Precious Brady-Davis | |
---|---|
Member of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Board of Commissioners | |
Assumed office July 12, 2023 | |
Preceded by | Kimberly du Buclet |
Personal details | |
Born | 1985 (age 38–39) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | University of Nebraska, Lincoln Columbia College Chicago (BA) |
Precious Brady-Davis (born 1985)[1] is an American transgender author[2] and climate[3] and LGBT rights activist.[3][1] She wrote the best-selling book I Have Always Been Me.[3]
Brady-Davis was born in Omaha, Nebraska,[1] and was in foster care as a toddler[3] due to her mother's mental health issues.[1] At age five, she moved in with her grandfather and his wife.[3][1] In fourth grade, her peers started being homophobic towards her,[3][1] and this worsened in middle school.[3] In high school, she started to explore her identity.[3][1] In her sophomore year, she moved into a foster home.[1]
Brady-Davis attended the University of Nebraska.[1] While living in Lincoln, Nebraska, she began performing drag using the name "Precious Jewel".[1] She later transferred to Columbia College Chicago.[1] While in Chicago, she came out as gay.[3][1] Living in Boystown, she made a name for herself as a performance artist.[3] She launched a US$1.6 million dollar CDC HIV Prevention program at Chicago's Center on Halsted, an LGBTQ community center.[4][3][1] There, she was also a mentor of LGBTQ+ teens.[3]
She and her husband Myles Brady-Davis had a baby girl in 2019.[3] They became the first transgender couple to have their gender identities listed correctly on an Illinois birth certificate.[3][5] They live in Hyde Park.[3] She currently works as a communications director at the Sierra Club, and is a nationally-known speaker and activist.[6][3][1]
In July 2023, she became the first black trans woman to be appointed to a commissioner position at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.[7]
She is popular with LGBTQ+ teens, and has mentored a number of them.[1][3]
Brady-Davis' memoir I Have Always Been Me was a best-selling Black biography on Amazon.[3]
Brady-Davis was a consulting producer for The Lady and the Dale.[2]