Cameron Esposito, Qween Jean and Our Lady J are trailblazers and changemakers for LGBTQ+ community who will be honored this year at AVP’s Courage Awards in New York.
(New York) The New York City Anti-Violence Project, the nation’s largest anti-violence organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ survivors of violence, is proud to announce this year’s honorees for its annual Courage Awards celebration. The 2023 Courage Awards will be held on October 19th, 2023 at Tribeca Rooftop in New York City.
“AVP’s Courage Awards celebration is a way for us to take a moment away from the heavy work and truly uplift joy and achievement in our community,” says AVP’s Executive Director Beverly Tillery. “This year’s nominees have made an incredible impact on the safety, visibility, and power of our LGBTQ+ nationwide.”
This year, AVP is honored to recognize three amazing leaders –Cameron Esposito, Qween Jean and Our Lady J – in addition to LGBTQ+ Safe Spaces in New York City for their resilience and dedication to our communities:
An LA-based standup comic, actor, writer, and host, Cameron Esposito has appeared on NBC, ABC, CBS, Netflix, Max, Hulu, Amazon, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central, in addition to her work as a nationally-touring headliner, according to her bio. Her 2018 special “Rape Jokes,” a standup special about sexual assault from a survivor’s perspective, raised crucial funds for RAINN. In 2020, she released “Save Yourself,” a memoir that tackles sexuality, gender and equality. This year, she was the face of the 2023 SKITTLES Pride Campaign in partnership with GLAAD, Audible, and her podcast, QUEERY.
Qween Jean is an NYC-based costume designer who has fully committed her voice to the advocacy of marginalized communities, emphasizing Black Trans people, according to her bio. Qween founded the Black Trans Liberation organization in 2020, where she’s organized community events, protests, and mutual aid drives to denounce the actions of a disenfranchised system and call for an end to racism and white supremacy.
Our Lady J is an Emmy-nominated writer and producer, best known for her writing on Pose and Transparent. Her bio explains that before television, she toured the world performing as a singer/songwriter, as well as a collaborative pianist and musical director for pop, theatre, and classical music. She holds the honor of being the first out trans woman to perform at Carnegie Hall, as well as the first out trans writer to be hired in a television writers’ room.
AVP is also proud to honor the LGBTQ+ Safe Spaces of New York City for their resilience and dedication to community. Safe Spaces in New York City have faced threats and acts of violence but remain steadfast in providing much-needed support, respite and joy to our communities.
AVP invites our community of survivors and allies to join us on October 19th from 6-10pm at Tribeca Rooftop for this inspiring event, which supports AVP’s programs and services for LGBTQ+ survivors of violence.
Information on ticket purchases and sponsorship is available at our Courage homepage.
The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) is an expert in building programs and solutions to help keep LGBTQ and HIV-affected people safe. For over 40 years, AVP has championed the safety of our communities through direct client support, legal and political advocacy and community organizing. We are dedicated to uplifting our communities, centering those most marginalized, and dismantling the systems of oppression and layers of violence that disproportionally affect us every day. We uphold and protect LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of violence through trauma-informed programming and services that respectfully engage the nuance and diversity of our community’s lived experiences, and we are steadfast in addressing and changing the underlying root causes of violence to empower our communities to thrive.