Carter, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTAC), has played a pivotal role in advancing the rights and well-being of Black transgender individuals. As a transgender man who understands the challenges of marginalized communities firsthand, Carter established BTAC in 2011, making it the first national, Black trans-led non-profit organization.

His unwavering commitment to ending violence, addressing HIV disparities, combating employment discrimination, and tackling other critical issues faced by Black transgender people has been the driving force behind BTAC’s impactful initiatives. With over a decade of dedicated engagement with transgender communities, Carter Brown’s leadership has elevated BTAC’s community organizing and programming to an indispensable position within the quest for equality.

Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. A Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator, Ware uses drawing and painting, installation, and performance to explore social justice frameworks and Black activist culture. His work has been shown widely across Canada in solo and group shows, and his performance works have been part of local and international festivals. He is part of the Black August Arts Residency Collective and a cofounder of Black Lives Matter-Canada. Syrus is curator of the That’s So Gay show and a past co-curator of Blackness Yes!/Blockorama. In addition to penning a variety of journals and articles, Syrus is the co-editor of the best-selling “Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020).

Max is a 45-year-old queer man, dad and avid fossil hunter, who began transitioning in 1999. He has lived all over, but his longest stint thus far has been in Philadelphia, where he works as a nursepractitioner in an outpatient infectious diseases practice and specializes in caring for people living with HIV. He is passionate about too many things, some of which include harm reduction, queer history, rocks, poetry and boats.

Patrick is a 50-ish year old, black, gay trans man.  He started his medical transition in 2012 and started socially transitioning on a part-time basis around 2007 or 2008.  He discovered language that allowed him to understand himself around 2005., but struggled to take the steps to begin the process for a while.  

Jonathan, who grew up in London, England (as well as Saudi Arabia), transitioned when he was 16 years old in the late 2000s. As a teen, he was blessed with a supportive mum who was able to work with him to afford him gender affirming hormone treatment, and he has lived as male for most of his teens and all of his adulthood. Subject of Channel 4 documentary 'The Boy Who was Born A Girl', Jonathan's early medical and social transition was documented on national television which was later turned into a book of the same name that he co-wrote with his mum.