemic, surviving a major surgery, and losing their beloved dog. To go beyond survival and thrive "through grief is hard at the best of times," says the 34-year-old. And 2020 was hardly the "best of times." Yet they are thriving, with a new book deal with Tiller Press (about taking care of a new puppy). Ratcliff is an avid advocate for disabled folks and has helped raise thousands of dollars to help those in the community pay medical expenses. "As a disabled person living in America's medical industrial complex, I know how it feels to have to rely on the goodwill of other people to help pay my medical bills. Because of this, I believe strongly in mutual aid."

Jane Castor - Florida

Jane Castor made history as the first woman and first out LGBTQ+ person to serve as chief of the Tampa Police Department, from 2009 to 2015. She then was elected mayor in 2019, becoming the first lesbian to hold that post. The 60-year-old trailblazer has become one of the leading voices in the state about cracking down on pandemic protocol. After implementing an official order requiring Super Bowl fans to wear masks at related events (even outdoor ones), a frustrated Castor later went after many of the revelers who appeared maskless in public, which was punishable by a $500 fine. "At this point in dealing with COVID-19, there is a level of frustration when you see that," she said in a press conference. Despite the pandemic, Castor has increased Tampa's economic development by over a billion dollars. In 2020, the city recorded $4.5 billion in permitted construction in 2020, up from $3.1 billion in 2019. "During the pandemic, we have really taken so many steps to ensure that our development has not only continued, but increased in our community," Castor told the Tampa Bay Times.

Dr. Jancarlos (J.C.) Wagner Romero - Louisiana

Dr. Jancarlos (J.C.) Wagner Romero is dean of adult education at Delgado Community College and a representative on the New Orleans Public School Board. He's also a professor of education at two institutions, where he has the opportunity to help cultivate the skills of future teachers. Last year he continued to serve on advisory and executive boards, including Center for Racial Justice at Dillard University, the K-12 Education Program at Tulane University, and the Louisiana Department of Health's Ad Council (to help with COVID relief).

He's a former board member for the LGBTQ Center of New Orleans and the Louisiana Equality Foundation. In what Romero calls the "greatest achievement of my life," he defeated a homophobic and transphobic incumbent to win a seat on the New Orleans Public School Board. "It is truly an honor to be the first openly LGBTQ person of color elected to public office in Louisiana," he says. "I just think that it's poetic justice to not only have beat my opponent in the end but to have been publicly sworn in with my husband alongside me."

Milan Nicole Sherry and Mariah Moore - Louisiana

As co-executive directors at House of Tulip, Milan Nicole Sherry and Mariah Moore (pictured) provide sustainable, zero-barrier housing for trans and gender-nonconforming people in New Orleans. Sherry is a 29-year-old Black trans woman, a former sex worker, and living with HIV. She cofounded House of Tulip to provide safe and welcoming spaces centering Black and brown trans and gender-nonconforming people. "What I am most proud of in 2021 is the resiliency I continue to see within my community," Sherry says. In addition to her role at House of Tulip, Moore, 32 (who is also a Black trans woman), is a national organizer for Transgender Law Center, advocating for trans equality. She also gathers resources and raises money to meet the needs of community members shut out of economic relief because they are sex workers, undocumented, or living with disabilities. Moore says, "I am most proud of our organization (House of Tulip) raising the funds to purchase a brand-new house that is already housing members of our community and making a huge impact in the lives of the people we serve."

Jaime Harker - Mississippi

Jaime Harker is a professor of English and director of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Mississippi. On weekends, Harker runs the Violet Valley Bookstore. "My specialty is feminist and queer print culture, and I have done a significant amount of work recovering forgotten queer writers and literary movements," she says, rattling off a list of titles and authors. She's been instrumental in bringing queer visibility to the classroom as well through her queer literature courses such as Queer '90s for undergraduates and Queer South and Queer Theory for graduate-level students. Harker is proud of that type of "queer programming" at Ole Miss, and she says she's relieved that her bookstore weathered the pandemic storm. "Many people donated money to support the bookstore," she says. "The LGBTQ+ community in Mississippi is resourceful, hilarious, supportive, resilient, and inspiring, and I feel fortunate to claim membership in that Southern queer tribe every day."

Keenon Walker - Mississippi

Keenon Walker is the president of the Spectrum Center, currently the only LGBTQ+ resource and advocacy center in Mississippi. The 2012 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi cohosts The Rewind Podcast and Justice League Dark Podcast, and stage-manages a local burlesque-inspired musical review. Walker is also a communications coordinator for the multispecialty practice Hattiesburg Clinic, helps organize many LGBTQ+ events in the area, and he serves as the unofficial photographer for fundraisers and drag shows. "I have spent the past year taking calls from the LGBTQ+ community, helping connect them with housing contacts, affirming mental and medical care, and legal assistance," he says. Despite the shutdown, Walker was also able to organize a local Pride march last October. While the primary goal was to honor trans and gender-nonconforming victims of deadly violence, he knew the event was key to reducing the heightened isolation experienced by many queer members in the Pine Belt region. "Center event days were often the only time some were able to get out of the house and be around other queer people," Walker explains.

Kandi Williams - Texas

A lot of spaces have had to move online, and that includes nerdy spaces. Kandi Williams from Texas makes sure those nerdy havens have plenty of room for people of color who want to join them. After starting the Dicey Amazons, an all-women-and-nonbinary POC Dungeons and Dragons livestream, in 2019, this self-described tomboi is continuing to welcome POC and especially Black nerds into the community. As tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons become more and more popular, people like Williams and the Dicey Amazons are making sure that there's space at the table for people who don't fit into the fandom narrative of who nerds are. "People have told us how grateful they are that our community exists and how welcoming it is," she says about Dicey Amazons. "We are just as grateful to our community because this last year would have been a lot rougher without them."

Madison Rorschach - Texas

Some of the biggest changes come at the local political level, and Madison Rorschach is a great example of that. As a city auditor for Denton, Texas, and a queer person, she tries to use what power she has to promote equity in the local government auditing sphere. But the 25-year-old doesn't pay attention only to her own city. When she became chair of the Association of Local Government Auditors Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, she began increasing visibility for LGBTQ+ issues in the space. Some of her moves: making sure gender-neutral bathrooms were available for in-person meetings, including pronouns on name tags, and developing training aids for other auditors and cities to use to make their reports more inclusive. "As auditors, we are generally charged with providing assurance that government programs and functions work the way they should," Rorschach says. "Ensuring that these audits evaluate the equity of government programs should improve the lives of everyone in the community.