Carter Smith - Netflix Queue
Disruptors
Harper Steele
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
After over three decades of friendship, Will Ferrell probably thought he knew everything there was to know about Harper Steele, a former SNL writer who collaborated with the comedic actor on some of his most iconic sketches and films.
Not the case. As seen in the vital new Netflix documentary Will & Harper, Steele came out as transgender during the pandemic and embarked on a cross-country road trip with Ferrell to get reacquainted — with each other and America.
Experiencing the United States as an out trans person is a far different experience than it was before Steele began living her truth. While she encountered hatred and ignorance on the road, wrestling with her “internalized transphobia” has been her year’s biggest obstacle. “I’m not sure I did overcome it. I think freedom overcame me, and we’re still working on it. The more work I do, the more free I become,” she says.
But she’s not backing down, and she has a strong message for her haters. “I’m queer. You’re queer. The world is queer,” she says. “Deal with it.”
Mey Rude
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
Mey Rude is a journalist and cultural critic who has been covering queer news for a decade. The transgender, Latina lesbian lives in Los Angeles with her fiancée.
José Becerra
Gabriella Angelina
Nikola Alexandre
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
José Becerra
Nikola Santarem Alexandre is a Black queer forester whose life changed after attending a nature-based healing gathering following the Pulse massacre. The experience inspired them to commit to land stewardship and nurture a sustainable future for marginalized communities.
After obtaining degrees in forestry and business from Yale University, Alexandre founded Conservation International’s Ecosystem Restoration Program and now serves as its senior advisor. Alexandre cocreated and leads the Shelterwood Collective, a 900-acre, queer-run forest and community center in Northern California. He continues to center queer and Black voices in environmental stewardship.
“Queerness and ecological health are intimately linked,” Alexandre says. “Our environmental problems are born from attempts to create boxes that separate people and nature. It’s only by rejecting those boxes and blurring the divides between people, places, and ecologies that we’ll be able to restore balance in our ecosystems and build a world where all can thrive. Queerness is one of our greatest teachers for this kind of endeavor, and queer leaders are needed in the climate movement for it to reach its full potential.” @blk_forester