Noël Gordon
Scholar Class – 2012
Noël Gordon was born in the heart of Brooklyn, New York and lived there until a few months after the September 11th attacks. His family eventually relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he soon began to excel in school and extracurricular activities. During his senior year of high school, Noel was chosen as one of two Nevada state delegates to the United States Senate Youth program. Noel also served as Student Body 2nd Vice‐President and earned the title of Nevada State Champion in Public Forum Debate. But even as all of this was happening, the only thing Noel could focus on was the idea that he was going to Hell because of his sexual orientation—a message he constantly received from his family, his church and even some of his peers.
A 2012 Truman Scholar, Noël lives his life as an openly queer man of color. He majored in Political Science, double‐minoring in Moral and Political Philosophy, as well as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Sexuality Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the co‐founder of rXs, an intragroup dialogue program for queer and questioning students of color, as well as a social justice advocacy group known as the Coalition for Queer People of Color. After graduating, Noël relocated to Washington, DC to pursue a career in public policy and advocacy.