Washington--Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, congratulated Blossom Brown, a transgender woman and HRC volunteer on her prominent feature in the Commercial Dispatch Newspaper in Columbus, Mississippi. Brown, a student at the Mississippi University for Women, shares her courageous story of living openly as a transgender Mississippian.

Brown will be the subject of an ad in HRC’s ‘All God’s Children’ campaign. She is believed to be the first transgender woman from the Magnolia State to be highlighted in a public education campaign. With faith at the center of the effort, the $310,000, four-week campaign aims to strengthen the foundation of public support for LGBT Mississippians, aid in the passage of pro-equality legislation, and bolster efforts to win marriage equality for Mississippi’s gay and lesbian couples.

"Love is love," Brown stated in the article. "It has nothing to do with sexual orientation or gender identity." 

“Blossom has a story to tell and every Mississippian should have an opportunity to hear it,” said HRC Mississippi State Director Rob Hill. “She is speaking up for those who face intimidation, harassment and bullying every day because of who they are and who they love.”

Blossom has been an active participant of HRC’s Project One America, an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. HRC Mississippi is working to advance equality for LGBT Mississippians who have no state or municipal level protections in housing, workplace, or public accommodations; legal state recognition for their relationships and families; state rights to jointly adopt children; and state protections from hate crimes. Through HRC Mississippi, we are working toward a future of fairness every day—changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.