Lincoln, and especially members of the city’s transgender community, lost an advocate Thursday.
Milo Winslow, 30, who testified in support of the City Council’s ordinance to expand protections to the LBGTQ+ community and had 19,000 followers on a TikTok account dedicated to his advocacy, died Thursday by suicide.
“I think how fierce of an advocate he was for anyone who’s in a position of being oppressed, especially our youth†said Khalisha Casey, a friend. “It was amazing he was able to continue the fight as long as he did. It was inspirational.â€
Winslow was the only transgender individual to testify last month at the City Council in support of an ordinance that broadly updates Title 11, the city code dealing with equal opportunity. The ordinance includes numerous changes, but the one that has created the most controversy is expanding protections to include sexual orientation and gender expression.
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Winslow was interviewed later, along with other members of Lincoln’s transgender community, about their concerns: that opponents of the ordinance, which passed 5-0, would target the transgender community, that the ordinance was ill-timed and supporters were not adequately prepared to defend it at the ballot box.
In his interview, Winslow spoke about the damage hateful views can cause to transgender people when such legislation arises locally.
Still, he said he would fight for the ordinance now that it had passed, and friends say he was helping on the campaign being organized to defend it after a referendum petition gathered more than four times the number of signatures needed to require the City Council either to rescind the ordinance or put it to a vote.
Sarah Cohen Walker first met Winslow outside the City Council chambers in March 2021 when they both came to testify in support of an ordinance to ban conversion therapy on youth. She’d connected with him earlier through a mutual friend who knew Winslow was interested in getting involved.
They became friends because of their passion for political advocacy, but for other reasons, too. They both loved cats — Winslow’s was named Cornelia, and they’d both faced similar struggles with their families and faith communities.
Winslow, she said, did the heart work.
Not the fiery advocacy that goes viral on social media, but honest discussions about his experiences, marked by empathy and compassion and meeting people where they were, finding ways to help them understand.
“He started creating content online and speaking and doing it in a way that brings people along,†Cohen Walker said. “To lead with the heart. I think leading with the heart is the hard work that a lot of people don’t have patience for.â€
Casey said Winslow had suffered much trauma in his life. His family did not accept him when he came out as gay prior to his transition, and later he left a church that wouldn’t accept him. He found support from members of the gay community who then were unsupportive when he transitioned.
“Beyond his public fights and battles, what he was advocating for were personal ones, too, that took a toll,†she said. “He has already put up with a lot more than anybody would have to for longer than anyone should have to.â€
Learning the petition drive to put the fairness ordinance on the ballot had collected 18,500 signatures was hard for him, his friends said.
A day before he died, he sent an email to friends and posted a message on TikTok that he was going to step back from his advocacy and work on the campaign because it was too emotionally taxing, saying he didn’t feel he had the support system he needed to continue the work.
Cohen Walker worries about others in the transgender community.Â
“I’m just afraid, because I don’t think Milo is alone in this,†she said.