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Julio Torres
Mitch Zachary
Disruptors

Julio Torres

Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.

After his hilarious and innovative HBO series Los Espookys ended in 2022, Torres made his cinematic debut by writing, directing, and starring in this year’s Problemista. The film tells a new version of the story of the American Dream through Torres’s unique comedic view — he plays a toymaker fighting for U.S. citizenship (and working for Tilda Swinton), an absurd and brilliant take on the queer immigrant experience.

But he wasn’t done there. Torres also released the surrealist TV series Fantasmas this year, giving fans an even better look into his brilliant mind. Though even Torres is uncertain how to describe his work: “There were mermaids and gay hamsters in it…does that help explain anything?”

“I’m really proud I’ve gotten to release two projects that I stand behind, made with old friends and new friends,” Torres says. “No one asked for a film like Problemista or a show like Fantasmas, and yet we got to make them, and I think those who cherish them didn’t know they were looking for them either.” @spaceprincejulio

Natalie Wynn
Anonymous
Disruptors

Natalie Wynn

Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.

Anonymous

Known to fans as ContraPoints, Natalie Wynn amassed 1.83 million YouTube subscribers by creating what she says are “video essays about politics and social issues, from online hate movements to the madness of J.K. Rowling.”

The transgender lesbian influencer makes epic, hours-long video essays that approach topics with academic rigor while creating hilarious and profound pieces of media that involve sets, costumes, ambient lighting, and the intellectual threading of philosophy with pop culture. This year, Wynn released a three-hour-long video where she “mapped the intricate depravities of heterosexual fantasy by studying The Twilight Saga.” In six months, the video amassed 4.5 million views.

However, being continually online has its pitfalls. “My biggest obstacle is the mental illness that afflicts anyone with an online reputation,” she says. “The love and the hate are equally dangerous. Narcissism and paranoia go together. The only cure is knowing when to step away.”

Wynn, an essential voice for her generation, wants the world to know that “LGBTQ+ people are just like everybody else, except more gay.” @contrapoints