Forty Under 40

These budding powerhouses, leaders in media, politics, sports, and science, are facilitating our future. Meet the architects of the next decade.

BY Advocate Contributors

April 24 2012 1:56 AM ET

Micah Kellner • 33
New York City
Member, New York State Assembly

Before New York State assemblyman Micah Kellner could hear wedding bells, he wanted every New Yorker to have the same right to marry. The first time he spoke on the Assembly floor was to support a marriage bill in June 2007, two weeks into his first term. It failed, but four years later the state, the nation, and Kellner’s girlfriend rejoiced when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law.

In December, Kellner exchanged vows with his sweetheart and campaign adviser, Marie Ternes. Kellner, who has cerebral palsy, is the first openly bisexual person to be elected to the New York legislature, and he wears all of his labels with pride. “I can only be me, and I just try to own the title, because I think so many folks choose either to ignore [bisexuality] or are disdainful of it,” he says. “I like to point out that it is LGBT, and we rise as a community, we fall as a community.”