LGBTQ Breaking News Service

The modeling industry may look different than it did 60 years ago, but it still has work to do — particularly when it comes to gender diversity and inclusion.

For transgender and gender non-binary models, entry into the upper echelons of fashion runways has been limited, and many models in this cohort have felt forced to conceal their identities in order to land jobs or succeed in the industry.

In recent years, some progress has been made, with openly transgender models increasingly featuring on runways, in ad campaigns, and on TV shows, but the fashion industry has a way to go when it comes to transgender representation. And there’s a need for greater education about what it means to be a transgender or gender fluid model. 

“I believe that the world is confused in general about everything; we have lost the line that defines the difference in between ‘who I am’ and ‘who I want to be.’ None of them are wrong, but you need to accept who you are first in order to become that person you want to be. But accepting is not understanding, and that is the problem,” said Mexican model Jay Espinosa.

A Look Back

When English model April Ashley first stepped onto the scene in the Sixties, she was credited as the first successful transgender model, having appeared in editorials for high-profile magazines such as Vogue, working alongside notable photographers like David Bailey and walking in various runway shows.

But her career was cut short when someone sold the story of her identity to tabloid newspaper the Sunday People in 1961, and although she would continue to suffer prejudice and discrimination in the decades that followed, Ashley was recognized for her tireless work on behalf of the transgender community and was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Birthday Honors for services to transgender equality.

Similarly, before her identity was disclosed during a photo shoot in the Eighties, Tracey “Africa” Norman was the first Black transgender model to achieve notability in the fashion industry as the face for Clairol during the Seventies. Though the news set back her career, Norman later appeared in notable fashion magazines and worked with beauty brands like Avon and Ultra Sheen, making them both pioneers of transgender modeling.

So what has changed in recent years?

“Trans Tipping Point”

Many have attributed today’s increased acceptance, though minuscule in scope, to a “trans tipping point” within pop culture, driven in part by things like the release of the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” featuring transgender actress Laverne Cox as one of its main characters and former Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner identifying as Caitlyn Jenner in 2015. Most recently, the Emmy award-winning show “Pose” has added to the conversation, featuring an array of transgender actors, including Indya Moore (who most recently walked the Jason Wu spring 2021 show) and Dominique Jackson (who closed Los Angeles-based brand Marco Marco’s spring 2019 runway show in New York City, designed by Marco Morante — which was comprised entirely of transgender models and activists).

Hunter Schafer in her role in HBO’s hit series “Euphoria,” began her meteoric rise to fame as a model, having walked shows for brands like Miu Miu, Dior, Marc Jacobs and Rick Owens. Blurring the line between genders when it comes to clothes says a lot about acceptance and evolution, so it’s little surprise these moments in popular culture have catalyzed a separate conversation within the fashion industry about gender fluidity. 

“When I started it was very much about the androgynous qualities and gender topics, but I think now people are starting to see me more as an artist and not just the fact I can be man or woman, you see, I even hate saying that because it feels wrong to say either or,” said model Bryce Anderson, who sits on the men’s board at model management firm The Society and on the women’s board at Supreme Management. “I do wish that the qualities of either gender could exist together and not have to have so much separation. I mean we make it such a thing all the time but it really is so natural. It’s human nature.”

Fashion, despite recent year’s genderless lines and efforts at fluidity, remains is still very well firmly divided along male/female lines, but the industry won’t be able to avoid or ignore what has become a revolutionary shift in culture. Transgender and non-binary models have been vocal and using their platforms to shed greater light on gender inequality, sexual harassment and body shaming, aiming to redefine industry views on what it now means to be a supermodel. 

And some in the industry are taking the cues.

Designer Alessandro Michele from Gucci has infused gender fluidity since he assumed the role of creative director in 2015, playing with ambiguity when it comes to gender and ideas of gender dressing. This summer, Gucci also launched a non-binary, gender-fluid section of its e-commerce site, called Gucci Mx. The inclusive space gives its visitors the opportunity to browse and purchase selects looks and accessories from the pre-fall and fall 2020 collections without having to comply with a female/male distinction.

Casting’s Shift

Some of these changes can be attributed to how casting has become more fluid, too.

European fashion designers have often been accused of conservative casting practices, favoring young white models in their campaigns and on their catwalks. There is, however, at least somewhat of a shift underway.

At Louis Vuitton, creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, has shown a commitment to inclusivity in his shows and ad campaigns, having featured talent such as Theodora “Teddy” Quinlivan (discovered by Nicolas Ghesquière and the first transgender model to be the face of Chanel Beauty’s ad campaigns), Krow Kian and Jay Espinosa (the first Mexican model to have walked a Louis Vuitton women’s show).

