Hello, my name is Braden Peltz, and I use He/Him and She/Her pronouns.

Throughout my adolescence, I have thought a lot about growing into the person that I am today, beginning when I was a sophomore in high school. I was figuring out so many different things about who I was as a person. Two of the most significant things that I learned about myself are that I might not actually be this cisgender and heterosexual person that society is forcing down my throat. I embarked on a journey of self-discovery, eventually discovering my school's GSA club and attending its meetings, which took place twice a week in a biology classroom. Additionally, for those unfamiliar, GSA stands for the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. It is a safe space for LGBTQ+ students to gather and connect with other members of the community. As I began attending these GSA meetings, I grew increasingly comfortable with discovering who I was.

Eventually, throughout my sophomore school year, I came to the realization that I am pansexual/panromantic and gender fluid. So, that means I do not care what the gender of the person is, I would date anyone and any gender expression. I just need to connect with a person's personality first, or I won't have any romantic feelings for them. Then, on a consistent basis, I feel both feminine and masculine. So I feel like a mixture of both every single day, and that is how I discovered being gender fluid.
Throughout the rest of my sophomore year of high school, I developed a passion for helping others within the LGBTQ+ community. For the next two years of high school, I served as the vice president of the GSA club. Attending various school events and tabling for our club. Putting on a school-wide awareness campaign for LGBTQ+ bullying in partnership with GLSEN. I even spoke about the GLSEN Day of Silence at a school assembly. Then, right after I graduated from high school, I discovered that my local community in Castle Rock, Colorado, was forming its own LGBTQ+ organization at the time, called Castle Rock Pride.
We are now known as Douglas County Pride. From 2019 to the present, I have been a dedicated supporter and active member of Douglas County Pride. Things that I do every year for them include helping plan our Rainbow Prom, our Douglas County Pride Festival, and two monthly support groups, as well as having fun at the monthly hangouts we plan. Then, looking forward to the summer of 2024, the president of Douglas County Pride gave me an application to apply for One Colorado’s GSA Leadership Council.

I was so excited to have the opportunity to make a big difference in the lives of fellow LGBTQ+ youth in Colorado. I applied as soon as possible and received a video interview a few weeks later. I did not know it at the time, but that would be one of the most significant opportunities that I had ever been given. I served on that committee from August of 2024 through May of 2025.

Some of the fantastic things I got to do as a member of this committee were create three excellent presentations and have the opportunity to share them with other LGBTQ+ youth in my community. Help create and put on both the queer youth summit and the queer youth conference. I also learned valuable skills and got to apply what we learned from this committee in my communities. We also had opportunities to teach our fellow LGBTQ+ youth in the community as well. On a side note, I loved every single individual I worked with. I also met someone through the committee who ended up becoming my best friend. (I love you, Fae!) Then, during my first semester with the committee, they were seeking someone to serve as their youth and schools intern for the school year. So I applied, got the job, and my world at One Colorado expanded even further. I have been able to do a lot of incredible, badass things with the team.

Some of the things I have done with One Colorado are the following. I was a lobby leader, and I lobbied at the state Capitol on LGBTQIA+ Lobby Day in February 2025. Then I have been asked to write and give a few different testimonies at the Colorado State Capitol against anti-transgender bills that tried to get passed within the state. Some were in front of the Colorado House of Representatives, and some were in front of the Colorado Senate. In front of the committees, not in the big courtrooms where they pass or do not pass a bill. Then I helped with our Denver Public Schools town hall in March and a month's worth of parent trainings in May. I was also invited to the Capitol on March 31st with my best friend, Fae. We got to sit on the Colorado Senate floor and watch the Senate pass a very important resolution recognizing March 31st as Transgender Day of Visibility.

My internship with One Colorado has now come to an end, but that does not mean my work stops here. I see the need for this work, and I will do anything that I can to keep it happening. This pride season, I spent my weekends tabling with One Colorado and attended a total of four pride events across the state. This work makes me so happy and fulfilled. I have, and will continue to make, so many incredible relationships with people through my work with One Colorado.

I would not change any of it for the world.