GENDER LIBERATION MOVEMENT  (GLM)  is an emergent and innovative grassroots and volunteer-run national collective that builds direct action, media, and policy interventions centering bodily autonomy, self-determination, the pursuit of fulfillment, and collectivism in the face of gender-based sociopolitical threats.

GENDER LIBERATION is the power to defy* or transcend the gendered expectations that harm and limit us.

The Core Team

  • Raquel Willis (she/her)

    An  award-winning  author, activist, and  media  strategist  dedicated  to  Black  transgender  liberation. She  has  held  groundbreaking  posts, including  director  of  communications  for  Ms.  Foundation  for  Women,  executive  editor  of  Out  Magazine,  and  national  organizer  for  Transgender  Law  Center.

    She  co-founded  Transgender  Week  of  Visibility  and  Action  and  currently  serves  as  an  executive  producer  for  iHeartMedia's  Outspoken, and the  president  of  the  Solutions  Not  Punishments  Collaborative’s  executive  board. She was a grand marshall for NYC Pride 2024 and is an ADCOLOR Advocate.

    Her  debut  memoir,  The  Risk  It  Takes  to  Bloom:  On  Life  and  Liberation,  was  released  in  November  2023  via  St. Martin’s  Press.

  • Sarah Sophie Flicker (she/her)

    A culture  organizer,  creative  director &  artist. She  is  a founder  of  the  Women’s  March  On  Washington,  The  Resistance Revival  Chorus,  The  Citizens  Band,  The  Meteor,  Joy  To  The  Polls, Firebrand,  The  Gender  Liberation  Movement  and  is  a  co-author of  the  Women’s  March  official  book,  Together  We  Rise,  which was  released  in  January  2018  and  was  a  New  York  Times bestseller.  She  is  a  Pop  Culture;  Becoming  America  Fellow  and  a Gender  Justice  Fellow.  She  was  named  Glamour’s  Woman  of the  Year  in  2017.

  • Eliel Cruz (he/they)

    An  award-winning,  history-making  organizer  and  advocacy communications  expert.  He  is  a  co-organizer  for  the  Brooklyn Liberation  March:  An  Action  for  Black  Trans  Lives,  which  drew an estimated  20, 000  people  in  June  2020,  and  again  in  2021,  an action  for  trans  youth  that  brought  out  thousands.

    He  was  recognized  in  Out  Magazine’s #Out100  list  for  both  his work  as  the  former Director  of  Communications  at  the  New York City Anti-Violence  Project (AVP),  and  for  his pivotal  activism  in  pursuing  justice  for Layleen  Polanco,  a  27-year-old  Afro-Latinx trans  woman  who  died  in  solitary confinement on  Rikers  Island in  June  2019.  He’s  spoken  at universities  and  conferences nationwide  and has  written  for  numerous  publications.  He  is represented  by  Ayesha  Pande  Literary.

  • Fran Tirado (she/her)

    A writer, podcaster, and filmmaker in Brooklyn. She has led editorial strategy for magazines like Out, Hello Mr., and GAYTIMES, worked at ad agencies like Chandelier Creative, and managed Netflix’s LGBTQ+ audience engagement strategy, creating shows like “I Like to Watch.” She’s also created and hosted four queer podcasts, currently Like a Virgin with Rose Dommu. Fran has been working in queer media for almost thirteen years.

    As an organizer, Fran’s work has won her the Stonewall Vision Award, Brooklyn’s 30 Under 30, and MTV’s inaugural Logo Legends honor. She’s spoken at institutions like Yale, Juilliard, Harvard, Northwestern, and NYU and worked with brands like Google, HBO, Instagram, and Nike. The New York Times called here a "Queer Champion."