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Ernesto Apreza
Ernie Apreza
Innovators

Ernesto Apreza

Meet some of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the American people in different roles at the White House, and I am forever grateful to President Biden and Vice President Harris for the opportunity,” says Ernesto “Ernie” Apreza, press secretary to the vice president.

“It is a privilege to serve a lifelong champion of fundamental freedoms in my current role. Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working to advance civil rights, including for LGBTQI+ people, and as that work continues, I feel lucky to be doing my part and doing so while showing up as my full self every day.”

The Mexican-American gay man previously held a role as senior advisor for public engagement at the White House, and he served on the Biden-Harris transition team and worked in several communications roles in campaigns and the private sector.“As someone who was raised in a small town and is the son of immigrant parents,” he says, “I could never have imagined having the role I have today — as the vice president says often: ‘Only in America.’”

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate's senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she's interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud "old movie weirdo" and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and '40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

Trudy Ring is The Advocate's senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she's interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud "old movie weirdo" and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and '40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

Mars Sharrock
Melissa Simpson

Stacey Yvonne

Stacey Yvonne is a critic and entertainment journalist who can be found in Los Angeles eating snacks at events. She loves to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and specifically highlight Black and female members. She can be found at SYvonneCreative.com

Stacey Yvonne is a critic and entertainment journalist who can be found in Los Angeles eating snacks at events. She loves to uplift the LGBTQIA+ community and specifically highlight Black and female members. She can be found at SYvonneCreative.com

Innovators

Mars Sharrock

Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.

Melissa Simpson

Becoming who you are — and showing people your true self — is essential for queer people, “but it’s also fun!” says Mars Sharrock, program director for The Wardrobe, a Philadelphia nonprofit combating clothing insecurity. Whether you need clothes for a job interview or to affirm your gender transition, The Wardrobe makes sure that you are kitted from head to toe.

“Fashion — feeling good in what you wear — is an expression of self. Self-determination goes beyond basic needs and is about creativity, expression, and freedom,” Sharrock says. And it’s self-determination that they want everyone to have access to, regardless of income, race, religion, or even criminal record.

The organization launched a program called “Returning Wardrobe,” which focuses on clothing and education services for formerly incarcerated people. And Sharrock has helped the program increase its services to transgender and queer community members by over 50 percent in just the past few years. “Clothing is a basic need, so I see the work The Wardrobe does as helping people get their basic needs met,” Sharrock says. @_sharrockin_