Dear friends, partners, and community:
We write to you as two proud Black and brown queer women who have dedicated their lives to building safer, bolder, and more just communities as leaders, organizers, policy advocates, and storytellers.
We are June Crenshaw and Heidi Ellis.
For nearly a decade, June has guided the Wanda Alston Foundation with deep compassion and unwavering purpose, working to ensure stability, safety, and a path forward for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. Her leadership expanded housing and support services, strengthened community partnerships, and helped transform the way Washington, D.C. understands and responds to the needs of queer and trans youth. In her current role at Capital Pride Alliance, June advances this work more broadly by strengthening community infrastructure, refining organizational policies, and expanding inclusive community representation.
Heidi is the founder of HME Consulting & Advocacy, a DC-based firm that builds coalitions and advances policy and strategy at the intersection of LGBTQ+ justice and racial equity. Her work spans strategic consulting to strengthen public services, nonprofit leadership, and community-driven solutions.
We write because we believe. intentional Recognition — to name those who move our movement forward, make room for those who come next, and remind us that change is generational and generative. Often these leaders do this work quietly and consistently, without proper public recognition or so-called “fanfare,” even within their fields and industries, and in the face of resistance and imposed isolation.
Today, I would like to proudly introduce it to you. Torchbearer: “Making a Difference” Award; This annual celebration honors 50 unstoppable queer and trans women and non-binary people whose leadership has shaped and continues to shape our communities.
This first list recognizes:
- 25 legends – Decades of care, advocacy, and institution-building by longtime leaders laid the foundation on which we stand today. and
- 25 Illuminator — Emerging leaders whose courage, creativity, and innovation are forging new paths.
Why these names are important: Exercise memory keeps us honest. Strategy keeps us efficient. Recognition keeps us connected. By celebrating both legend and illuminator In parallel, we are intentionally bridging history and the future. It honors elders, uplifts survivors, and shines a spotlight on those whose work and talents deserve broader support, protection, and visibility.
Who includes: Torchbearers represent leaders from a variety of fields, including community organizations, public service, sports, government, entertainment, business, education, the legal industry, health, and the arts, reflecting the breadth and depth of queer leadership today. This includes organizers offering in-person services until late at night. Policy experts who formulate budgets and laws. Artists and cultural workers change hearts and words. Healer and mutual aid leader. And those who do the quiet, important work that supports us all.
Intersectionality is our core commitment. Fullness of identity is important, and winners must reflect the depth, diversity, and nuance of queer leadership today.
How to participate: nominationamplify, sponsor and participate. Use our platform to elevate these leaders, bring organizational resources to sustain their work, and help ensure recognition leads to real support, including funding, capacity, visibility, and protection.
We are excited, humbled, and energized to stand alongside the women and nonbinary leaders who have supported us in the past and those who will continue to advance this work. If history has taught us anything, it’s that the boldest change happens when we shine our light on each other and pass that flame on.
can be nominated here
June Crenshaw I am the Vice Chair of the Capital Pride Alliance. Heidi Ellis Founder of HME Consulting & Advocacy.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
