Who did you pick for the 2025 Out100? Meet the Readers’ Choice honorees

Since 1994, Out has compiled a prestigious list of each year’s most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people. That annual tradition not only continued in 2025, but welcomed our readers to nominate and choose the changemakers they’d like to see as honorees. This year, the Readers’ Choice process received more than 25,000 votes in total.

The full 2025 Out100 list is here! Learn more about the Readers’ Choice honorees, ahead.

Arun Sethuraman

Arun Sethuraman, a professor of population genetics and bioinformatics at San Diego State University, loves to engage his students in research. “We develop and apply new open source tools to use genomic data to understand genetic ancestry, human diseases, plant breeding, and animal conservation,” he says.

Read the full Out100 profile: Arun Sethuraman.

Ben Stokes

Business leader Ben Stokes is the founding partner of Chasing Rainbows, one of the first venture capital funds to invest only in companies established by LGBTQ+ people. “At its core, my work shifts who gets access to capital and proves that inclusion drives both innovation and returns,” he says.

Read the full Out100 profile: Ben Stokes.

Brooke Eden

Singer Brooke Eden is changing the world of country music, and that’s not by accident. The proud lesbian, wife, mother, and “Giddy Up” artist is here to move hearts and minds, all while becoming the person she needed most growing up.

Read the full Out100 profile: Brooke Eden.

Cesar Toledo

Cesar Toledo is the executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support to unhoused LGBTQ+ young people in Washington, D.C. With steep cuts to corporate DEI funding, FEMA food and shelter grants, and the federal workforce, it’s been a tough year.

Read the full Out100 profile: Cesar Toledo.

Dana Goldberg

Comedian Dana Goldberg is an expert at harnessing the power of humor for good, having spent years hosting high-profile fundraisers to benefit the LGBTQ+ community in addition to spreading cheer at her stand-up shows. This year, the cohost of the popular political podcast The Daily Beans has been helping organizations like Lambda Legal combat discriminatory executive orders, such as the one banning transgender service members, and developing performance projects that center queer stories.

Read the full Out100 profile: Dana Goldberg.

Evan Low

In 2025, Evan Low, a former California legislator, became CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. “I lead an organization that builds political power for the LGBTQ+ community by electing and appointing more LGBTQ+ people to every level of government,” says Low, a gay Asian American.

Read the full Out100 profile: Evan Low.

Ryan Basham

For two decades, Ryan Basham has been a thought leader in politics, media, and culture. He advised President Biden’s 2020 campaign, directed political programming on the queer news and music network CHANNEL Q, founded Stonewall Network to foster LGBTQ+ grassroots organizations, and worked with the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund to elect out political candidates.

Read the full Out100 profile: Ryan Basham.

Shannon ‘SJ’ Joslin

Shannon “SJ” Joslin was part of a group that hung a huge transgender Pride flag in Yosemite National Park last May — and Joslin got fired from their job as a park ranger for their message of inclusion.

“Diverse ecosystems are healthy ecosystems,” they say. “That sentiment doesn't just stop in the wild — it is also true within societies. All of us are natural, and all of us matter.”

Read the full Out100 profile: Shannon ‘SJ’ Joslin.