LATV’s Champions of Queer Authenticity in Community

This Pride month, LATV is proud to present our Top 20 list of influential people championing queer authenticity. Over the course of the month, we will be featuring five artists, five entrepreneurs, five media personalities, and five community leaders who are changing the narrative around queerness in culture today.

Our fourth and final category: COMMUNITY LEADERS!

Award winning artist Billy Porter has chosen to speak joy into the world to combat hate. Gran Varones creator Louie Ortiz-Fonseca cultivates community in telling stories through a Black-Latinx lens. By embracing humor, performer Carmen Carrera further humanizes the trans experience and connects with her followers on social media. For public health advocate Jorge Diaz, loving yourself is the first step toward making community. And public figure and politician Brian Sims continues to advocate for pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, even out of office.

BILLY PORTER / through legacy

Grammy, Emmy, and Tony-award winning artist Billy Porter has not only championed what makes him unique, he’s made his individuality part of his personal brand. His authenticity, on and off camera, has inspired others in the queer community to lean further into what their identity can look like.

“I’ve been working a long time to find my own voice,” Porter tells LATV at the premiere of one of his most recent films. “Over twenty years ago, I made the decision to choose myself, and to work at filling … the lack of representation that I saw in the market.”

Originally from Pittsburgh, he joined his first Pride march in 1989. Since, he’s been part of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and representation in the arts.

For Porter, the anti-queer pushback we face today is a reaction to the progress and change that’s already happened. So, he combats any temptation at victimhood with actively choosing joy.

“I’m trying to use my art and use my work to actually make a change and actually make a difference,” he goes on to say. “[I try] to speak joy, to speak life, to speak the positive.”

LOUIE ORTIZ-FONSECA / through storytelling

Louie Ortiz-Fonseca started Gran Varones to document the stories of his community. The digital storytelling project amplifies pop culture, AIDs history, and queer history through a Black, Latinx lens.

He grew up in 1980s Philadelphia at the height of the AIDs and crack epidemic, the oldest of seven brothers, with a mother that struggled with addiction. So, he shouldered significant responsibility early on. But, within this community on the margins, he came into his queer identity with hope.

“I grew up with drag queens in the house and [I was] mesmerized,” he says on LATV’s Living y Ready. “They were talking about something I loved, which was music.”

Over the last few decades working in queer community spaces at varying degrees, Ortiz-Fonseca has found the most joy connecting with the next generation of storytellers.

“What inspired me to start Gran Varones was not seeing people who looked like me in the community I was trying to be a part of,” he goes on to say. “Our goal is to get other people to start projects so we’re all documenting our history [and] recording our stories.”

CARMEN CARRERA / through social media

Performer and model Carmen Carrera uses humor to talk about trans issues.

“When you make people laugh, they feel more comfortable to hear what you have to say,” she tells LATV at the 2023 GLAAD Awards. “A lot of things I deal with is very funny, so I just want to share that and hope that they feel good when they walk away from learning about trans people.”

Originally from New Jersey, Carrera caught the public eye on RuPaul’s Drag Race. She grew her personal and professional brand from there on social media. Now, she appears on Comedy Chingonas and The Garcias, both streaming on HBO Max.

Stand-up (though she originally didn’t plan for it) has granted her a new level of visibility, humanized her experience, and diversified her platform.

“Visibility, for me, means to share my most vulnerable moments. That’s why I love my social media,” she adds. “It’s about being intentional with how I present, how I speak … giving a little glimpse of my life without giving too, too much, but enough that will inspire the next trans person to do the same.”

JORGE DIAZ / through public health

Jorge Diaz’s daily routine is grounded in loving and accepting himself.

As program manager at Equality California, Diaz oversees HIV programming, writes for magazines, and serves as a patient ambassador.

“I think being visible … [is] powerful,” he says on LATV’s Living y Ready, “because that’s the only way to end homophobia, machismo, and HIV’s shame and stigma.”

Born in Orange County, Diaz has overcome obstacles from the start. First, he was victim to childhood sexual abuse. Then, his mother kicked him out when he came out as gay. And later, he was diagnosed HIV-positive.

“It doesn’t matter, everything you go through in life. It’s how you come up on top, and what you do with your story,” he adds.

He found chosen family in his colleagues and friends. His parents came around and he chose to forgive them. He adopted a dog. In being visible and happy with his identity and status, he hopes to inspire others like him to reclaim their health, locate resources, and (most importantly) find that love within.

BRIAN SIMS / through public office

Public figure Brian Sims advocated for LGBTQ+ rights even before serving as the first openly gay member of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly — and he continues to champion the fight.

In office, he lobbied both Democratic and Republican members of Congress to support marriage equality and queer non-discrimination laws. He has served on several boards that monitor and protect the rights of queer citizens. And for the last six months, he has been Managing Director at Out Leadership, an organization that connects LGBTQ+ leaders in business.

“It’s nothing new for the LGBTQ+ community to find ourselves at the grotesque intersection of powerful agendas and political attack campaigns,” he writes for Out in New Jersey. “But this time, our response to these attacks necessitates the involvement of our allies in government, the media, in our communities, and in the markets, stepping up to use their voices AND resources to support us through these critical times.”

A natural connector, Sims will continue pulling from his own experiences and sharing the collective queer narrative to swing the public sector in the favor of equality.

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