Celebrating Earth Day with 50 LGBTQ+ environmental activists from around the world
News
Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of research and much conversation about the overlap of environmentalists and LGBTQ+ activists. There are many LGBTQ+ activists worldwide, who not only share a vision of creating a better world where people can lead their lives safely, but are taking much-needed action to protect our planet's environment. For Earth Day 2024, we celebrate 50 LGBTQ+ environmental activists from around the world who have stood up and fought for climate justice (in alphabetical order).
Gregory Barker (UK)
Gregory is Chair of the London Sustainable Development Commission and a member of the London Infrastructure Delivery Board, as well as a trustee of the Climate Group, a member of the European board of the Environmental Defense Fund, and a trustee of the board of De La Warr Pavilion. The former Conservative member of parliament (2001-2015), was former Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, and former Envoy on Climate Change, before he divorced his wife and declared his homosexuality. The member of LGBTory was appointed to the House of Lords in 2015, as Baron Barker of Battle.
Vic Barrett (US)
The 22-year-old climate justice activist was inspired to take action against climate change after his home in New York was flooded by Hurricane Sandy. He and 20 other young people decided to sue the US government for its role in the climate crisis by supporting the fossil fuel industry. The ongoing case, Juliana v. United States, is based on the belief that a safe and livable climate is a constitutional right.
Andre Boisclair (Canada)
Andre was President of the Urban Development Institute in Quebec City (2016-2020) and the former provincial party leader for the Partis Quebecois, 2005-2007. Between January 1996 and March 2003, he served as Citizenship and Immigration Minister and Social Solidarity Minister under former Premier of Quebec, Lucien Bouchard, and as Environment Minister under former Premier, Bernard Landry. He is also the former special advisor to Quebec Environment Minister on climate change, having served as the provincial delegate-general for the Province in New York City (2012-2013).
Bob Brown (Australia)
The medical doctor and environmentalist was also the former senator and former Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens (2005-2012). He was also the first openly gay member of the Australian Parliament, and first gay leader of a political party in Australia. He founded the Bob Brown Foundation, an environmental activist charitable fund.
Dragos Bucurenci (Romania)
Dragos is a communications strategist and coach, as well as an environmentalist and LGBTQ+ television personality. He founded the environmental consulting firm MaiMultVerde and led advocacy campaigns for the protection of wildlife in the Romanian part of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, and for the ecological restoration of the large areas of the Danube Delta. He is also a columnist for Elle, Esquire, The One and Evenimentul Zilei (a national newspaper) and producer/presenter of television programs relating to the environment
Andreas Carlson (Sweden)
The former deputy mayor of Ekerö Municipality (1990-1994), former member of parliament for the Centre Party (2006-2011) and Minister for the Environment was also the first openly gay Swedish cabinet member. He is currently vice-chair of the Stockholm Environment Institute Board, and has served on the Stockholm Environment Institute board since 2012.
Rachel Carson (US)
Did you know that the global environmental movement was founded by American LGBTQ+ person and scientist/marine biologist Rachel Carson? Her ground-breaking book Silent Spring (1962) came from her scientific studies on the effects of the chemical DDT and other pesticides on natural habitats around the world. This book caused an international sensation with its warnings and scientific evidence of the damage being caused to wildlife and insects from unbridled use of chemicals in agriculture and industrial waste from manufacturing. Carson successfully argued that government supervision in the area was largely propaganda, without true regulation of industrial manufacturers and users. Throughout Carson’s career studying and researching environmental science, she had many other accomplishments in addition to her written works. She won many awards for her discoveries and brought awareness to the public about what humans do that causes damage to the environment. Sadly, Rachel Carson was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after the publication of this monumental book and she succumbed to the disease in 1964. Rachel was also lesbian. She began a life-long intimate relationship with Dorothy Freeman in 1953, although Freeman was married at the time, they both acknowledged the deep personal relationship that lasted until Carson’s death.
