Lali Safavi saw a gap in South Florida’s queer media scene and filled it with a new publication known as SkirtSoFLo that is focused on arts and culture for LGBTQ women. She is from DC and was inspired by their community publications such as the Washington Blade. Another inspiration was Curve Magazine, a lesbian publication founded in 1990.

Maddox Max hails from Los Angeles and made his way to South Florida looking for a change of scenery after his divorce, “I just decided I would come out here. I was visiting [my best friend] often, and I loved South Florida. I would always end up extending my trips.” 

After working 25 years as a nurse in the trauma intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Douglas Houghton embarked on a new and exciting adventure as the organization’s first Director of Advanced Practice.

Maxine Lemarr has been a professional musician, entertainer, and singer for 50 years. She is now retired and serves as the Music Director for Lesbian Thespians, a performing arts group founded and led by women.

Maxx Fenning has accomplished much beyond his years - he recently graduated with his bachelor’s in business administration from University of Florida while also leading PRISM, a nonprofit focused on sexual education for LGBTQ+ youth in South Florida. 

Robert Cole is a native Floridian that serves as the Executive Director for Our Sister’s Place, a thrift store that supports victims of domestic violence.

Avion Goordeen serves as the Outreach Director at PRISM, a nonprofit focused on education and sexual health resources for LGBTQ+ youth in South Florida. He’s a first-generation immigrant, identifies as bisexual, and has been involved with nonprofits since 2018.

Her smile makes others smile. Her skills make others better. Michelle Santos is a Senior Youth Therapist at SunServe, a job that allows her to connect with members of the community in a one-on-one setting.

It’s never easy to narrow down the many incredible individuals in our LGBTQ community to just one list — but we’ve done our best.

If you see him, you can’t miss him. With his signature beard and on-point jewelry game, Marc Martorana is very recognizable - and he gets recognized everywhere.

Kim Blandon has an extensive history in community organizing and activism that goes back to their childhood growing up in Hialeah. They are Two-Spirit and pansexual.

In tough times, tough people rise to meet the occasion. That was the case for Karen Kelley. “I decided rather than screaming at the TV, I'd get involved.”

Jenn Stefanacci Portier likes to make things happen. That’s how 22&Co. came into existence when Portier, clad in a tutu, hopped into her mom’s golf cart to deliver birthday greetings around Key West.

Giving back has taken Michael Goodman a long way. 

Miami is back for the LGBTQ community, and much of that is due to the work of Edward Summers. He’s nearing the end of his first year as executive director of Pridelines. Over the past few years, its influence and impact were contracting. Since taking the reins, he’s moved the group back into the city and rallied support.

Don D’Arminio’s love of Wilton Manors is as big as his shoulders are broad. That’s a good thing because he carries many of the city’s issues on his back.

Caridad Moro-Gronlier was one of OutSFL’s six queer poets featured for National Poetry Month in April. A Cuban-American, her poetry collection "Tortillera" embraces and reclaims the word "tortillera," a term for lesbian in Spanish often regarded as a slur in some Cuban-American homes. Moro-Gronlier moved from Los Angeles to Miami at 9 years old.

Steven Butterman understands the LGBTQ community on an academic level. He is a tenured professor at University of Miami who works in gender and cultural studies, immigration, the queer diaspora and queer theory.

Ryan Thompson came to West Palm Beach from his native Atlanta five years ago. For Thompson, choosing to go home-based in 2018 meant being able to live almost anywhere, and it was apparent from his early life that Thomson valued authenticity, involvement, and diversity as keys to life. 

Meet Ground Zero, a transgender male and Latinx variety entertainer Palm Beach County. He has built an impressive reputation for being known as "The Cosplay King" due to his standout performances and stellar costumes.

David Jobin is the President and CEO of the Our Fund Foundation. The organization creates positive community change and addresses urgent issues facing the LGBTQ+ communities.

Before he became SunServe’s Vice President of Programs, Alex Spriggs' career took him from Australia to Japan and, finally, South Florida. 

Donna Weinberger is the founder of Transpire Help, a nonprofit focused on substance abuse recovery for members of the LGBTQ+ community. They are also the CEO of Inspire Recovery, an LGBTQ-affirming addiction rehabilitation center, as well as the CEO of Pride Detox, an LGBTQ-affirming detox and rehabilitation center. They also recently opened an LGBTQ-affirming detox and rehabilitation center in Homestead called Q Space Detox.

In almost two years serving as the Community Outreach Coordinator at Holy Cross Health, within the Community Health and Well-Being Department, Von Biggs has accomplished so much for the LGBTQ community.

Stephen Tendrich is a Native Floridian born into a deaf family. He is now a Broker Associate with Atlantic Properties International.

Jason R. Hughes is the executive director of ArtServe. For more than half of his life, he’s been at the cutting edge of LGBTQ art and media. Prior to living in South Florida, Hughes was the first director of marketing and sales for Pride Vision TV, now known as Out TV in Toronto. 

Terry Dyer has lived in South Florida for five years and supported institutions like CAN Community Health, SunServe, and the World AIDS Museum, among others.

Q-Mitch Jones is a true showman who loves bingo and has a big heart.

She’ll sing, hold space for you, make you laugh, and just when you thought she was done, she’ll flip drag on its head for her own amusement and yours. 

Justin Jones is a problem solver. He's also the President of the Rapha Center of Miami. In the Bible, the Hebrew word Rapha translates as healing. 

As the Director of Marketing and Sponsorship for the Gay Men's Chorus of South Florida (GMCSF), Edward Otto Zielke combines his life's passions of marketing and music. A New Jersey native, Zielke spent his formative years performing in theater productions, national tours, and summer stock. He majored in musical theater at New Jersey City University.

Legacy is more than a word to LaTonya Hopson. It is a vision, a mission, and an imperative. Not for herself, but for her community. She founded a nonprofit, The Legacy Project, with the goal of building bridges in BIPOC and LGBTQ communities as change agents through arts and culture to provide holistic care.