For his spring 2019 show, Ghesquière recruited Kian and Espinosa and featured them in mostly tailored looks, initially confounding guests and setting social media ablaze as the public wondered whether the designer had ventured into the realm of men’s wear, despite the looks being part of the women’s wear lineup, as the looks were worn by both transgender male and androgynous female models. The moment helped mark the validity and power of inclusive casting.

“Walking for Louis Vuitton’s women’s show showed me that being transgender didn’t limit my capabilities and opportunities as a model,” Kian said. “Head designer Nicolas Ghesquière personally made sure I was comfortable with not only my clothing, but my makeup also. He even went as far as making sure I had a private change room. There have been many other clients like Balmain, Valentino, McQueen, Alyx, that have been as supportive and taken into account me being a male model, regardless if I am walking for a female line.”

While there have been several milestones that have changed the view of casting, one worth noting is the appointment of Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio. She became the first openly transgender model for Victoria’s Secret in August of 2019, and the first transgender woman to grace the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue — a modeling institution that has elevated stars like Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks and Ashley Graham to household names — ushering a new chapter for the transgender modeling community.

“I would love to see people, brands and companies more open to fearlessly embracing the trans community with compassion and respect,” Sampaio said. “I believe there is enough room in the world for all of us to exist in our own unique way — as long as there is respect and humanity. I hope that in the near future it will no longer be taboo, news, as something new because we have always been here and we will always be.” 

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the spring fashion week season was certainly unlike any other, with many brands holding virtual runway shows and creating digital look books and fashion videos to showcase spring 2021 collections. But many still embraced inclusivity in their casting.

In New York, Aaron Philip represented Collina Strada, R13 enlisted Ella Snyder, Eckhaus Latta featured Hari Nef and Maya Mones modeled for Chromat. London included Gareth Pugh, which cast non-binary model Finn Love and transgender model Sakeema Crook, as well as drag queen Georgie Bee. Riccardo Tisci enlisted his muse Lea T to walk for Burberry, which held a livestreamed runway show in a forest outside London. Milan featured transgender model Valentina Sampaio for Etro, and in Paris, Koché picked transgender models Dustin Muchuvitz and Venus Liuzzo, and Balenciaga went with Gigi Hari.

Designer Christian Cowan assembled a cast of LGBTQ allies such as Lil Nas X, Amanda Lepore, Teddy Quinlivan, Chella Man and Parker Kit Hill, for their ongoing work to push queer representation in the mainstream media.

“The experience has been so natural for us. We are a brand born out of a queer community,” Cowan said. “There really isn’t an excuse for brands to not be inclusive anymore. The population needs to be more educated than ever and appreciate a diverse brand. While America and the U.K. are better at this, I feel Europe has a long way to go.” 

Transgender and non-binary models only experienced a slight uptick in representation for the spring 2021 season. According to The Fashion Spot’s diversity report, the total rose from 10 appearances for fall 2020 to 11 for spring 2021. The relatively flat growth proves almost a regression coming from a much more significant 36 appearances for the spring 2020 season in New York.

In Europe, appearances topped at 20 for spring 2021 total versus 21 in the fall 2020 season.

“After many seasons of keeping track of diversity across race, size, age and gender in the industry, it often feels like we take a step forward only to take two steps back,” said Morgan C. Schimminger, managing editor of The Fashion Spot. “Take gender diversity which showed a steady increase up until spring 2019 when it started swinging in the other direction. There needs to be a consistent increase if the industry ever hopes to be truly inclusive.” 

The Road Ahead

The question now is, how does the industry continue to improve from here?

“Change takes time and a lot of brands are stuck in the ways of the old guard,” said Jeanna Ridout, director at IMG Models, the agency responsible for Chella Man, the first deaf, transgender model to be signed. “As we move forward and consumers evolve, brands really need to ensure they too are evolving and adapting.” 

The fashion industry must recognize that transgender and gender fluid models are not simply a trend to monetize for several seasons and then move on to the next topical thing. Embracing all genders in modeling and casting will mean coming from a place of authenticity when it comes to prioritizing representation.

“It looks like the fashion industry and global advertising companies have hung on the issue of inclusion, racism, and minority rights to keep the capitalist consumer system,” Brisa M. Alvarez, agent for MM Runway and casting director at Cast Partner Mexico, said. “However it seems that the only reason why they really care about it is still about selling and the inclusion is more a matter of money than human rights.”

For real change to occur, it also needs to be tackled at the brand level.