Haven Coleman (US)
The young teenage climate activist and organizer from Colorado co-founded the US Youth Climate Strike along with Isra Hirsi and Alexandra Villaseñor. Haden first caught the public’s attention when videos of her emerged speaking passionately about climate change to politicians at their town hall meetings when she was just 12 years old.
Don Dunstan (Australia)
The Labor Party Member of South Australian Parliament (1953-1979) and Premier (1967-1968 and 1970-1979) was notable for his socially progressive policies, especially with regards to aboriginal and indigenous rights, consumer rights, the environment, and decriminalizing homosexuality. But fears of his homosexual life being revealed forced him to resign. He was also the first director of Tourism Victoria in 1982, and then chairman of the Victorian Tourism Commission until 1986. Other roles included the National President of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign (1982-87), president of the Movement for Democracy in Fiji (1987), and national chairman of Community Aid Abroad (1992-93).
Ian Duncan (UK)
The deputy Speaker of the House of Lords was formerly Minister for Climate Change in the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy and minister in the Northern Ireland Office. The LGBTory member was also member of European Parliament between 2014-2017, and was Vice-Chair of the LGBTI Rights Intergroup. He was also former head of the Scottish Parliament’s European Office in Brussels, responsible for relations between the Holyrood Parliament and the EU institutions, and is the former European Advisor to the Parliament and Clerk to the European and External Relations Committee. He started out in public affairs positions in Scotland, with posts including Secretary of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and Head of Policy and Communications with the Scottish Refugee Council.
Dale Eftoda (Canada)
Dale Eftoda was Canada’s Liberal Party member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly from 2000-2002, and the first open LGBTQ+ member. He was also the former Minister of Renewable Resources and Minister of the Environment.
Stephen Fry (UK)
The English conservationist has given his mother an adopted hectare of Cambridgeshire Fen, a project restoring more than 9,000 acres of fenland habitat in Cambridgeshire, helping to conserve one of Britain’s most beautiful and biodiverse areas. Stephen Fry was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the LGBT Awards. Every year, Stephen is delighted to invite all his Terrence Higgins Trust “Friends for Life” and “Associate Friends” to his summer Gala Dinner and to a special Christmas party as a supporter of making a difference to all those lives shattered by HIV.
Kelly Fuller (US)
Kelly Fuller is the Energy and Mining Campaign Director of the Western Watershed Project, a nonprofit environmental conservation group dedicated to protecting and restoring western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives, and legal advocacy. With a focus on the impacts of energy and mining, Fuller has spearheaded campaigns to preserve public lands and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, notably leading a 78-mile walk across the California Desert in protest of a transmission line project. In addition to her climate advocacy, Fuller has written about being an LGBTQ+ environmentalist in rural America, including an essay published by the Center for Biological Diversity’s publication The Revelator.
Greta Gaard (US)
Greta Gaard is an ecofeminist writer, scholar, and activist. She was one of the first to integrate queer theory, queer ecology, veganism, and animal liberation in ecofeminist studies. As professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, she teaches human-animal studies, environmental justice, and LGBTQ+ literature. Her academic research focuses on the realms of ecocriticism and ecocomposition. She also co-founded the Minnesota Green Party. She penned The Nature of Home (2007) and Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature (1993), and was member of the now-inactive Feminists for Animal Rights.
Pattie Gonia (US)
Self-described as the “world’s first backpacking queen,” drag queen and social media personality Pattie Gonia brings a fresh, fun, and inclusive perspective to the outdoors community. Often captured wearing high-heeled boots and dancing atop a mountain, Pattie Gonia carries messages of diversity, outdoor immersion, and environmental advocacy. It was during one of Wyn Wiley’s backpacking trips, he traded in his hiking boots for some sleek high heels, which led to the birth of Pattie Gonia. Wiley sees Pattie Gonia as a way to inspire people, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, and fat folks, to immerse themselves in the outdoor spaces from which they have been historically excluded. The fierce drag queen pushes through for a green lifestyle and lots of outdoor leisure. Serving fashion and beauty, Gonia is unafraid to disclose her sustainable, upcycled style. In a community dominated by cis-hetero, Caucasian males, Gonia produces her own path in intersectional environmentalism to aid marginalized groups at the forefront of the ecological conversations.
