Iya Dammons is the Founder and Executive Director of Baltimore Safe Haven, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to empower TLGBQ Baltimoreans and their peers through direct services, advocacy, outreach, and education. Baltimore Safe Haven is the only trans-led human service nonprofit in Baltimore City. As a trans woman of color, Ms. Dammons suffered the […]

The Task Force’s next Executive Director, Kierra Johnson, joined the Task Force in 2018 as Deputy Executive Director but was already engaged with the organization, previously serving on the National LGBTQ Task Force’s board of directors and its National Action Council. Johnson came to the Task Force after serving as URGE’s Executive Director with a […]

Bishop Oliver Clyde Allen, III, is a religious trailblazer, author, human rights advocate, an international and community leader and entrepreneur. In 2015, Bishop Allen was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). In 2016, he was appointed the Southeastern Chair of the DNC-LGBT Advisory Board and a co-chair of the DNC LGBTQ Policy Group. He has served as […]

Lonnie Wayne Walker is a native of Brooklyn, New York where he grew up in Red Hook community. He attended Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina where he majored in Social Work. Mr. Walker would later attend the College of New Rochelle in New York City to continue his studies in Social Work. Mr. Walker […]

Keron R. Sadler, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, earned her Bachelor of Arts in Religion/Theology from the American Baptist Theological College, while simultaneously pursuing studies in the MBA program at Tennessee State University. She is a graduate of Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC) with a Masters in Divinity.  For three years, she matriculated at Pfeiffer University […]

Jamie Grace Alexander is a Black trans/queer activist/artist. Her project, The Baltimore Queer Paper, pulls from archival sources in order to tell stories from Baltimore’s gay past. Covering myriad subjects from 1930s drag balls to asking where is the city’s Gayborhood she hopes to bring historical context to her young LGBT peers who might not […]

Earl Fowlkes serves as the President/CEO of the Center for Black Equity, Inc. (formerly the International Federation of Black Pride -IFBP). He founded the IFBP in 1999 ago as a coalition of organizers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and South Africa formed to promote a multinational network of Black LGBTQ Pride and community-based […]

Durryle Brooks, Ph.D, M.A is interdisciplinary research scholar-practitioner and a social justice educator from Baltimore, MD. He is the Founder and CEO of Love and Justice Consulting LLC, an organization that provides leaders with diversity and social justice learning opportunities to increase their capacity to effectively and authentically engage difference. He is currently is a […]

Akil Patterson is the founder and President of Community Advocacy Consultants. Recently Akil was voted in as the First ever Vice Chairman of the LGBTQ Commission in Baltimore City and served on a host of committees such as the DNC LGBTQ Advisory Board. As a Lobbyist, Akil is credited for passing the nation’s most extensive […]

Senator Mary Washington is an advocate for Maryland’s 43rd District as a legislator, professor, ally, public policy leader and trail-blazer. Born in Philadelphia, Mary Washington began her professional career teaching at a Catholic elementary school. Her scholarly interests and dedication to serving at-risk populations and urban communities brought her to Baltimore where she earned her […]