Dean Isidro
Innovators
Jonathan Groff
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
From Spring Awakening to Hamilton, Jonathan Groff has had many game-changing Broadway roles. This year, the gay actor finally won a Tony for playing Frank in Merrily We Roll Along, a onetime flop from Stephen Sondheim that found critical acclaim in its revival four decades later.
Groff compared leading Merrily to being part of “a moment-to-moment obstacle course” for eight shows a week: “I tried to take everything one step at a time, lead with love and gratitude, and find the hilarity and joy in playing dress-up for a living.” The work paid off, and his 2024 highlight was “helping to shine a light on the brilliance and humanity of a piece that had been written off as eternally ‘problematic.’”
“Working in the theater is an act of service. I try to bring everything I’ve got to honor the material I’ve been given and then open my heart and soul and deliver it all for the audience,” he adds.
His message to the world? “Love is the answer to everything.” What’s next? “I dream about a break, a boyfriend, more Broadway.”
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
Melissa Simpson
Stacey YvonneStacey 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
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
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_