Chinyere Ezie

Photo Courtesy of Of Mercer.

Chinyere Ezie embodies the words of her hero Audre Lorde: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The civil rights lawyer, now at the Center for Constitutional Rights, has been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality her entire career. At the Southern Poverty Law Center, Ezie was lead attorney on Diamond v. Owens, a case that challenged the Georgia Department of Corrections for refusing to grant transition-related medicare for transgender inmate Ashley Diamond. In 2016, Ezie became a trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she defended the rights of workers subjected to religious indoctrination by the United Health Programs of America and its parent company. For her clients, Ezie secured a $5.1 million verdict and an injunction against the company to prevent future violations. In 2018, she launched #BoycottPrada after the luxury brand featured racist figurines on display in one of its New York stores. “I feel like being black and queer is my superpower,” she tells GO. “It sharpens my analysis, fuels my advocacy, and gives me empathy to spare.” For her work, she was named one of the country’s “Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40” by the National LGBT Bar Association in 2016. —RK

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