Tre’Andre Carmel Valentine is a Black, Indigenous, and South Asian immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago. An advocate for trans rights for almost 20 years, he is the first BIPOC Executive Director to lead the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, the oldest active transgender advocacy organization in the United States, solely focused on trans and nonbinary communities.
From 2009 to 2019, they supported LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic violence through their work at The Network/La Red. They have over a decade of experience in the anti-violence movement advancing DEI initiatives specializing in LGBTQ+ inclusion.
From 2009 to 2017, he co-chaired the Boston Transgender Day of Remembrance planning committee and volunteered as an adult support for the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ Youth from 2012 to 2019.
He has served on the board of the Y2Y Network and Trans Resistance; Gender Spectrum’s Mental Health and Medical Care Advisory Group and the steering committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, the Transgender Emergency Fund, and the National LGBTQ Domestic Violence Learning Center.
They have been the keynote speaker for the 2015 Trans Youth Summit and 2021 Trans* in the CLE Conference.
Tre’Andre currently consults for the Fenway Institute to address HIV transmission within transmasculine and nonbinary communities, and serves on the Massachusetts Special Commission on Unaccompanied Homeless Youth.
He loves babies, animals, music, Xena Warrior Princess, and miniatures.
2023 Human Rights Campaign Equality Advocate Award
Kelsey Grunstra (hear name pronunciation) is a white transsexual butch lesbian originally from rural Upstate New York. She has been involved in trans advocacy and community engagement work since 2016. She is also a facilitator and coach with Resource Organizing Project and a member of the Boston LGBTQ History Project‘s Friends of Vera advisory board. Kelsey is deeply passionate about making, sharing, and learning about great food and honoring historic and traditional foodways. She is also a multi-instrumentalist and loves to nerd out about Dungeons and Dragons, queer science fiction, and all things lesbian & trans history. Kelsey lives in Providence, RI with her wife Jess and two cats Finn and Mozzie.
MG Xiong (hear name pronunciation) is a Hmong trans non-binary Bostonian who was born and raised in Alaska. They have organized in community-oriented engagement on trans and queer rights, gun violence in underserved neighborhoods, and anti-racist education. MG has served youth and adults alike, building community between generations, cultures, and identities. They are a recent graduate from UMass Boston who spent their undergraduate education researching best practices for fostering belonging for gender non-conforming individuals in spaces of learning. Outside of work and service, MG enjoys cycling around the Charles River and parenting their kitten-at-heart, Meatball.
