"Stacey brings her heart to advocating for the transgender community."

 

Stacey Rice is a transgender woman who found her way to Portland and the Pacific Northwest from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina mountains over ten years ago with her Southern accent still intact. Stacey is the former Executive Co-Director of Q Center, the largest LGBTQ community center in the Pacific NW. She was recognized by the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest as a Queer Hero for her work at Q Center and in the greater Portland, Oregon community. She presently serves on the Board of Oregon Wild, a conservation organization which works to protect Oregon's wild places. 

Stacey is a leader in advocating for the transgender community in Portland and beyond by using her gift of storytelling, by providing transgender competency trainings and consulting, and by sharing her journey whenever she has the opportunity. She is also one of the stars of the documentary, “Who’s On Top? LGBTQs Summit Mt. Hood” which profiles four LGBTQ+ community members sharing stories of overcoming the mountains they have encountered literally and physically on their journeys.  

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As a recipient of a 2023 Oregon Humanities Community Storytelling Fellowship, Stacey is bringing visibility to the experiences of older LGBTQ+ adults by sharing stories of her journey and others from this underrepresented community. 

 

Stacey’s heart and soul is filled when she is out hiking among the trees and wild places of Oregon. She likes nothing better than sitting under a big Ponderosa Pine tree in the high desert of Oregon pondering the Universe and Crater Lake is her most favorite place in the whole wide world. She feels incredibly blessed to call Portland and the Pacific Northwest home.