Amber Jelena (AJ) Hikes (they/them) [1] is an American civil rights activist and community organizer, who currently serves as the chief equity and inclusion officer for the American Civil Liberties Union. Prior to their work for ACLU, Hikes was most well known for their tenure as executive director of the City of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs, where they led the More Pride More Color campaign, which developed a version of the Rainbow Flag with black and brown stripes to represent people of color. Hikes, who identifies as a black queer nonbinary woman, emphasizes an intersectional approach towards sexuality, gender, race, and poverty in their advocacy. [2]
Hikes was born in Okinawa, Japan, to parents Jeffery and Zenobia. [3] Their father served in the US military. In their childhood they lived in Japan, Hawaii, Georgia, Louisiana, and Delaware as their mother Dr Zenobia Lawerence Hikes's career in student affairs flourished. [4] They were vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Spelman College and at University of Delaware, served as the assistant to the vice president for student life from 1996 to 1999 and associate director of admissions from 1992 to 1996. They also were assistant director of admissions and recruitment at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, La., from 1986 to 1992.
After Amber left for college, Zenobia served as vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech University [4] and was a survivor of the 2007 campus attack. [5] In 2012, Hikes accepted the NASPA's Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Service as a senior student affairs administrator on their mother's behalf [6] after her untimely death in 2008.
Hikes plays 5 musical instruments and was a member of their high school marching band, playing in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Band. [3] Hikes received their undergraduate degree in English from the University of Delaware in 2006. [7] They first came out in their freshman year of college. They later moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where they received their Masters of Social Work in 2008.
Hikes began their activist career as an education access advocate, serving for 5 years as the local program director for Upward Bound at the University of Pennsylvania. In March 2015, Hikes moved to California to lead the Upward Bound program at California State University, Long Beach. [8]
Hikes was appointed to lead Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs in March 2017. [9] After incidents in the news highlighted issues of racism within the city's LGBT community, especially in the city's Gayborhood area, Hikes entered city government with a goal of focusing on the marginalized members within the LGBT community. [10] Hikes' tenure saw their rise to international prominence with the introduction of a pride flag with brown and black stripes, intended to symbolize the struggle of people of color in the LGBT movement. The flag was officially flown over Philadelphia City Hall for LGBT Pride Month in June 2017, just months into Hike's position, and sparked major public attention and media coverage, both positive and negative. [11] [12] [13] The flag subsequently gained popularity a symbol of representation for LGBT people of color, including being worn by actress Lena Waithe at the Met Gala and flown at UK Black Pride 2019 in London. [14] [15]
Other initiatives included the LGBTQ Community Leadership Pipeline, which trains community members in leadership for local LGBT organizations. [16] Hikes' office also began the LGBT State of the Union in 2018. [17] During the annual event held in June, the Philadelphia mayor and city government officials, joined by major city LGBT organizations, give short addresses on issues of concern to the LGBT community. [18] In March 2019, the city adopted a new directive on law enforcement interaction with transgender and non-binary people, which required that the city respect a person's chosen name and pronouns in records, as well as providing treatment appropriate to their gender identity in situations such as personal searches and jail housing. [19]
While in city government, Hikes was named "Person of the Year" by the Philadelphia Gay News in 2017, and listed on separate "100 Most Influential People" lists in 2018 by Philadelphia and Out magazines. [13]
In July 2019, Hikes joined the ACLU as the first Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer. [14] They pledged to focus on programs related to workplace culture, professional development, and more equitable employment policies, to empower people from traditionally marginalized communities to enter the organization's leadership. [20]
A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the seven spectral colors of the visible light spectrum.
The LGBTQ community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBTQ activists and sociologists see LGBTQ community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBTQ community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBTQ community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBTQ community.
The bisexual flag, also called the bisexual pride flag, is a pride flag representing bisexuality, bisexual individuals and the bisexual community. According to Michael Page, the activist who created the flag based on a color palette designed by Liz Nania, the pink stripe represents attraction to the same sex, while the blue stripe represents attraction to the opposite sex. The purple stripe, the resulting "overlap" of the blue and pink stripes, represents attraction to both sexes.
The leather pride flag is a symbol of leather subculture as well as kink and fetish subcultures more broadly, including BDSM. The flag was designed by Tony DeBlase in 1989.
LGBTQ culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, LGBT culture, and LGBTQIA culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
The transgender flag, also called the transgender pride flag, is used by people, organizations and communities to represent pride, diversity, rights and/or remembrance within the transgender community. Its usage is similar to the original rainbow flag but specific to the transgender community.
A pride flag is any flag that represents a segment or part of the LGBTQ community. Pride in this case refers to the notion of LGBTQ pride. The terms LGBTQ flag and queer flag are often used interchangeably.
Over the course of its history, the LGBTQ community has adopted certain symbols for self-identification to demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.
The rainbow flag or pride flag is a symbol of LGBTQ pride and LGBTQ social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender. Using a rainbow flag as a symbol of LGBTQ pride began in San Francisco, California, but eventually became common at LGBTQ rights events worldwide.
Pride is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBTQ rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBTQ-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.
Gilbert Baker was an American artist, designer, activist, and vexillographer, best known as the creator of the rainbow flag.
The development of LGBT culture in Philadelphia can be traced back to the early 20th century. It exists in current times as a dynamic, diverse, and philanthropically active culture with establishments and events held to promote LGBT culture and rights in Philadelphia and beyond.
Gloria Casarez was a groundbreaking American civil rights leader from Philadelphia. A proud Philadelphian, she dedicated her life to advocating for marginalized communities and advancing social justice.
David Fair is an American activist who has been a leader in the labor, LGBT, AIDS, homeless and child advocacy movements in Philadelphia, PA since the 1970s. He has founded or co-founded several advocacy and service organizations, including the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force (1977), the Philadelphia Gay Cultural Festival (1978), Lavender Health (1979), the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Union of the Homeless (1985), Philly Homes 4 Youth (2017), and the Philadelphia Coalition on Opioids and Children (2018), and led the creation of numerous local government health and human service initiatives, including the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (1987) and the Division of Community-Based Prevention Services (2001), the Parenting Collaborative (2003), and the Quality Parenting Initiative (2014) for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.
LGBT culture in Baltimore, Maryland is an important part of the culture of Baltimore, as well as being a focal point for the wider LGBT community in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Mount Vernon, known as Baltimore's gay village, is the central hub of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.
Various lesbian flags have been used to symbolise the lesbian community. Since 1999, many designs have been proposed and used. Although personal preferences exist, as well as various controversies, no design has been widely accepted by the community as the lesbian flag.
In Washington, D.C., LGBT culture is heavily influenced by the U.S. federal government and the many nonprofit organizations headquartered in the city.
Everyone is Awesome is a Lego set released in 2021. The Lego product is the first designed to represent the LGBTQIA+ community. It was designed by Matthew Ashton and is themed to represent a pride flag and transgender pride flag, and black and brown colors to represent LGBT people of color.
Michael S. Hinson Jr. (1966–2022) was an American Black and LGBTQ activist, educator, and researcher who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was the chief executive officer of SELF, Inc.
Various pride flags have been used to symbolize gay men. Rainbow flags have been used since 1978 to represent both gay men and, subsequently, the LGBT community as a whole. Since the 2010s, various designs have been proposed to specifically represent the gay male community.