Alicia Garza is a queer, intersectional feminist writer, activist and co-founder of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. She is credited with sparking the movement with a Facebook post regarding George Zimmerman’s 2013 acquittal for the murder of Trayvon Martin. She posted “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter, Black Lives Matter.” Her friend Patrisse Cullors shared the post with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and soon she, Cullors and fellow activist Opal Tometi began to spearhead the soon-to-be massive movement.

Garza was born in Los Angeles, California in 1981 to Black and Mexican descendant parents. She attended college at UC-Sandiego and went on to work at institutions like People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER). She is currently the Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Regarding the need for queer and trans representation in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, Garza says:

“Just like we don’t live in a two-dimensional world, we don’t live two-dimensional lives. Our lives are multidimensional, and because of the systems that we live under, there are particular punishments and sanctions for different aspects of who we are.

“While those punishments and sanctions may look different for different people, they’re meted out by the same system. In America, that so-called justice is often delivered by law enforcement and disproportionately impacts people of color and LGBT people and anyone else deemed to be ‘other.’”