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(from left) Andry Hernández Romero; Alvaro Huerta
They join other notable honorees in entertainment, politics, media and activism who are making a difference in the LGBTQ+ community.
A gay Venezuelan makeup artist whose imprisonment and deportation under the Trump administration drew international outrage and one of the attorneys who helped bring global attention to his case have been named to Out magazine’s 2025 Out100 list.
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Out is The Advocate’s sibling publication, both owned by equalpride, and the annual Out100 honors LGBTQ+ people making the world “bolder and brighter.”
Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist, actor, and designer from Venezuela, sought asylum in the United States after facing anti-LGBTQ+ persecution. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him in March, when President Donald Trump falsely accused him and other Venezuelan men of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Hernández Romero spent more than 120 days imprisoned in El Salvador’s CECOT facility, a prison widely compared to a gulag.
Related: Inside the movement that freed gay makeup artist Andry Hernández Romero from a hellhole
Following advocacy from lawyers and a coalition of LGBTQ+ activists, Hernández Romero was released in July along with more than 250 other Venezuelan detainees. After his release, he spoke with The Advocate about recovering from the abuse he experienced. He said he survived by praying daily, finding solidarity among the other men detained with him, and drawing strength from his family and supporters around the world.
“As a member of Out100, I want to share a message of love, empathy, respect, and nondiscrimination against nationality, religion, condition, or sexual orientation so that solidarity, justice, and truth can prevail,” Hernández Romero told Out. “I want the world to know that being gay and being a Venezuelan man is not a crime.”
He told The Advocate he plans to continue his makeup and design work and hopes to start a foundation and shelter for unhoused LGBTQ+ youth and people living with HIV.
Among those also recognized in this year’s Out100 is Alvaro M. Huerta, a civil rights attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, the Los Angeles–based nonprofit that represented Hernández Romero.
Huerta, who was born to a working-class immigrant family and raised in East Los Angeles, has built a career protecting immigrant communities from detention and deportation. In his Out100 profile, he said his work includes ensuring that immigrant children have attorneys in court and preventing ICE agents from racially profiling Southern California residents.
Related: Andry Hernández Romero on surviving CECOT: ‘They told us we would die there’
Huerta represents Hernández Romero and has spoken about the importance of collective action in defending civil and constitutional rights. “Our individual rights depend on our collective action,” Huerta told Out. “We can’t let our own civil and constitutional rights be taken away by powerful interests that benefit from pitting us against each other.”
Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, led the organization’s response when Hernández Romero was deported. The firm’s attorneys helped rally international attention to his case and continue to advocate for immigrants affected by wartime statutes used for expedited removals.
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