“In the past five years, look at the difference in the castings of fashion houses. Inclusion has grown so much in terms of body types, ages, skin color. But the change cannot be only in the window displays. It has to be reflected in those fashion houses as well,” said Donat Barrault, president of Supreme Management New York. “The major players in the industry should look into their own staff and introspectively see if inclusion is really applied, I’m talking as well in their highest positions, in their board of directors and key positions in their organizations. That is as well a game changer.” 

Another aspect of the scouting and casting process for LGBTQ models has been centered around the topic of respect toward understanding how to properly market and manage the models’ careers.

Models have long been associated with perfection and ultimate beauty, but as an industry, it’s also vital to acknowledge that these notions have become outdated and need to be evolved to reflect inclusion and the diversity of the world today.

“We are in a pivotal moment in our evolution, and we all have personal accountability in restructuring an outdated, divisive paradigm,” according to Christiana Tan, managing partner at The Lions Management. “Beauty is not a formula; it is time for all industries to reflect back the expansive nature of beauty.” 

Many of the top model casting agencies continue to operate with very distinct men’s and women’s divisions, leaving a gap as to where LGBTQ talent lay in the overall spectrum, and leaving agents and managers alike with the task of placing queer models onto these specific boards, whether or not they identify with either gender.

For men’s agent Jordan Morris of New York Model Management, it has been a challenging issue.

“I’ve scouted a cisgender female model who was masc[uline]-presenting and wanted to only model men’s wear. I’ve also scouted a non-binary model who prefers men’s wear but who will also model more masculine women’s wear. I work on the men’s board so by default those models end up being presented on the men’s board with me, even though neither identify as men,” Morris explained. “I think agencies need to restructure and rethink these strict gender constructs and open a space for gender queer models where they can feel more appropriately marketed.”

And some agencies are working to carve out that space.

Increasingly, modeling agencies geared toward nurturing LGBTQ talent have been popping up, like New Pandemics, a casting and management agency in New York City. The agency was founded to increase LGBTQ visibility in the fashion and entertainment industries, and Trans Models (New York), credited as one of the world’s first transgender modeling agencies, founded by Peche Di in 2015, an accomplished transgender model in her own right, and operated by a diverse team of transgender individuals.

Education for the Future

As with most things, education and acceptance will be key to greater inclusion and fashion still has things to learn.

“I hope that the fashion industry will become a safe place for queer people to work. I hope that all trans models will no longer be misgendered or asked invasive questions while working (and outside of work as well),” said model Juno Mitchell, who was recently featured in Marni’s spring 2021 look book and in one of a hundred covers from Vogue Italia’s September 2020 issue, “100 Covers, 100 People, 100 Stories.”

And a lack of inclusion going forward won’t come without a cost for companies that don’t get it right.

“In this day and age, you’re going to fail in business and personal life if you aren’t inclusive because, more and more, people are growing up and educating themselves and want to see diversity and inclusivity, in the media they consume, magazines they buy and brands they want to support,” model Casil McArthur said. “You’ll end up being left behind in the world of fashion if you don’t stay current with the obvious shifts that are happening globally with culture inclusivity and awareness.” 

Brands like Chromat, Gypsy Sport, Wales Bonner, Brother Vellies, Helmut Lang, Self-Portrait and Pyer Moss, are among the notables on the ground and are connected with purpose to inclusivity — the designers themselves embody this, and have made it part of the brands’ DNA.

“The industry has the ability to change and shape lives through its influence in our culture and societal norms. Every piece of clothing we buy represents a personal choice and it is this intrinsically human relationship between us and our fashion that makes it political,” said Asian transgender model Dominique Castelano, who has appeared in ads for Maybelline and is the new face of Marc Jacobs’ latest clothing line, Heaven, which aims to celebrate polysexuality. “The history of the sex binary has been deeply embedded in the fashion industry and it should be our mission to deconstruct these sexist and racist narratives. We need to work together to reclaim our own individual gender expressions in the fashion world.”

Fashion has a long way to go in achieving a realistic and comprehensive standard that is representative of the diverse world we live in, and these representations mark but small victories for the transgender community, in particular, who are still fighting for their lives every day. 

“Everyone should be entitled to present their most authentic self. I hope the industry embraces more trans/non-binary/gender-fluid talent,” said photographer and creative director Kevin Amato, who also served as Hood By Air’s casting and brand director (2007 to 2016). “It’s the future of fashion and actual reality so I’d hope they get on board for their businesses’ sake.” 

Is beauty ready to go beyond Pride Month product releases?

