Name: Brandon J. Wolf
Occupation: Senior Director of Communications Strategy at Equality Florida
Location: Originally from Canby, OR (Currently resides in Orlando, FL)
What is your pride and joy in life?
Nothing brings me more pride and joy than my family — both biological and chosen. Every day, I feel lucky to be surrounded by so much love and people who challenge me to dream bigger and press on in the fight for a better world.
What do you feel thankful for about our community?
I’m in awe of how our community finds a way to be defiantly joyful and contagiously courageous, even when it’s hardest to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There’s a vibrance to our community that is unamiable — and unstoppable. I’m thankful to bear witness to our power and draw inspiration from it.
Who inspires you to make a difference in the world?
My late best friend Drew inspires everything I do. He was the social glue of our community. The electric spark that lit up a room. He taught me to love with abandon and be myself without apology. His ability to find light in everyone inspires me to make the world better.
What are the dreams you still want to accomplish?
Comprehensive gun safety reform on a national scale. Sweeping civil rights legislation to ensure everyone is treated equally under the law. An end to corrosive corporate money in politics. A new era of politics that puts our collective wellbeing over power-hungry greed. And occasionally, I dream of retiring on a tropical beach with an endless supply of spicy margaritas.
What hopes do you want to see come true for the younger generation?
I hope young people get to see a world better than the one we inherited. Where HIV has been eradicated, coming out isn’t fraught with peril, and their lives are no longer fodder for right wing podcasters. I hope they get to buy homes and start families without having to choose between putting food on the table or paying the mortgage. I hope they get to dream big and live fully. I hope they see a world where they know from the time they enter it, that they are perfect exactly as they are.
How do you stay grateful for what you have?
I’ve said throughout the years that community saved my life. I am who I am because others helped me find my voice and refused to let me go it alone. I am grateful every day because I simply would not be here if I hadn’t had shoulders to lean on and people who cared.
What encourages you to make tomorrow better than today?
Possibility. Those who came before me were up against insurmountable odds. The Stonewall rioters. The ACT UP warriors. The couples who held hands on courthouse steps to declare that love is love. The trans people who’ve stared down a hurricane of hate and still found a way to believe in better for all of us. Every time our backs have been against a wall, we’ve found a way to make progress possible. Resilience is in our DNA. Resolve is all we know. We are a force to be reckoned with. That means when we come together, anything is possible.
