2022 Marked Changes in Milwaukee’s LGBTQ Leadership Landscape

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2022 brought major changes in Milwaukee’s LGBTQ leadership. The city’s two social service and public health organizations, the LGBT Community Center and Diverse and Resilient, both hired new directors.  The year also saw the creation of a new Milwaukee LGBTQ liaison in the Mayor’s Office.

In May 2022 after a nationwide search, the LGBT Community Center announced the historic hire of its new executive director, Kevin Turner-Espinoza. He served as the center’s interim director since November 2021 and is now the first Black gay cis-man to hold the position of executive director and the first male to lead the organization in nearly two decades. He is also one of few people of color nationally to head an LGBTQ organization. The hire comes in the center’s 25th anniversary year and just a year after its return to its former location on West Court Street. Upon announcing Turner-Espinoza’s takeover as executive director, the center’s board chair Marco Briceno cited his experience of over 25 years in organizational development and non-profit management as well as his progressive vision. Turner-Espinoza was quoted in the announcement of his hiring, saying “as a gay Black man, I directly see the issues of race, gender, economic and health inequality we face every day. I am unwavering in our mission and will ensure our voices are heard and our people are seen, protected, and at the table.”

Liaison in City Hall

Then, in November, Mayor Cavalier Johnson named Jonathan Fera as the city’s new LGBTQ+ liaison in the mayor’s office. Fera had previously served as state press secretary to Senator Tammy Baldwin and remains as communications and marketing director for the Milwaukee Department of City Development and Port Milwaukee. Johnson, a well-established and recognized advocate of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community created the position to partner with the three LGBTQ liaisons within the Milwaukee Police Department. When announcing Fera’s appointment, the mayor recognized the remaining challenges facing the city’s effort towards achieving inclusivity, noting violence against transgender women in particular. During 2022 three transgender women, Regina Mya Allen, Brazil Johnson and Toi Davis, were murdered. That tragic reality underscores Mayor Johnson’s statement making the issue of safety a priority.

Not surprisingly, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker and popcorn magnate Robin Vos made a thinly veiled attack on the new LGBTQ+ liaison when addressing Milwaukee’s state funding requests, criticizing the “goofy positions they create inside government as they do all this DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mumbo jumbo.” Vos’ remark certainly gives significance to Fera’s message upon being named liaison. “We know there’s more work to do in the march for full equality, equity and justice for all,” Fera said.

Diverse & Resilient

In November, the Diverse & Resilient (D&R) board announced its newly selected president/CEO, Christopher Allen. He is the first person of color to head the organization. Founded by Gary Hollander in 1995, the organization remained under his leadership until 2015 when outgoing president/CEO Gerry Coon took the reins for the next 7 and a half years. In a conversation I had with Coon some years ago, he acknowledged the incongruity of Diverse and Resilient’s mission of service to BIPOC populations while being led by a white director. He indicated a change to address that situation was in the offing. Now that change has finally taken place.

A Milwaukee native, Allen’s identity as an LGBTQ person of color provides him unique and specific experience in the community he is now serving. He also has a long association with D&R, joining the organization as a youth advisor in 2002 and becoming its manager of Milwaukee Programs in 2015. Since then, he has served in various roles addressing community health disparities as well as HIV prevention and care at the University of Texas Austin, and, most recently, as manager of diversity, equity, inclusion and engagement for Goodwill Central Texas.  

The newly minted trio of leaders faces a broad range of challenges. Under the best of circumstances each position has its particular demands. However, the current political climate of national division has predicated an unprecedented increase in racism and anti-LGBTQ discrimination making leadership in this realm especially difficult. A recent FBI report cited 7,000 hate crimes in 2022. As Mayor Johnson indicated, the community’s safety is a major priority. Beyond physical safety, there will also be increased mental health and other issues facing LGBTQ Milwaukeeans, especially those in the transgender community. Given the skill sets and extensive experience of each of these leaders, one can feel a certain optimism that the community remains in good hands.