The LGBTQ community has long been a wellspring for beauty trends and yet, companies that capitalize on such trends tend to exclude the very people who started them. This year’s civil rights movement has brought increased attention to the LGBTQ community’s members of color, especially those who identify as transgender.

At least 33 transgender or gender-nonconforming people have been violently killed since the beginning of the year, with Black and Latinx transgender women accounting for the majority of deaths, according to data from the Human Rights Campaign. That statistic demonstrates a collective lack of acceptance of trans men and women and gender-nonconforming people — particularly those of color, who are virtually invisible in the beauty world despite their rich contributions to its culture.

“When I think of beauty trends, a lot of them — a lot of slang, fashion, popular culture — originates with Black and Latinx trans women, gay men,” said Maryse Pearce, program manager of Stonewall Community Foundation, which funds various initiatives geared toward the LGBTQ community and has worked with beauty brands such as Urban Decay.

“I do wonder, in terms of the beauty influencer world, how voices get elevated, how trends get attributed and who is benefiting and profiting,” Pearce continued. “We know that there are Black trans women, Black drag queens, Black gay men who are creating content. It’s a question of who is seeing it and who is deciding to invest in it.”

Darius McKiver, a beauty influencer known online as NeonMUA who created the #ColourPopMeBlack hashtag, said although the beauty industry has become more accepting of LGBTQ members who are nonbinary, “people still feel a kind of way.”

“A lot of [brand initiatives] feel performative, especially during Pride season,” McKiver said. He typically sees an increase in interest from brands that tends to drop off once Pride Month ends.

“Brands will release their rainbow palettes, which is fine, but one of the big things for me is that these brands show the same support all year long or be willing to support queer artists throughout the entire year — not just during the month of Pride,” McKiver said.

Beauty’s performative Pride drops — which usually come in rainbow-colored packaging with the promise of a donation to one of a variety of causes — are so recognizable, the practice has garnered a name within the LGBTQ community.

“We call it ‘slapping a rainbow on it,’” said Jayla Roxx, founder of BatMe! Cosmetics. “Everything is how it’s always been, just slap a rainbow on it.”

Jayla Roxx, founder of BatMe Cosmetics.  BatMe

Roxx launched BatMe in 2017 with a false eyelash line that became popular within the drag community. A transgender woman of color, Roxx quickly found herself alone as a beauty entrepreneur, but the response she received from her community — whom she calls her BatMe Besties — encouraged her to keep going.

“I’ve been blessed enough to home in on the people who are actually buying,” Roxx said. “Everyday I would be like, ‘Jeffree Star just bought a new Tesla and I’m over here Uber Eats-ing.’ I had to stop putting myself in those categories. I had to turn inward to myself and my brand and remind myself, why do you want to keep going? Who are you doing this for? I’m creating my own community within this community.”

Her advice to brands: share your platform with those who don’t have one.

“You can pay me, yes, but I’m still going to be suppressed,” Roxx said. “The more we’re seen, the more educated we are about one another. People will respect you more as an ally, speaking up and standing on the right side of history rather than you saying, ‘I feel for you’ and moving on.”

Beauty has made strides in the past five years to be more inclusive of its LGBTQ members. James Charles’ appointment as CoverGirl’s first CoverBoy, Nikkie de Jager joining Marc Jacobs Beauty as the brand’s first global artistry adviser and, more generally, the rise of men who wear makeup — Bretman Rock, Patrick Starrr, Manny Mua, to name a few —  are all indicators of the industry’s expansion of what beauty is.

Still, transgender men and women remain largely absent from the highest tiers.

In 2018, Sephora launched a free, 90-minute class in which people who identify as transgender or nonbinary can learn makeup and skin-care techniques. The class, which is taught by Sephora Beauty Advisors, is meant to “help participants feel beautiful and confident,” Corey Yribarren, executive vice president and chief people officer, said in a statement.

Last year, the retailer launched “Identify as We,” a chapter of its “We Belong to Something Beautiful” campaign meant to celebrate “the transgender and gender-fluid community specifically, through a series of content telling their stories,” said Yribarren.

Two-year-old inclusive beauty company We Are Fluide was cofounded by Laura Kraber to bring “queer joy, queer resilience, queer beauty” to the forefront, Kraber said. The company views inclusivity as more than just marketing, but the practice of hiring diverse employees to do the behind-the-scenes work, too.

We Are Fluide.  We Are Fluide

“Inclusivity is very much about who’s getting the credit for the work, who’s getting paid for the work, whose face is in the campaign, who’s making the imagery and, as much as possible, to include the people who have historically not been included,” Kraber said.

