{"id":925819,"date":"2025-01-07T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?p=925819"},"modified":"2025-01-07T09:20:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T14:20:34","slug":"lgbtq-advocates-work-to-expand-access-prepare-communities-for-upcoming-anti-lgbtq-agenda-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/lgbtq-advocates-work-to-expand-access-prepare-communities-for-upcoming-anti-lgbtq-agenda-in-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBTQ Advocates Work to Expand Access, Prepare Communities for Upcoming Anti-LGBTQ Agenda in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

LGBTQ advocates known as GLAAD Media Institute (GMI) Alumni are sharing their action plans for 2025 and beyond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the top of their minds are transgender equality, immigration, racial and healthcare justice, and affordability as each prepares for a second Trump term. From New York City to Georgia and Michigan, these GMI alums are activating ahead of a political cycle and congressional session unlike anything we have seen before.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of its education and advocacy programming across the country, the <\/span>GLAAD Media Institute<\/span><\/a> \u2013 GLAAD\u2019s training, research and consulting division \u2013 convened meetings with local leaders and community advocates throughout the nation. Attendees who complete a program or session with the GLAAD Media Institute are immediately deemed GLAAD Media Institute Alumni, who are equipped to maximize community impact by leveraging their own story for culture change.<\/span><\/p>\n

GLAAD Media Institute Alum <\/span>Edafe Okporo<\/b> is a multidisciplinary artist and speaker, and gay asylum seeker from Warri, Nigeria. Having been able to seek refuge in the US, Okporo has lent his brilliance to immigration, asylum seeking advocacy in the state of New York leading to his memoir and manifesto <\/span>ASYLUM: A Memoir & Manifesto.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Edafe
Edafe Okporo at the 145th Street Subway in New York City; Photo by Dannie Dinh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the new year, Okporo is looking to change the political landscape in New York by running for District 7\u2019s City Council seat. His focus is steadfast on LGBTQ immigration safety and integrity, healthcare access, affordability, and resisting over policing and surveillance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okporo opened his interview with GLAAD by pointing to the conditions of poverty in New York, and the conditions of LGBTQ populations within and outside the immigration system. Conditions in which Okporo says will become increasingly \u201csub optimal\u201d under Trump.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m tired of allowing inefficient leadership to continually lead on the issues of race and class and fighting for affordability, so I decided to run for city council,\u201d Okporo told GLAAD. The candidate says he can offer voters \u201ctransparent leadership that puts people first, that is firm and independent of the political establishment\u201d that, he says, often ignores the plight of everyday people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After overcoming homelessness as a refugee, Okporo went on to lead New York\u2019s first shelter for asylum seekers, earned a graduate degree from NYU, and then began his political career advocating for the <\/span>Dignity Not Detention Act<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>which would keep New York out of the business of detaining immigrants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited for this upcoming year because my candidacy for City Council is historic,\u201d Okporo shared with a smile. \u201cWhen grassroots candidates like myself come out, we are shaking up the status quo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI lost my country, Nigeria, because I stood against a law that was criminalizing [LGBTQ] people like me,\u201d Okporo continued. \u201cI know, if elected to City Council, I will be fighting for New Yorkers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Okporo says there is some light at the end of the tunnel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, he praised the passing of <\/span>Prop 1<\/span><\/a>, or the Equal Rights Amendment, in NYC\u2019s 2024 elections. However, he stresses the fact that the police surveillance the LGBTQ community is facing is too what migrant communities face. Not only that, there is lack of transparency over police surveillance technologies and how their spyware is used, especially against people of color and protesters, according to Brennan Center for Justice<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be a very difficult time in the next four years because we have a regime of people who are coming into government to destabilize the systems that have traditionally provided air for these communities,\u201d Okporo continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most recently, the US Senate has voted in favor of the <\/span>National Defense Authorization Act <\/span><\/a>(NDAA), a federal bill that contains a dangerous and discriminatory provision targeting the trans dependents of military service members and retirees and their essential health care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:<\/i><\/b> Election 2024: Exposing Project 2025<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>Statement in Response to National Defense Authorization Act<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>Trump\u2019s Nominees on the Record on LGBTQ Issues<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/h3>\n

Members of the trans community feel the sting of these decisions by politicians that would have fought anti-trans provisions in the past, knowing more is on the way from Trump who vows to erase transgender people from the country. Post-election, The Trevor Project saw an overall crisis call volume increase of nearly 700% on November 6, compared to the weeks prior, according to their <\/span>call volume data<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GLAAD Media Institute Alum and Miss Trans Georgia of 2024 <\/span>Amore Disaya Sierra Cano<\/b> said it\u2019s time to fight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we face [these] challenges to our values and basic human rights in the years ahead, let us never forget the power we hold to defend ourselves and stand against injustice. Now, more than ever, we must unite to protect not only ourselves and each other, but most importantly, our youth. They deserve a future free from fear and oppression,\u201d Cano told GLAAD.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Okporo, Cano says it\u2019s the responsibility of today\u2019s LGBTQ populations to take on the battles of those who came before us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Amore Disaya Sierra Cano (@thee.realamore2000)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n