The 2018 Queerties

At age 13 Zoey Luna became a transgender activist. At 16, she’s keeping up the fight

This profile is the first in a series of posts about young LGBTQ activists out to make change in the 2018 Queerties category Up & Coming.

Zoey Luna knows how to fight for the right to be herself.

Raised Downey, CA, Zoey identified as female, even after doctors declared her male. She came out to her mother in the fifth grade, and enjoyed family acceptance. At 13, she began her gender transition, only to be met by bullying and bigotry at school. The administration tried to expel her for insisting on using the girls bathroom.

After several court battles, intervention by the ACLU and passage of the School Success and Opportunity Act in California, Zoey found herself one of the leading transgender activists in the nation, not to mention one of the youngest. Since that time, she’s become the subject of several documentary films including Raising Zoey and A Quinceañera which detail her advocacy alongside her transition.

A post shared by Zoey (@iamzoeyluna) on

Now 16, Zoey has become a social star with more than 8,000 Instagram followers.

She’s also started a fledgling career as an actress and model while continuing to speak out in favor of queer & other civil rights causes.

Vote for Zoey in the 2018 Queerty Awards here.

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