We Are Fluide, which is carried online at Urban Outfitters Inc. and at Nordstrom’s Beauty Pop-in, partners with LGBTQ youth centers, fundraisers, college campus queer centers a few times per year, donating 10 to 20 percent of sales to their partner of choice.

“We’re actually not yet profitable, so it’s a big step to be donating,” Kraber said. “We’re an early-stage company that’s self-funded, so we’re bootstrapping. We’re not MAC, we’re not Milk Makeup, but we’re doing what we can to give back.

“From the perspective of historically marginalized groups, owning your beauty is related to power,” she said. “Makeup is not necessarily uncomplicated or fluffy, it’s actually quite serious in the sense that image-making is serious. To liberate makeup from patriarchal society’s standards of beauty creates a space for makeup to be empowering and a means of self-expression for everyone — regardless of your identity.”

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Activism. It’s a word that conjures up images of demonstrations, protests, and in the case of this year’s continued and growing spotlight on vulnerable Black transgender communities, oftentimes grassroots efforts that have the power to draw national attention and recognition.

Just this year, Ceyenne Doroshow, founder of Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society, or G.L.I.T.S., announced during a Black Trans Lives Matter rally in Brooklyn that she’s raised more than $1 million for the local Black transgender community that will go toward long-term housing.

“In 2020, I’m putting myself out there — I’ve been out there for a long time, but I’m putting myself and my agency out there to create and build to literally create utopia for the community, by obtaining this donation money that we have received,” Doroshow told WWD.

For many activists, rallies like these are a culmination of a day-to-day reality and fight for equal access to resources and rights as varied as housing, education, funding, workplace protections and political representation, among many other concerns involving race, police brutality and health care. In addition to G.L.I.T.S. and The Okra Project, a collective providing home-cooked meals for Black transgender individuals led by Ianne Fields Steward (featured here), Black trans-led organizations such as For the Gworls Fund, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts and Black Trans Travel Fund are working tirelessly to fill in the gaps where society continues to fall behind.

The short of it is that the world is a long way off when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion on all levels.

“I think the very idea that we are just now creating efforts to ‘include’ people in a society they already occupy, contribute to, and shape is indicative of the fact that LGBTQIA-plus people are still considered second-class citizens,” said Steward.

Those within the LGBTQ community are as multifaceted and complex as the name suggests, meaning there is no single or direct solution to addressing the concerns of many. What parallel can be drawn is that no one is free until everybody is.

As Michael Bullock, founder of WeeklySenator.org, noted plainly: “Many governments look to America, the ‘land of the free’ to see how we treat our LGBTQ citizens as a benchmark to justify their own discrimination and homophobia, so it’s important that we continue to push for more diversity in our leadership.”

To address the issue and the necessary steps for a more inclusive future, WWD spoke to activists for the LGBTQ community who speak to current threats, and increasing significance of their work given the backdrop of 2020 and the impending presidential election.

Ceyenne Doroshow  Lexie Moreland/WWD, Makeup Artist: Erika Bealon

CEYENNE DOROSHOW, G.L.I.T.S. (GAYS AND LESBIANS LIVING IN A TRANSGENDER SOCIETY)

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? I think when it comes to inclusion and the LGBT community, we’re at the threshold of changing the world. We’re literally doing the most amazing things to not only get voices heard but we are a movement that is growing every day.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community? The laws against us, policies that don’t show sustainability for our community, our current administration and the list can go on. The threats against us are society. There are so many different ways society is trying to keep us back.

How are you working to fight against that threat and others? In 2020, I’m putting myself out there — I’ve been out there for a long time but I’m putting myself and my agency out there to create and build to literally create utopia for the community, by obtaining this donation money that we have received. I immediately bought property because if we, the leaders, if we can do it ourselves then we are the first hand. We get to write the rules to what changing this world looks like for us.

What do you think it will take to have the LGBTQ community adequately included and accepted in society? And how do we get there? It starts with our parents, their grandparents. It starts with family, families need to teach tolerance. This tolerance should be spilled out into workplaces, in the court houses, in the hospitals, in social services, in housing. This is the way you’re effectively changing the world, when you have sensitivity training on a national and global level that teach tolerance, that accepts no prejudice.

Ianne Fields Stewart  Lexie Moreland/WWD

IANNE FIELDS STEWARD, THE OKRA PROJECT

What are three words you would use to describe yourself? Tryna Get Free.