Paul Getsos (US)
The LGBTQ+ New York-based activist has worked for decades on leading and encouraging marginalized communities to participate in the climate movement. He wrote the book Tools for a Radical Democracy, which is a guide for grassroots organizers, and he is a national coordinator for the People’s Climate Movement, He also co-founded Community Voices Heard, which runs various programs to improve education and training for welfare recipients, so they can more easily get hired for jobs.
Stephanie Goodwin (Canada)
Stephanie Goodwin has been the Executive Director of Out on Screen, and producer of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival since 2015. She is also the former BC Director of Greenpeace, an environmental organization, and helped to draft the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement.
Leo Goldsmith (US)
Leo Goldsmith is a recent graduate of the Yale School of the Environment. His research focuses on how climate change disproportionately impacts the health of the LGBTQ+ population, primarily those with intersecting marginalized identities. His interests stem from his own personal identities as a queer, transgender Latino, and his passion for intersectional climate justice. Leo joined the Bell research group in early 2020 as a research assistant and starting May joined as an Environmental Justice and Health Strategic Initiative Fellow. He is researching potential unequal environmental exposures, such as cigarette smoke, air pollution, and natural disasters on the LGBTQ+ population and its subsequent health impacts. As a student, Goldsmith co-chaired the student interest groups Environmental Justice at Yale and Out in the Woods, an LGBTQ +affinity group at the school. He also organized “Queer and Present Danger in the Context of Climate Change,” a workshop that brought climate experts to campus to discuss the climate impacts and risks specific to the queer community.
Anja Hajduk (Germany)
Anja Hajduk has been a member of the supervisory board of German development agency GIZ since 2014. She is also the deputy chairwoman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Australia, New Zealand, and East Timor and a full member of the German-Chinese Parliamentary Friendship Group. Hajduk was the member of parliament of Hamburg (1997-2002), member of the Bundestag as a Green Party member (2002-2008) and Minister of City Development and Environment of Hamburg (2008-2010).
Christine Hallquist (US)
Transgender Chief Executive Officer runs Cross Border Power, a renewable energy company, and is focused on curbing the effects of climate change. As Democratic nominee for the Governor of Vermont in the 2018 elections, Christine was the first transgender individual to run for Governor in the United States. She was also Chief Executive Officer of Vermont Electric Cooperative and is a former chair of the strategies and technical advisory committees of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. She also chaired the Sterling Area Services Mental Health Board, and served on the Hyde Park School Board.
Pekka Haavisto (Finland)
Finland’s Pekka Haavisto has been a member of the Finnish Parliament representing the Green League (1987-1995, and since 2007-today). Pekka also ran for President in 2012 but was runner-up, and has been voted 5th most influential Finnish individual. Pekka has held positions as Minister of the Environment, Minister of International Development a member of Helsinki City Council. Pekka has also worked for the United Nations between 1995-2005.
David G. Hallman (Canada)
David G. Hallman has worked in environmental ethics and has written six non-fiction books, including his memoir, August Farewell (Rising Star/iUniverse, 2011), in which parts from his 33-year relationship with his gay partner are integrated into an intimate chronology of the final two weeks of his partner’s life. Other notable works include Searching for Gilead.
Iyer Harrish (India)
Also known as Harish Iyer, this author and LGBTQ+ activist has been a television panelist for a number of socio-environmental issues, including animal rights, gay rights, environmentalism, and victims of child sexual abuse. He is also a radio host of Gaydio on radio station Ishq 104.8 FM. He is reported to be the first openly gay individual in India to join a political party. He has also been named as one of India’s seven most influential LGBTQ+ people.
Barbara Hendricks (Germany)
Barbara Hendricks has been a parliamentary member for the SPD Party since 1998, and is Treasurer of the SPD Party. She is also Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. She was also parliamentary Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Finance (1998-2007) and a local councilor (1984-1989).
