Lyosha Gorshkov
Lyosha Gorshkov is the co-founder of
Brighton Beach Pride and a leader
of RUSA LGBT, which brings queer
visibility and advocacy to the Russianspeaking
community in New York City.
Lyosha is from Russia but was forced to flee
the country in 2014 after facing persecution
as an out queer professor and LGBTQ rights
advocate. Lyosha arrived in New York City and
quickly became active in the Russian LGBTQ
community in Brighton Beach.
Lyosha leads the annual Brighton Beach
Pride March along the Riegelmann Boardwalk
in southern Brooklyn. The march unites queer
immigrants of all backgrounds and delivers
an intersectional message of support to
marginalized queer folks, including people of
color, as well as transgender and non-binary
individuals.
During the fifth annual Brighton
Beach Pride March earlier this
year, Lyosha said, “Brighton
Beach is changing very slowly,
but they know we are here. All of
a sudden, homophobia has been
exposed in Brighton Beach — and
that’s the major achievement.”
Lyosha currently serves as the
director of LGBTQ initiatives at
Colgate University. Prior to that,
Lyosha was a tenured professor and
deputy dean at Perm State University in
Russia; the care manager at the Alliance for
Positive Change in New York; visiting scholar
at Indiana University; and assistant director
of the Pride Center and Women’s Center at
Slippery Rock University.
Michael T. Marino
Brighton
Beach Pride
(RUSA
LGBT)
The HIV
League
Michael Marino has spent years in the
non-profit and higher education
sectors as a fundraising leader and
advocate through his work benefitting people
living with HIV/AIDS, the LGBTQ community,
and park preservation.
Michael has helped to produce the annual
AIDS Walk and Dance-a-thon events in
multiple cities across America, worked as a
development officer at GMHC, and served as
the director major gifts at the Empire State
Pride Agenda.
Among other roles, Michael was the
first associate director of development at
BroadwayCares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA)
and was the managing development director
at the Point Foundation, an LGBTQ scholarship
fund.
He is also the board president and treasurer
of the HIV League, a non-profit organization
dedicated to empowering the HIV community
through scholarships, wellness, and
education. The group has supported
90 students living with HIV,
allocating nearly $300,000 since
2017.
Michael has spent the last
decade and a half working in
higher education, where he
currently serves as the executive
director of special projects at
Long Island University.
Outside of his professional career,
Michael is the founder and leader
of a non-profit volunteer group called
Friends of Corlears Hook Park, which helps
preserve, beautify, and maintain a public park
located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Michael holds a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts
from Pace University and a master’s of Public
Administration from the New York University
Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.
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