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We’re thrilled to introduce our inaugural Advocates for Change, 20 groundbreaking LGBTQ+ activists who are engaged in critical work in their communities who photographed their daily lives using Google Pixel. Among those we honor are students fighting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the country, the heads of lifesaving LGBTQ+ organizations, entertainers with a platform, and athletes fighting preconceived notions of sexuality and gender.
Our first three Advocates for Change, Zoey Luna, Sameer Jha, and Myles “Mother Telfar” Mugler (featured below), were also photographed by Texas Isaiah Horatio-Valenzuela for The Advocate’s cover story about the current war on LGBTQ+ youth.
These three young activists telegraph youthful hope while also expressing the difficulties of the current political moment. Please enjoy their stories, both written and visual. And check each week in July as we roll out our full Advocates for Change roster.
Transgender Latina actress and activist Zoey Luna (#seenonpixel) is not yet 21, but in the last decade, she has established herself as a rising star. In 2014, Luna and her mother were featured in the Laverne Cox documentary The T Word, which chronicled the lives of seven transgender young people. Soon after, Luna was cast in a documentary about her own life, Raising Zoey, which came to fruition after a local filmmaker saw Luna speak at Transgender Day of Remembrance in West Hollywood. Since then, Luna has made guest appearances on I Am Jazz and I Am Cait and has garnered acting roles on Pose, The Craft: Legacy, and the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. She is also currently working on a record and continues to be a vocal supporter of her community. “To be advocating for LGBTQ+ rights at a time in history when so many targets are placed on our backs feels scary,” says Luna. “But I’m grateful for those of us in the community who have the capacity to stand up and call direct attention to the injustice going on.”
Luna in a custom tee as photographed by Valenzuela.
At only 14, Sameer Jha (#seenonpixel) took their experience of being bullied and founded the Empathy Alliance, an organization dedicated to making schools safer and more inclusive for LGBTQ+ youth. Since then, Jha has given a TED Talk on how adults can support LGBTQ+ youth and worked to make their school district a safer space for LGBTQ+ students. When Sameer was 16, they wrote Read This, Save Lives: A Teacher’s Guide to Creating Safer Classrooms for LGBTQ+ Students. Recently, Jha, who is now an undergraduate at Stanford University, was invited to the White House by President Joe Biden and helped advise the administration on the needs of trans youth in schools. “In this current moment, when queer and trans youth are under constant attack...it is more important than ever to make sure these youth have a safe and supportive place to grow and learn at school,” Jha says. “I do this work so that no kid will have to go through the kind of bullying and harassment I went through, and it means so much that I can be a source of representation for queer, nonbinary, and South Asian youth like me.”
Myles “Mother Telfar” Mugler (#seenonpixel) is a New York City-based activist, model, and Vogue Fem ballroom dancer who has been featured on Pose. In June 2021, they cofounded the Haus of Telfar, which they describe as an “exclusive family-oriented house for creative, and ambitious people...that [was] built on love, respect, exclusivity, family, talent, passion, loyalty, honesty, faith, artistry, dedication, and hunger.” Mugler is also the cohost of New York City ballroom’s premier podcast, The Up and Coming Legendary Children, where they discuss current events in the ballroom scene and life as a queer and trans BIPOC. Mugler found success in the ballroom world, winning the grand prize of $1,500 in July 2021 at the West Ball after battling six times in one night. “In my life, creating genuine connections and building bonds with those who truly align with who I am has always been so important to me,” says Mugler. “Through the ballroom scene I’ve found family that feels like home, and so I advocate for chosen family and community. Finding your tribe and being a part of a community of love and support is so important.”
This story is part of The Advocate’s 2022 Advocacy and Politics issue, which is out on newsstands July 18. To get your own copy directly, support queer media and subscribe — or download yours for Amazon, Kindle, Nook, or Apple News.