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? I think the very idea that we are just now creating efforts to “include” people in a society they already occupy, contribute to, and shape is indicative of the fact that LGBTQIA-plus people are still considered second class citizens. The LGBTQIA-plus community is as multifaceted as the acronym suggests, and therefore, I don’t know that I can say that universally LGBTQIA-plus people are one thing or the other. Race, class, ability, etc., all play a factor in determining if this society is doing the work to properly acknowledge all of its citizens. What I can say is that, personally, there are moments where I have hope and moments where I am disgusted by what I see. Every day, I try to commit to fighting for hope and encouraging the people around me to do the same.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community? The continued murders of Black Trans people — especially Black Trans women. Say our names. Give us flowers while we are here. Don’t disappear our specific oppression into a general statement like “people of color.” And to quote my dear friend and founder of For the Gworls Fund, Asanni York: “Molly wop a transphobe who wants to f–k with Black Trans women. On sight.”

Why is the work you’re doing so important right now given the backdrop of all that has been 2020? The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to address the global crisis of violence faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them. We are one of many Black Trans led organizations such as For the Gworls Fund (Asanni York), Black Trans Femmes in the Arts (Jordyn Jay), Black Trans Travel Fund (Devin Michael Lowe), G.L.I.T.S. (Ceyenne Doroshow), and more. Between all of us, we are working tirelessly to fill in the gaps where our society continues to fall short. Whether it be housing, travel, funding, food, our organizations are collectively and independently working to support our community which is too often forgotten about.

What do you think it will take to have the LGBTQ community adequately included and accepted in society? And how do we get there? A Black Trans person wakes up. This person is able to wake up in secure housing. They are able to open a fridge full of nutritious and culturally specific foods that they know they can easily replace. They are able to leave their home without having to make extra time to allow for inaccessible public transportation because all of the public transportation accommodates their needs and the needs of all people. They are able to move through the streets without fear of verbal or physical harassment or assault from individual people or the militarized police state. They go to their job where they are gainfully employed in a field that excites them and does not overwork them. They are employed based on their talents which they were able to build through an education system that does not provide disproportional advantages to students based on their race, class or ability. They are able to access therapy that is affordable and/or free. As they make their way home they pass a community center and shelter that was repurposed from an abandoned police building because the police no longer exist. They do not have to fear deportation because this society wholeheartedly recognizes that borders are a made up concept and no human being is illegal. This person goes to bed after a relatively stress-free day knowing that the land they occupy is protected and nourished by its original inhabitants who have received commensurate reparations for the traumas they have endured. They go to bed recognizing that they are a part of a larger culture that protects its people as well as the Earth’s natural resources.

That’s step one.

Jeanise Aviles, Viva Ruiz, and Michael Love Michael  Lexie Moreland/WWD

VIVA RUIZ AND COLLECTIVE MEMBERS, THANK GOD FOR ABORTION

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

Viva Ruiz: Devotional, rageful, playful.

Michael Love Michael: Authentic, compassionate, joyful.

Jeanise Aviles: Nurturing, spiritual, queer.

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? A long way off? Starting to improve?

J.A.: The world at large, we are a long way off. Within our own community we are improving in 2020 most vividly organizing in ways to move money around to help and support each other and building awareness through developing new language and sharing it.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community?

M.L.M.: I think the biggest threats look like the current administration’s relentless campaign to roll back legal protections that help keep us safe, from Roe v. Wade to redefining workplace/business discrimination laws – and to be clear — these decisions affect not just LGBTQ people, but ALL of us. I also believe that white liberals, based solely on their own individual comforts, often perpetuate harmful lies about post-racism, economy, and myths of equality that ignore the daily struggles many LGBTQ still fighting to be heard and acknowledged.

How are you working to fight against that threat and others? And why is the work you’re doing so important right now given the backdrop of all that has been 2020?

V.R.: The work I am doing personally is to focus. To concentrate in one spot and aim laser beams on it. I say abortion and God and joy every chance I get because stigma is also a barrier to access. However, abortion access isn’t only about abortion, it’s about race, class, gender, ableism, citizenship status and how those “intersections” as Kimberly Crenshaw wrote, affect that access. It’s important to me personally as a person who’s had multiple abortions, who is from a family of Ecuadorian migrants, who is queer, who is fluid. I can speak from those intersections so I must. Act Up showed me the way with the messages drilled into me: health care is a human right, silence equals death. It’s worth it. It’s crucial to find new ways to invite people into the discourse.

What do you think it will take to have the LGBTQ community adequately included and accepted in society? And how do we get there?

