Resilience, Aspiration, and LGBTQ+ Movement Leadership with Odell Mays

“Resilience connects me to my history. Aspiration helps me see what is possible.”
– Odell Mays

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In this episode of Living Queer, Erwin de Leon speaks with Odell Mays, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist, nonprofit leader, and founding board member of the American LGBTQ+ Museum. With more than three decades of leadership across some of New York’s most influential LGBTQ+ institutions, Odell reflects on the experiences that shaped his commitment to community, service, and movement building.

Odell traces his path from coming out in graduate school to becoming a frontline activist during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Through volunteerism, nonprofit leadership, and board service, including leadership roles with Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and the New York City LGBT Community Center, he helped shape institutions that continue to support LGBTQ+ communities today.

The conversation also turns to the importance of confronting uncomfortable truths within our movements, particularly around race, representation, and whose stories get told. As a founding leader of the American LGBTQ+ Museum, Odell emphasizes the power of preserving history while building institutions that reflect the full diversity of the community..

TL;DR

• Odell Mays is a longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist and nonprofit leader

• His activism began during the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York

• He has held leadership roles with GMHC, the NYC LGBT Community Center, and other major institutions

• Odell is a founding board member of the American LGBTQ+ Museum

• The episode explores race, representation, and the importance of telling the full history of LGBTQ+ activism

• Odell reflects on two guiding principles in his life: resilience and aspiration