Spencer Chandra Herbert (Canada)
Spencer Chandra Herbert is the New Democratic Party Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly since 2008 representing Vancouver-Burrard and Vancouver-West End, and is the opposition’s environment critic.
Isaias Hernandez (US)
Environmental educator Isaias Hernandez created Queer Brown Vegan, an educational safe space to learn about environmentalism, veganism, and zero waste practices. Isaias has provided a safe space for other queer, vegan, and BIPOC individuals to stay informed on environmental injustices and the zero-waste movement.
Ian Hunter (Australia)
LGBTQ+ activist and supporter of equal marriage rights and adoption/parental rights, Ian Hunter was a Labour Party member of parliament in the South Australian Legislative Council since 2006. He is also Minister for Sustainability, Environment, and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation (since 2011).
Dean Jackson (US)
Dean Jackson is a Black, queer, trans, and nonbinary farmer who created an organization called Hilltop Urban Gardens in Tacoma, over a decade ago. According to the Social Justice Fund, the organization works with surrounding communities to grow fresh produce, while encouraging local youth and neighbors to organize for social justice matters, involving access to fresh fruits and vegetables, economic turmoil, systemic oppression, and similar causes.
Jeaninne Kayembe (US)
Jeaninne Kayembe is a Black, queer artist who serves as Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder of North Philadelphia’s LifeDoGrow (LDG) Urban Farm. In addition to being an urban farm, LDG is also local marketplace, a musical arts venue, and a co-working space for local artists and organizers. It’s also a green space that educates youth on the importance of sustainability. Her life mission is to get her community involved with environmental justice, and to promote equality through access to healthy food and art.
Bjørn Lomborg (Denmark)
Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author and president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center. With his think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus, he has worked with hundreds of the world’s top economists and seven Nobel Laureates to find and promote the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, from disease and hunger to climate and education. For his work, Lomborg was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. He is also Adjunct Professor at Copenhagen Business School, who specializes in environmental issues, and the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist (2001), and campaigned against the Kyoto Protocol on the Environment. Additionally he has received numerous awards and recognition for his environmental research work. He is also a gay vegetarian and the former director of the Danish government’s Environmental Assessment Institute in Copenhagen.
Greg Lowe (UK)
Greg Lowe is currently the Director of Sustainable Finance at Deloitte, an experienced professional leading the global sustainability program at one of the world’s largest risk management and insurance firms driving industry leading change around sustainability issues in the insurance brokerage sector, addressing issues around resilience and efficiency. He is also a Steering Committee Member of LGBT Insurance Network. He was the Global Head of Resilience and Sustainability at AON Insurance for many years, leading AON’s global strategy and initiatives to address the urban protection gap, enhance resilience, to reduce the company’s environmental impact.
Anson Mackay (UK)
Anson is a University College London professor who assesses human and climatic impacts on some of the world’s most important freshwater ecosystems, including Lake Baikal and the Aral Sea in central Asia, and the Okavango Delta in southern Africa. She works in the Environmental Change Research Centre and the Palaeoclimate Research Group within the Department of Geography. She is also co-chair of the UCL Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion committee.
Rose Marcario (US)
Rose Marcario is well known for the 12 years she spent at Patagonia Clothing as its President and CEO (since 2013). As an LGBTQ+ environmental advocate, Marcario had her hands in many areas of conservation work, including advocating for better policies, fighting climate change, and increasing voter turnout. While at Patagonia, she also saw the company’s strategy to protect millions of acres of land including Bears Ears National Monument (Utah), Jumbo Valley (British Columbia) and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Alaska). In 2015, Marcario was featured in Fortune for her radical activism, and in 2020, she ranked number 1 on Fast Company’s Queer 50 List for her successes in expanding Patagonia’s “social and environmental commitments.”
