I've been telling stories for over 30 years.

Whether I'm writing, acting, producing or trying to create social change, it's usually the story that gets me involved. But in the process of getting things done and trying to make the world a better place, I've also been telling the story of my life.  This website is my best effort to provide the general gist. My hope is that you find something here that will inspire you to live your life more fully and continue to tell your story. Click HERE to read a full bio.

Oh, and I changed my name…

For those of you who don’t know, I’m now using my middle name - Celeste. As a child I was terrified people would discover Celeste. Throughout my life I’ve ghosted that part of myself and kept them out of sight. No more.

When I co-founded The Trevor Project 22 years ago my intention was to save the lives of LGBT and Questioning youth and provide them with a place to turn in crisis. But one of my personal hopes for the Trevor Lifeline was that it might become the means by which older LGBT people could appropriately express their love and support for queer and questioning youth, a channel through which the wisdom and experience of one generation could be passed along to the next. For too many generations, young people have had to figure out in secret what it means to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. As adolescents, many of us had to search for proof that we weren’t crazy, we had to find our gay history by reading between the lines and we had to locate one another in a world that required us to be practically invisible. My own journey was not exceptional in this regard. I found my way to queerness by feeling my way forward alone and without the support of mentors or teachers. Friends and lovers certainly helped, but it was basically a DIY situation. Only in the last decade have gay youth been able to be more than just beginners at being queer. In fact in many respects, they are showing us how it’s done in this brave new world.

Since 2017 I’ve been working closely with LGBTQ+ youth, and I’ve been so impressed by their ability to express who they are. It’s ironic that these young people are now encouraging me to be more myself and allowing me the opportunity to learn that it’s never too late to become yourself.

Celeste