J.A.: Wow, we as a human race need to be willing to forgive ourselves and remove shame around how complex we really are. We are human beings on earth doing things for the first time, there is no “one way”. To explore ourselves, to be curious, to break through the walls of power, oppression, guilt and binary is vital to find and express joy.

M.L.M.: I think it is so important for us to center ourselves and use our voices to speak up about our experiences when possible. I think it’s also about claiming freedom as a whole, rather than waiting for it to be granted by some larger, more oppressive force. This looks like making more room for our joy, celebrating our necessary existence and loving one another.

V.R.: Taking up all the space, speaking out when we have the safety to, and staying connected to the love among us that is the fuel for all of it. We must love ourselves and each other, and not stop, just not stop pushing. We must celebrate every win and claim our birthright to pleasure without punishment.

Aasim  Lexie Moreland/WWD

AASIM

AASIM ROZIER, TRANS PANTHERS

What are three words you would use to describe yourself? Creative, inspirational, leader.

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? A long way off? Starting to improve? I feel like the world has started to improve but still has a long way to go when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion. We still have a ridiculous amount of trans women of color dying. Sadly we are only finding out about these deaths through social media.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community? The biggest threat I see in the LGBTQ community is that it is really hard to find spaces for queer people of color to be their authentic selves.

How are you working to fight against that threat and others? I created a page on Instagram called @transpanthers that is catering to the LGBTQ community of color. It highlights organizations that are run by and for LGBTQ people of color and events that pertain to the community. At the moment, it is under construction but our co-founder, Celena Tang and I have something big in the works.

And why is the work you’re doing so important right now given the backdrop of all that has been 2020? I believe giving the community a platform to easily find places that they know they can go to that is safe and that in which they can be themselves is highly important. Especially during a time when Black and Latinx cis and transgender people are fighting for justice and equality.

What do you think it will take to have the LGBTQ community adequately included and accepted in society? And how do we get there? I think that if our society takes the time to educate themselves and understand the LGBTQ community instead of trying to make the community fit into the social norms that are forced upon them, then we can progress together. Like the artist, Miguel, said, “what’s normal anyways”? For us to have a world where the LGBTQ community is accepted, society has to be willing to unlearn some things.

Michael Bullock  Lexie Moreland/WWD

MICHAEL BULLOCK, THE WEEKLY SENATOR

What are three words you would use to describe yourself? Enthusiastic, determined, consistent.

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? A long way off? Starting to improve? Definitely a long way off. 19th-century poet Emma Lazarus coined the call to arms “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.” More than a century later this remains a distant ideal. 75 countries currently criminalize LGBTQ people. Many governments look to America, the “land of the free” to see how we treat our LGBTQ citizens as a benchmark to justify their own discrimination and homophobia so it’s important that we continue to push for more diversity in our leadership. The overwhelming polarized mood of the last few years overshadows much of the progress that had been made. In the last decade, Tammy Baldwin­ — an out lesbian from Wisconsin — was the first LGBTQ person to be elected to our Senate. In 2018 Dania Ronen, won a seat in the Virginia General Assembly, making her the first trans person elected official in America. Last year Arizona elected Kyrsten Sinema, the first openly bi-sexual senator. I hope that November 3rd, 2020 New York elects Jabari Brisport, the first openly gay black man to ever run for office in this State.

Trump accidently did something great for LGBTQ citizens; he made our sexuality boring. Peter Buttigieg and his husband looked like the Walton’s when compared to a man that brags about groping women without consent and cheats on his wife with porn actors.

It’s important to mention that this power shift is also happening in fashion. LGBTQ designers are rejecting being the spokespeople for oppressive straight corporations. Instead this current generation of openly-queer, sex-positive, POC designers own their own companies. Telfar, Barragan, CFGNY, Hood by Air, No Sesso, Section 8 are all brands owned by queer people, designed by queer people for queer people (but not only). When you buy their clothes you can be confident that your money is reinvested back into the community.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community? In America, the biggest threat is always the same: Republican control of our government.  When the President and the Senate are run by Republicans, they take away our protections and put judges on the Supreme Court that threaten our basic rights and run an economy that shuts out both the marginalized and the middle-class.

