Lillian Lennon  knows what it’s like to have her privacy completely taken away. As a teenager, Lillian’s parents sent her to a dangerous residential treatment center where she was forced to share facilities with grown men, who bullied and harassed her in an attempt to “change” her from the transgender girl that she had long known herself to be. These teenage years were a scary time – but Lillian persevered, and in 2017 and 2018 she was an integral part of the campaign to defeat Proposition 1, a divisive ballot measure that sought to repeal protections for transgender people in Anchorage. Lillian took time off from school to throw herself into the campaign full-time, and in 2018 her efforts paid off when Anchorage became the first American municipality ever to uphold transgender protections at the ballot.

“The bullying and harassment I faced as a teen would be rampant in Anchorage if Proposition 1 passes and local nondiscrimination protections for transgender people are repealed,” Lillian wrote at the time. … Part of the reason I’ve felt so welcomed and accepted is knowing that the people of Anchorage have said, clearly, that discriminating against transgender people like me is not OK, and will not be tolerated in our city.”