Throughout the month of February, Family Equality Council is celebrating Black History Month by honoring the accomplishments, contributions, and lives of LGBT Black Americans, past and present.
Amaad Rivera—When he served as a member of Springfield, MA’s City Council, Rivera was the city’s first openly LGBT councilmember. Along with his efforts to end local foreclosures and set up a revolving loan fund, Rivera organized Springfield’s first LGBT pride celebration. Despite facing homelessness as a young man, Rivera put himself through college and went on to earn a Master’s of Education at UMass Amherst. He went on to work on civic engagement, founding the KidsVote initiative, and managed $11 million in grants for the Massachusetts Service Alliance while working with the AmeriCorps Program. He has also been published in The Washington Post, The Nation, Christian Science Monitor, and many other media outlets.