Gia Parr of New Fairfield named a member of the 2020 class of Human Rights Campaign Foundation Youth Ambassadors

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) today announced that Gia Parr from New Fairfield, Connecticut has been named a member of the 2020 class of Human Rights Campaign Foundation Youth Ambassadors, joining 12 other LGBTQ advocates across the country.

“This program is designed to amplify the important voices of teens and young adults, and engage them in helping the HRC Foundation improve the lives of LGBTQ youth at home, at school, at work and beyond,” said HRC Foundation’s Director of the Youth Well-Being Program and the Time to THRIVE Conference Dr. Vincent Pompei. “These young people have real and meaningful contributions to make to HRC’s work and to their communities.”

As Youth Ambassadors, these LGBTQ advocates will represent the HRC Foundation, adding their voices and experiences to raise awareness about the most pressing concerns facing LGBTQ youth and our programs that promote well-being for LGBTQ youth, including All Children - All Families, Welcoming Schools and Youth and Campus Engagement, as well as our seventh annual Time to THRIVE Conference coming up in February.

Gia is a 15-year-old high school sophomore, high honors student and athlete. She was the first to come out as transgender at her middle school after transitioning from male to female before the start of eighth grade. To let her classmates know, she and her parents sent a letter to the entire middle school. The response was overwhelmingly positive and supportive. It’s a story Gia has shared in national media — People magazine, the New York Times and the Megyn Kelly Today Show — and in person as a founding Champion of The GenderCool Project, a national storytelling campaign that focuses on who transgender youth are rather than what they are. A founding member of her middle school’s GSA club and a member of the high school Peace Project, Gia is shifting the conversation around gender by being a model of positivity and achievement. By being her authentic self, she gives others permission to be theirs.