Sean Finn of Delta Lambda Phi Fraternity was recently recognized by The Advocate in their 2018 Champions of Pride list. This list honors just one person from each state (and D.C.) who is an “LGBT-plus change-maker.” Sean was chosen as the Champion of Pride for Iowa. The list also includes The Parkland Survivors (Florida), Adam Rippon (Pennsylvania), Tan France (Utah), and Miley Cyrus (Tennessee).
Br. Finn came out as transgender during his sophomore year of high school in his hometown of Marshalltown, IA. He gained national attention in 2016 when he spoke out about the difficulties teens face in high school (while North Carolina’s controversial bathroom bill was being introduced). When Br. Finn began attending the University of Iowa, he formed the Trans Alliance, a social and activism group for transgender students. Since starting the group, Br. Finn was worked with other UI Trans Inclusivity Taskforce members to increase the number of gender neutral restrooms on campus, created Trans@Iowa (resource website), educated over 1,000 students, staff, and community members through trans awareness workshops, helped create the Trans Student Support Fund (provides trans students with funs to change their name and gender marker on legal documents), and QUEERnival, UI’s first LGBTQ+ resource and information fair.
Outside of Br. Finn’s incredible work at UI, he also co-authored a policy brief recommending ways to improve LGBTQ student experiences to the Iowa City Community School District. As an intern for the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Br. Finn helped generate new ways for trans business owners in the U.S. to become certified LGBT Business Enterprises.