Jamie Margolin (US & Colombia)
Jamie Margolin is a queer climate activist and co-founder of Zero Hour, an international youth climate justice movement. Zero Hour uplifts the voices of youth to call out the insufficient protection the environment faces due to the lack of initiatives from elected officials. Because of Margolin’s outrage of inaction on the climate crisis, she has managed to take that rage and turn it into a movement. She has organized a youth climate march in Washington DC where thousands of students came to support, and has stood alongside Greta Thunberg to testify in front of the US Congress about actions that should be taken toward the climate crisis. Margolin also recently penned her first book titled Youth To Power, which guides and teaches young readers to fight for causes they believe in.
Harvey Milk (US)
Harvey Milk was one of the first openly gay politicians elected to office in the United States, and the first openly gay official elected in California. His ambitious reform agenda included protecting gay rights. He sponsored an important anti-discrimination bill, as well as establishing daycare centers for working mothers, the conversion of military facilities in the city to low-cost housing, reform of the tax code to attract industry to deserted warehouses and factories, and other issues. He was a powerful advocate for strong, safe neighborhoods, and pressured the mayor’s administration to improve local services, such as library services and community policing. In addition, he spoke out on state and national issues of interest to LGBTQ+ people, women, racial and ethnic minorities, and other marginalized communities.
Mahri Monson (US)
Mahri Monson, an Environmental Protection Specialist for the EPA, has described her work as “enforcing US environmental laws, addressing serious pollution problems to protect communities and the environment.” She’s also carried out important work in the EPA to ensure inclusive policy for transgender and gender nonconforming EPA employees. Monson worked alongside coworkers to create the policies concerning transgender and gender nonconforming EPA employees, including a guide to transitioning at the EPA and prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity.
Sunil Babu Pant (Nepal)
Sunil was Asia’s first openly gay federal-level elected official. He also conducted the first public gay marriage ceremony in Nepal. The former head of the Blue Diamond Society, the only gay rights group in Nepal, founded the Peace Environment Development NGO to work on issues concerning climate change. He also heads an LGBTQ+ travel group, Pink Mountains, and is Board Member of Kaleidoscope Trust, an LGBTQ+ rights organization. He was also a member of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly from 2008 to 2013.
Roh Petas (Finland)
Roh is a renowned LGBTQ+ environmental activist in Finland, and was formerly the Chair of International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender, Queer Youth and Student Organization (IGLYO, 2012-2013) and in the Council of Europe Advisory Council on Youth since 2014. As a trainer for teachers in gender equality issues and norm criticism, Roh also developed the Våga Veta-project that trained school staff in LGBTQ+ issues; and worked as a lecturer about sexual harassment in Folkhälsan’s project Kärlek börjar inte med bråk.
Sarah Peters (US)
Sarah Peters is an out pansexual Democratic Nevada State Assembly Member for District 24 in the US. The environmental engineer ran for office because climate change and environmental issues are the defining challenge of our time, and we need more scientists in elected office to make a progressive difference. She has been a member of the Democratic Party in the Nevada State House of Representatives since 2018.
Ceci Pineda (US)
Ceci Pineda is a gender nonconforming organizer with the Audre Lorde Project in New York City, a community organizing center run for and by lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, trans, and gender nonconforming people of color. On behalf of the project, they drafted a letter of solidarity with the climate justice movement, drawing attention to the less-talked-about environmental justice movement led by people of color most disproportionately affected by climate change. They are a graduate of Brown University and founder of RADIKO, which envisions an inclusive climate justice movement led for and by those who are most impacted by climate change, rooted on a shared value system that honors life. They also provide tools for educators to run climate justice workshops specifically for communities of queer and trans people of color living on the frontlines of climate violence.
Gerod Rody (US)
Brand strategist and environmental activist Gerod Rody has been the Senior Strategist of Valtech since 2015. The founder and Board President of OUT for Sustainability (OUT4S), a nonprofit mobilizing LGBTQ+ people for social and environmental action, has a vision of “a fabulous planet.” He is also a former Director of Marketing of Pinchot University (2009-2014).
