Troy Perry Medal of Pride

LGBTQIA+ Social Activism & Healing

The Troy Perry Awards honor fearless LGBTQ young people who are making an impact through compassionate activism.

2018 Troy Perry Award Recipients

Jalen Bell-Syftestad
Jalen Bell-Syftestad has dedicated her young life to become educated and active in the gender equality movement, the fight for LGBTQ rights, and the Black Lives Matter movement. She also has engaged in studies and research on biracial youth.

Jalen attended the Ramon C. Cortinez School of Visual and Performing Arts in
Los Angeles. As a sophomore, she founded the school's first GSA club (also one of the first in California). She attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, and served as trumpet player and squad leader in the Golden Buffaloes Marching Band.

She currently attends Pasadena City College, where she majors in psychology. Jalen grew up around MCC with her mother, Jane Syftestad, a teacher and music director of Founders MCC Los Angeles.

Anwesh Sahoo
Anwesh Sahoo is a passionate Indian LGBTQ activist, artist, blogger, writer, model, actor, and TEDx speaker. His “Fitting Out” media campaign has gained widespread acclaim while he has been an outspoken supporter of the legalization of homosexuality in India and addressing the atrocities being committed against LGBTQ people in India.

Anwesh is a highly recognized face and a respected voice not just in LGBTQ circles
in India but everywhere in the country. He is an accomplished TEDx speaker who is ever willing to speak out, stand up for, and defend the LGBTQ community.

He was crowned Mr. Gay World India 2016, becoming the youngest winner of the crown at the age of 20. He is currently a Master's in Design student at NIFT, New Delhi.

Wei Tingting
Wei Tingting is the founder and director of the Guangzhou Gender and Sexuality Education Center. She is one of the five feminists arrested and detained for 37 days by the Chinese authorities in March 2015, which received worldwide media attention. She was nominated for the Asia LGBT Milestone Awards by ALMA and was listed as one of the “10 Most Inspiring Feminists of 2015” by MS magazine.

Tinting studied sociology and anthropology in college, then became involved with the feminist and LGBTQ movement in 2010. She has worked full time for several LGBTQ organizations, such as the Chinese LaLa Alliance, LES+ Magazine, LGBT Rights Advocacy China, and Beijing Gender Health Education Institute. She also co-founded several LBT and feminist groups. She has produced and/or directed multiple films. Her new film Bi China is the first bisexual documentary in China.

In 2018, the Troy Perry Awards became a permanent part of the OUR PRIDE Video Fest, a global program for youth and college students.

Special thanks for 2018 honoree nominations: Los Angeles LGBT Center and Fifty Shades of Gay India

Troy Perry Medal of Pride

The Troy Perry Medal of Pride is presented to recipients of the Troy Perry New Vision Awards. The first Medal of Pride was presented on October 26, 2016 by Rev. Troy Perry to Jamaican LGBTQ Human Rights Activist Angeline Jackson.

Angeline Jackson is an LGBT human rights activist, an HIV/AIDS educator, and the Executive Director of Quality of Citizenship Jamaica, the first organization specifically for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in Jamaica. In 2015, President Barack Obama recognized Angeline Jackson as one of Jamaica’s remarkable young leaders at the Town Hall for Youth in Kingston Jamaica. She also participated on a US Senate briefing panel and the first White House Forum on Global LGBT Rights.

About Angeline

Photo Credit: Mark Hahn

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We welcome you to nominate future honorees to receive the Troy Perry Medal of Pride.
You may also sponsor a Medal of Pride or make a donation to provide a cash gift to an honoree.