Charlie Best is a proud queer, transgender man who has been having difficult discussions about gender, sexuality, and intersectional identity for most of his life. He holds a BA in History and Masters of Arts in Teaching from Lewis & Clark College and, after getting his start in Portland Public Schools, turned his passion toward alternative education and youth advocacy. As the Education Manager at the Rainbow Center in Tacoma, Charlie develops and delivers trainings to organizations and businesses around Washington designed to teach about the LGBTQ+ community and provide the tools to make the world a safer, more affirming, and accepting space through an intersectional, actively anti-racist lens. During his free time, Charlie can be found snuggled up with his cat, Goose, watching or playing Dungeons & Dragons, or roughing it in a new slice of the Pacific Northwest’s lush wilderness.