I was born in Columbia, South Carolina on May 11, 1983. I grew up in the suburbia that was Spring Valley neighborhood as your average American kid. You know - t-ball, cotton candy, blond hair - the whole package.

Moved to Charlotte when I was a ripe 10 to enter into 4th grade. Came out in 9th grade (when I was 14) as gay, made good grades in high school, and ended up at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

What can I say? I loved my four years at UNC. I graduated with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Sexuality Studies minor (the first, I must say) in May 2005. The first week of classes there I started my first LGBTQ organization - the LGBT Film Society at UNC. We met weekly and watched LGBT-themed cinema. Though it was a success, it fizzled out in the middle of Spring semester 2002.

My career as an LGBT activist had just begun and it didn't take long for me to dive into my second attempt. That opportunity came in the Spring of 2002 while enrolled in Pam Conover's "Politics of Sexuality" course at UNC. A classmate decided to begin organizing and started the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender - Straight Alliance. What a mouthful! I spent the rest of my time at UNC helping to make GLBTSA into one of the largest student organizations on campus with a budget approaching $40,000 annually. I served with them in a variety of roles: Activism Co-Chair, Co-Chair, Webmaster, and sometimes a Historian.

I also utilized my position in the GLBT-SA to found the North Carolina Unity Conference in the Fall of 2003. The conference is an annual gathering of LGBTQ people across the state, and later the Southeast. I'm extremely proud to say that for each year I organized the event we attracted well over 100 participants. Each year built on the success of the previous year and I trust that it will continue to do so after my departure from UNC.

During the Summer of 2003 I was lucky enough to spend three months in Boston, Massachusetts with Sue Hyde at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In my time there I was able to help organize on issues like the murder of New Jersey teenager Sakia Gunn, the notorious Massachusetts Supreme Court decision, and Fred Phelps' clan of noxious homophobes. I also spent a great deal of time organizing their annual Creating Change gathering, which took place in Miami that year. It was invaluable experience and I'm indebted to Sue and the NGLTF for giving me that opportunity.

When I came to UNC, a new issue of LAMBDA (UNC's LGBTQ publication) had been published - but it hadn't appeared on campus since. So in the Fall of 2003 I began researching the history of LAMBDA and began starting a conversation to revamp the publication. I compiled a comprehensive archive of LAMBDA issues and created an on-line archive of every issue I was able to get my hot hands on. The publication launched in the Spring of 2004 with a team of dedicated volunteers.

The summer between my Junior and Senior year at UNC, I had the opportunity to spend a month studying and learning at San Francisco State University for their Summer Institute on Human Sexuality. This led me to apply and enroll in their 2-year MA program in Human Sexuality Studies, which I graduated from in May of 2007. Though my time in San Francisco was somewhat tumultuous, I'm glad to have had the experience and to have met so many of my wonderful classmates and friends there.

Now, for my next adventure, I've moved off to Ann Arbor, MI to attend the University of Michigan, where I am working towards my PhD in Sociology and Women's Studies. I'm incredibly excited! I plan to extend my Masters thesis research (which you can read under "My Words") on young gay men's relationship to the HIV epidemic and to HIV prevention. In particular, I'm concerned that HIV prevention as its done in America may be having unintended and potentially dangerous impact on gay men's health, sexualities, and communities