These Essex County Residents Inspired Pride In 2026; County Honors LGBTQ Leaders

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County recently honored three community leaders during an annual LGBTQ Pride Month celebration.

The Essex County Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs and the Essex County Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Advisory Board hosted the county’s 2026 ceremony on June 17.

During the ceremony, officials presented three Pride of Essex County Awards:

• Shante Palmer, vice chancellor at Rutgers University-Newark
• Damien Alan Lopez, director of trans resiliency at Garden State Equality
• Steven A. Johnson, attorney at Marshall Dennehey

Each awardee thanked the county for recognizing their contributions and made a push for more action moving forward.

“Progress is possible but progress is not permanent,” Palmer said. “All people deserve equal dignity under the law. Laws are powerful but people have the most impact and equality needs true guardians.”

“Today I have a lot of emotions,” Lopez said. “I have experienced bad times growing up and there have been good times. I am fortunate to have supportive family and friends. And I stand before you working with Garden State Equality and doing what I never imagined I would be doing.”

“I hope Essex County is just a little better for the next person and the next generation because of what we are accomplishing today,” Johnston said.

The Essex County LGBTQ Pride Month Celebration is part of a yearlong cultural series. Other cultural heritage celebrations include African American History Month, Irish Heritage Month, Women’s History Month, Italian Heritage Month, Jewish Heritage, Portuguese Heritage and Latino Heritage.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said the annual event is a chance to celebrate Pride Month and the local LGBTQ community.

“Our honorees have done difficult work in their respective fields of providing support, protecting human rights and promoting understanding,” he said, applauding this year’s award winners.

Reginald Bledsoe, director of the Essex County Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, said the award ceremony is an opportunity to “recognize our community's strength, resilience and unity.”

“We are working together to create a more inclusive and diverse society, where everyone can thrive, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Bledsoe said.

The following biographical information comes courtesy of Essex County:

SHANTE PALMER

Shantè D. Palmer, EMPA is a nationally respected government relations strategist, civic leader, and higher education executive serving as Vice Chancellor for External and Government Relations at Rutgers University–Newark. She leads the university’s government affairs, strategic partnerships, and civic engagement efforts while advancing Rutgers–Newark’s role as a leading urban research university and anchor institution.

Over a career spanning more than two decades across government, higher education, and public affairs, Palmer has built a reputation for bringing together public, private, and nonprofit partners to advance policy solutions that strengthen communities. She has secured more than $80 million in state and federal funding to support university initiatives, workforce development programs, and community-based partnerships that expand educational opportunity and economic mobility.

Prior to Rutgers-Newark, Palmer served as Director of Government Relations at Montclair State University, where she advised senior leadership and helped secure the largest increase to the university’s state base funding in more than 20 years. She has also held executive public affairs and business development roles advising corporations, nonprofit organizations, and civic institutions on government strategy, community engagement, and corporate responsibility initiatives.

Earlier in her career, Palmer served on the staff of three United States Senators representing New Jersey, where she worked on initiatives related to housing, education, economic development, and small business growth. She began her career in compliance at the National Labor Relations Board. Palmer serves on several nonprofit and community boards and has been honored by InsiderNJ and other statewide organizations as one of New Jersey’s most influential women in public leadership, including the inaugural BINJE’s Best in Higher Education 2026.

She holds an Executive Master of Public Administration from Rutgers University–Newark and is currently pursuing a Juris Doctor at Rutgers University Law School.

“I am humbled and honored to receive this award. Progress is possible but progress is not permanent. All people deserve equal dignity under the law. Laws are powerful but people have the most impact and equality needs true guardians,” Palmer said.

DAMIEN LOPEZ

Damien Alan Lopez was born and raised in Newark. A published Queer author, he is a proud transgender man with hopes to shift the conversation of transgender identities represented in children’s books and other mediums. His story has been recognized by First Lady Tammy Murphy of New Jersey, the 2021 dotCOMM Platinum Awards, El Vocero de Puerto Rico, and Thems Health 2021 Children’s Book Recommendation List.

As an award-winning advocate, he has keynoted and facilitated conversations at local and national levels. Some notable organizations are the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, the New Jersey and NYC Bar Association, NJ Pride Center of Commerce, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Legal ONE, and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. He is featured on NJ Spotlight News, Protecting Our Democracy with Sean Spiller, PBS, and NPR. He has been highlighted with his work on BookStar and Insider’s NJ Insider OUT 100: LGBTQ Power List. He is passionate about transgender issues, education, and culinary arts.

“Thank you to Joseph DiVincenzo. Today I have a lot of emotions. I have experienced bad times growing up and there have been good times. I am fortunate to have supportive family and friends. And I stand before you working with Garden State Equality and doing what I never imagined I would be doing,” Lopez said.

STEVEN JOHNSTON

Steven A. Johnston has a long history of LGBTQ advocacy having worked with the National LGBTQ Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the Mazzoni Center, and various local organizations. After graduating from Temple University Beasley School of Law where he founded a name change clinic for transgender Pennsylvanians, Johnston lived in various locations before settling in West Orange. With each move, Steven brought a desire to help the vulnerable and carve out a space for the LGBTQ community. As a federal employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs, he was the first president of the Department’s LGBTQ employee resource group, PrideVA, which was founded to ensure all veterans were seen and served based on their individual needs. In West Orange, he recently led the charge for the Town Council to pass a single-occupancy gender neutral bathroom ordinance which was signed into law in 2025, hosted a National Coming Out Day event at the town library, served on the West Orange Human Relations Commission as a volunteer commissioner, and hosted a yearly Pride event for neighbors. Johnston is also the legislative coordinator for the New Jersey State Bar Association’s LGBTQ Section and the Co-Chair of the Essex County Bar Association’s LGBTQ Section where they have hosted a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) panel on discrimination of LGBTQ Veterans by the U.S. government and a CLE on LGBTQ visibility and inclusion in the law ensuring that the Essex County legal community competently and compassionately serve all LGBTQ people. Steven is a medical malpractice defense litigation attorney at Marshall Dennehey, P.C.

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