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio (Italy)
Openly identifying as LGBTQ+, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio is President of the UniVerde Foundation and professor at both the University of Milan Bicocca and the Tor Vergata University of Rome. The LGBTQ+ academic and lawyer is also the former leader and president of the Italian Green Party, one of the parties making up the ruling coalition in the new Italian government. He was also a former Minister of Agriculture (2000-2001) and Minister of Environment (2006-2008).
Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd (US)
Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd is the co-founder of Colorado-based Queer Nature, a queer-run nature education and ancestral skills program for the local LGBTQ+ community and allies. Pinar also created the platform Indigenous Queers, which promotes the visibility in the indigenous community, specifically Afro-Indigenous, and non-binary, 2S, trans Native environmentalists. They continue to spreading environmental awareness, and ensuring the queer and indigenous communities are seen, wholeheartedly supporting and connecting with nature. Alongside their partner So, they also design and facilitate nature-based workshops and immersions to build naturalist, handcraft, and ancestral skills alongside recognizing colonial and indigenous histories of the land. By creating an empowering space of outdoor belonging, Queer Nature nurtures values of conservation and environmental justice rooted in diversity.
Jon Stryker (US)
Jon Stryker is the founder and president of the Arcus Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that primarily supports the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights and great ape conservation efforts. Stryker also serves as a founding board member for the 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy and is a co-founder of Save the Chimps, the world’s largest chimpanzee sanctuary. Stryker has cited “compassion and justice” as the two underlying themes that connect his philanthropic work in both LGBTQ+ causes and conservation.
Stryker is the founder and president of the Arcus Foundation, a private, global grant-making organization supporting the advancement of LGBTQ+ human rights, and the conservation of the world’s great apes.
Johanna Toruño (US and Latin America)
Johanna Toruño is a queer Latinx that is the founder of the Unapologetic Street Series. Born in the middle of a civil war in El Salvador and later taken to the US at the age of 10, her journey hasn’t been the smoothest. Despite the adversity she faced, Toruño found a way to express her voice through street art. On the streets of any city she goes to, she leaves posters and murals challenging ideas based on race, sexuality, and identity. Her street art makes a statement and is a strong voice that provokes much thought into what we want as a society.
Anthony Torres (US)
Anthony Torres is an organizer and strategist from Long Island focusing on tackling the interwoven crises of climate change, inequity, and other social issues. He has worked at Sierra Club and By the People and has been featured on the Grist 50 and as a Brower Youth Award winner.
Tori Tsui (Hong Kong and New Zealand)
The intersectional climate activist and mental health advocate who hails from Hong Kong and New Zealand, hosts the Bad Activist Podcast, which speaks on feminist issues, intersectionality, global warming, and racial justice. Tori Tsui was featured as a climate activist in Stella McCartney’s Fall/Winter campaign, and was sponsored by the company to take part in Sail to the COP, where she took a sail boat to the UN’s Climate Change Conference COP25 to advocate for sustainable travel.
Oras Tynkkynen (Finland)
As the first openly gay member of the Finnish Parliament, Oras represented the Green League. Oras is active in climate change politics and a member of the City Council of Tampere and an environmental activist.
Clyde Wahrhaftig (US)
Clyde Wahrhaftig is a geophysicist and Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on the environment and the role of forest management. His studies of plate tectonics was an important contribution in the field of earthquakes. In fact, he was honored with the Kirk Bryan Award by the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America, and won the GSA’s Distinguished Career Award in 1989. His partner was fellow geophysicist Allan Cox.
Rikki Weber (US)
California’s Rikki Weber works as a Legal Practice Manager and Litigation Assistant at EarthJustice, a nonprofit that use “the power of law” to protect people and wildlife and fight climate change. As a queer woman of color, Weber has long been involved in racial justice and the LGBTQ+ community. She started an LGBTQ+ group at EarthJustice to provide a welcoming space for herself and her coworkers; a place where LGBTQ+ environmentalists can be recognized. Weber has also been on a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team at EarthJustice, where she’s advocated for employee engagement.
