John Perkins

Board Secretary 

Festival Chair

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John Perkins has lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast all of his life and currently lives in Waveland.  He serves as Board Secretary.

 

John become an activist for the LGBTQ+ community due to the bullying he faced in school growing up in the state of Mississippi being gay.  This is something he wants to help end so no other child has to face the same discrimination.

 

In 2013, he co-founded The Rainbow Center, a LGBTQ+ group here on the coast, that works to bring change and support to South Mississippi .  Since 2014, he has ran the Facebook page CAYA which stands for "Come As You Are." CAYA is a news and information page that supports and promotes diversity.  Since 2015, he has served as Social Media Director for The Mississippi Stonewall Democrats, a LGBTQ+ political group. 

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John is a founding member of Gulf Coast Equality Council.  He served as President of the organization from 2017-2019. During this time, under his leadership, the organization grew from an idea of a group of people to become what is today, a driving force for equality here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  This is something he is very proud of.   He has served as Festival Chair of Gulf Coast of Equality Festival since the first festival in 2017. This is our yearly event to support equality for the LGBTQ+ community and our allies.  John and his committee have put on three very successful events in 2017, 2018, and 2019.  They are currently working on the fourth annual festival scheduled for October 2020.  He hope the festivals will be bigger and better every year.

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John is very skilled in organizing, paperwork, planning, and making sure deadlines are met.  John is always ready to help with any events of the council or the community.  He believes all people are equal and should have equal rights.