Dan Savage is an gay activist, author, media pundit and journalist. His advice column, “Savage Love,” showcases his honest approach to sex, love and relationships, syndicated in newspapers and websites throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Savage is the Editorial Director of The Stranger, Seattle’s weekly alternative newspaper, and his writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Rolling Stone, The Onion, and on Salon.com. Savage is also the author of several books, including Savage Love, The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family, and his most recent, American Savage. In September 2010, Savage created a YouTube video with his husband Terry Miller to inspire hope for LGBT young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives, Savage and Miller wanted to create a personal message to let LGBT youth know that “it gets better.” Today, the It Gets Better Project has become a global movement, inspiring more than 50,000 It Gets Better videos viewed over 50 million times. The It Gets Better book, co-edited by Savage and Miller, was published in March 2011, and an MTV documentary special on the project aired in February 2012. Dan Savage grew up in Chicago and now lives in Seattle, Washington with his husband Terry Miller and their son, DJ.
Michelle Tea is the Artistic Director of RADAR Productions, a San Francisco-based non-profit that produces literary events throughout the Bay Area in order to stimulate the production of queer and underground literature. She is also a co-founder of all-female open mics, Sister Spit, which have toured the national several times, calling attention to the City’s emerging lesbian artists. She has a published four memoirs, including the award-winning Valencia, and edited numerous anthologies on feminisms, fashion, and queer culture.