Staff
Tony Valenzuela, Executive Director
A graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program of the California Institute of the Arts, Tony Valenzuela is a longtime community activist and writer whose work has focused on LGBT civil rights, sexual liberation and gay men’s health. His previous positions include Manager of Research and Administration at GLASS (Gay & Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) in Los Angeles, the largest and oldest LGBT child welfare organization in the country serving abused and neglected LGBT youth; Administrative Director of the Lesbian and Gay Men’s Community Center in San Diego where he spearheaded campaigns ranging from anti-gay hate crimes awareness to the needs of LGBT youth in schools; and Director of VOICES ’96 (Voters Organized in Coalition for the Elections).He is credited with having ruptured the conventional wisdom in HIV/AIDS prevention among gay men by launching an international debate regarding responsible sex without condoms and continues to this day to be a leading voice in the gay men’s health movement. Out Magazine has listed him among the “Out 100.”He wrote, produced and performed his acclaimed one-man show, “The (Bad) Boy Next Door,” a second generation AIDS narrative which toured in a dozen cities in the U.S. He has continued to publish essays, fiction and journalism and is currently working on a memoir. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Rob Ferrante.
William Johnson, Managing Editor
William Johnson is a Brooklyn based essayist, cultural critic and editor. His writing has appeared in numerous art catalogs and periodicals: Boy Book: A Pictorial Study Of Urban Male Nudes in a Contemporary Urban Setting, A Question of Beauty, works by Anika Wilson, and “I Knew It Was Your Arm…:” works by Doug Group. He is a contributing arts and culture writer for CrushFanazine. He is also the editor and publisher of Mary Literary, a literary journal dedicated to showcasing queer/gay writings of artistic merit.
Jenn Reese, Program Assistant
Jenn Reese is a graduate of Cornell University and has over ten years of experience in publishing, project management, and business communication. She also writes speculative fiction and has had stories appear in various genre magazines and anthologies. Her first novel, Jade Tiger, was published in 2006 by Juno Books, and Above World, the first in a new middle grade adventure series, will be published in 2012 by Candlewick Press.