How are you working to fight against that threat and others? And why is the work you’re doing so important right now given the backdrop of all that has been 2020? Weeklysenator.org is a new voter education/crowdfunding platform that I recently founded with Downtown for Democracy. Weekly Senator is designed to take back and maintain control of the Senate, for only two dollars a week. We aim to transform the collective anger, protest, and frustration into consistent direct action, creating a powerful lobby of the people, and to create a progressive future. If for example 10,000 WWD readers joined Weekly Senator, we could facilitate giving a million dollars a year to Senate campaigns. The goal is to become an economic influence on par with the NRA. Together we can reclaim our country, from the stifling influence of special interest groups, tech billionaires and the 1 percent who block progress on every issue from social justice to climate change. No matter how the next election goes we have to immediately take action to ensure that the 22 republican seats that are being challenged in the 2022 midterms are taken by progressive candidates. If there is one thing these last few years taught us it’s to never let down our guard, the midterm elections begin Nov 4th.  #collectivechangetoday #Midtermsstarttoday

What do you think it will take to have the LGBTQ community adequately included and accepted in society? And how do we get there? An estimated 5 percent of Americans are LGBTQ. So at least five percent of our political leaders should also be LGBTQ. The country doesn’t work for everyone when almost 70% of the Senate is comprised of old, wealthy white men. “A government of the people, by the people for people” can only become a reality when it has economic diversity, gender diversity, racial diversity and sexual orientation diversity. Weeklysenator.org is designed to help us get there.

Adam R., Oscar Nñ, and Mohammed Fayaz  Lexie Moreland/WWD

ADAM R., MOHAMMED FAYAZ, OSCAR NN, PAPI JUICE COLLECTIVE

What are three words you would use to describe yourself? Crazy, sexy, cool.

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? A long way off? Starting to improve? A long way off. It won’t be until all of us in the LGBTQ-plus community are free that we can all be free. We’re thinking about trans folks in our community, particularly trans Black women and women of color.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community? Violence against trans women, trans-exclusionary policies, racial injustice, police brutality, hyper capitalism and White Claws.

How are you working to fight against that threat and others? And why is the work you’re doing so important right now given the backdrop of all that has been 2020? At this point, we’re just trying to do the best we can with what we have. We lost our entire livelihood so we’re trying to reformat, reconfigure and adapt. The work of all artists is important right now not only as a cathartic escape for people today but as an emotional archive of this time for future generations. Of course we’ll have all the heartbreaking statistics but through art, we’re better able to tell the personal stories.

What do you think it will take to have the LGBTQ community adequately included and accepted in society? And how do we get there? A lot honestly but abolishing white supremacy is a good start. As queer and trans folks we’re hyperresilient and innovative so we’re confident that some day maybe not in this generation but the next, we can get there. Inclusion is one thing but liberation from these systems is the ultimate goal.

Amy Khoshbin  Lexie Moreland/WWD

AMY KHOSHBIN, ARTIST

What are three words you would use to describe yourself? Artistic, political, bridge-builder.

Where do you think the world is when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion? I think if we’re looking at a global perspective, true LGBTQ equality and inclusion is a long way off – it’s still illegal to be queer in 68 countries. And that doesn’t account for the daily discrimination and violence against queer and trans folks everywhere. That being said, LGBTQ inclusion has been slowly evolving because of the work of generations of queer organizers and activists who have been fighting for cultural and policy shifts to bring our rights into the mainstream view. In America, the national cultural dialogue has become more inclusive of queer communities, but here, too, with the appointment of people like Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, LGBTQ rights are still insecure to this day.

What’s the biggest current threat you see facing the LGBTQ community? If I were to generalize, I’d say persistent conservative and hateful thinking translated into anti-LGBTQ discrimination, violence and bullying, and policymaking. Specifically, we still see so many discrimination policies against our trans and non-binary communities, as well as violence especially against POC. This is one of the biggest threats because it literally translates to basic human rights like the inability to access healthcare. But also, assuming there is one current threat that is ubiquitous to the entire LGBTQIA community assumes a uniform “queer experience” that doesn’t align with reality, so many different factors are at play — race, class, ability, location, etc. For me, as an Iranian-American female-identified queer that is white-passing and living in Brooklyn, I don’t experience the same level of discrimination as friends and allies even within my own queer circles. Depending on where you situate yourself in the LGBTQ community, there are definitely different specific threats to address.

How are you working to fight against that threat and others? I’ve been moving my artistic practice into the political space, working to get radical queer City Council candidates elected in NYC to change policy for LGBTQ folks from the local level upwards. It’s important because we’re fighting against systemic oppression in all realms in 2020 (and for many generations before), and our elected help set the tone over the years for LGBTQ rights and cultural norms through the policies they implement. Obviously the threat of daily discrimination and violence isn’t easily solved with policy, but it helps to create a framework for mainstream society to shift their cultural perception towards inclusion and acceptance through seeing our LGBTQ community accurately and fairly represented in government, in policy, in the media, in the workplace, in the street, as our families and friends.

Michael Bullock  Lexie Moreland/WWD