Noël Heatherland

Noël (they/them) is the Statewide Organizing & Outreach Manager for Georgia Equality, the state’s oldest & largest advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ human rights and HIV/AIDS healthcare. Their work with Georgia Equality includes legislative advocacy and grassroots organizing. They sit on the Boards of both This Doesn’t Define Me and The Dreaming Justice Project. Noël approaches their activism and advocacy work through a collective liberation lens. They are involved in coalition work that centers cross-racial solidarity, immigrants’ rights, working class unity, and protecting the environment.

Growing up, they were raised in rural South Georgia in a religious cult rooted in white Christian nationalism. They were in a highly controlled environment where they were sheltered from any knowledge of LGBTQIA+ history and community. They spent several of their adolescent years interning at state capitols across the nation including at Georgia’s Capitol on behalf of conservative ideals and lobbied for the use of religious principles to be used as a basis for discrimination. Once they were able to go to the University of Georgia and began volunteering with the AIDS Coalition of Northeast Georgia, they were able to begin the process of figuring out their identity and beliefs. They first got involved with Georgia Equality as a volunteer around 2017 and went on to serve in leadership on Georgia Equality’s Boards before transitioning to being a Staff member.

Noël is an active member of The Collective, a fully affirming Lutheran congregation in Atlanta, an advocate for domestic violence survivors and a volunteer for Ahimsa House helping to get HB 177 passed in Georgia in 2025, and serving as the state leader for The Venture Out Project, a national organization coordinating outdoor events by and for transgender and queer community.

As a writer and speaker, their voice has been shared nationally and throughout the state on platforms such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Georgia Voice, GLAAD, and at events held by many organizations including the Equality Federation, Atlanta Pride, SOJOURN, and Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative. Their story and writing has been featured in several books including “Authentic Selves” available locally through Charis Books. They are a graduate of the University of Georgia.

For Noël, activism and advocacy are a spiritual activity. In past years, they had significant involvement locally and nationally in the leadership of faith-based LGBTQIA+ affirming groups and issued a call for DEI growth and development in these organizations, especially in reference to trans inclusion and anti-racism.

Their why for wanting to do the work they do is they believe we are all connected and total liberation is dependent on everyone getting liberated. As both a non-binary human and a lesbian that has made their way through extensive self discovery and self acceptance journeys, they strongly believe everyone deserves to be able to safely experience both authenticity and belonging.

They spend their free time supporting local art and enjoying nature. Noël resides in the Westside of Atlanta with their fiancée and their dogs and cat.