Activist Brian Watson honored by GLAA, along with five others

Brian Watson likes to fix things.

But a decade before making Washington his home and establishing himself as one of the city's most prominent young GLBT activists, the Oklahoma native was battling his own personal demons that had set his life on a dangerous path.


''[A friend] had died from AIDS and when I saw him in the casket, I got a reality check,'' Watson, now 26, says of the ''darkest period'' of his life. It was a rebellious time of partying, skipping school, and avoiding routine that sparked from the rejection he faced as a gay teen from his beloved local church.


Today local D.C. residents and activists know Watson as the Director of Programs at Transgender Health Empowerment (THE) and president of the D.C. Coalition of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Men and Women. He is a proactive member of a handful of other GBLT, HIV/AIDS and health-related organizations, and serves on the Advisory Committee to the Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs.


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