2017

Biography

Nathan Schaefer is the Executive Director of the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation. In this capacity, he oversees the organization’s staff across the state and is responsible for advancing equality and justice for LGBT New Yorkers via the various facets of both organizations.

Nathan has ushered the Pride Agenda through to several accomplishments during his tenure, including the rollout of a new brand and online presence, unprecedented support to secure civil rights for transgender New Yorkers and a leadership role on two new initiatives, protections for families with advocacy for the passage of the Child-Parent Security Act and a bill to protect LGBT youth from “therapy” practices that attempt to change who they are.

Prior to his tenure at the Pride Agenda, he served as the Director of Public Policy for GMHC, as well as Government Relations Associate at AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families in Washington, D.C., and the Director of Education and Public Policy at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, OH. Nathan graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH and earned his Masters of Social Work in the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University’s School of Social Work.