Michael Buckner
Storytellers
The 2025 Out100: Taylor Jenkins Reid
These are the LGBTQ+ people making the world bolder and brighter in 2025.
Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling Atmosphere tells a gripping love story between two women in NASA’s Astronaut Corps in the 1980s. This spring, Reid spoke publicly for the first time about being bisexual in an interview with Time.
“I think I feel a little freer,” Reid said, as she’d previously faced some criticism from those who assumed she was straight for writing sapphic love stories like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
“I think probably a lot of people who are bisexual can relate to the feeling that people are going to tell you who you are and that you don't know who you are,” she tells Out.
A prolific writer with seven novels to her name since 2013, Reid’s 2019 peek inside a ’70s rock band with an enigmatic female lead singer, Daisy Jones & the Six, gained new fans when it became a hit Prime Video series in 2023.
“I know for a fact that there are queer people who don’t feel safe to come out, who are expressing who they really are in their art,” Reid says. “I hope that we can create a world where they are safe to do so, and that we don’t require them to put themselves in an unsafe position to tell a story.” @tjenkinsreid
Tracy E. Gilchrist
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
courtesy V Spehar
Trudy RingTrudy 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.
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.
The 2025 Out100: V Spehar
These are the LGBTQ+ people making the world bolder and brighter in 2025.
courtesy V Spehar
Digital journalist Vitus “V” Spehar started their wildly successful TikTok channel by covering the news from under their desk. They’ve since become a staple of online news for many young people, covering the 2024 Democratic National Convention and the Paris Olympics, and landing interviews with Presidents Biden and Obama, Vice President Harris, and more.
In 2025, they were named to the Time100 most influential creators list and began a fellowship at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center.
Spehar became a successful journalist after struggling with dyslexia. “It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized I could teach myself new methods of reading out loud to conquer the teleprompter and that I was in fact smart enough to thrive in this industry, even if my brain is wired to think a little differently,” she notes.
Spehar, a nonbinary lesbian, wants to see “more joy, thriving queer folks, opportunities to tell our stories in an authentic, nonsensationalized way. … We deserve rest, peace, and success, and I hope to continue to drive that dream forward for the community.” @underthedesknews