Joshua Love

2018 Diversity Award Winner: Power the Future

Joshua Love is a passionate advocate, activist, and author in the work to bring awareness and empowerment to individuals and communities impacted by the intersections of sexuality, gender diversity, disabilities, marginalization, and oppression.

Joshua serves as the outreach, assessment and retention coordinator for the Office of Disability Services at Texas State University. Joshua is president of the executive board of ALLIANCE at Texas State—an organization that encourages, promotes, and celebrates the awareness, equality, social acceptance, non-discrimination, and individual freedoms of all employees regardless of their sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender identity. He is a facilitator of the Allies training offered through the department of professional development at the university, and is an advisor to Transcend, the transgender, gender non-binary, and gender diverse student organization.

Joshua was the recipient of the Texas State University Excellence in Diversity Team Award for his work as a leader for inclusion and quality of transgender/gender non-binary/gender diverse individuals in higher education. Additionally, ACPA–College Student Educators International’s Coalition for Sexuality and Gender Identities has awarded him the 2018 Public Service Award.

Joshua believes in the inspirational model of bell hooks: “When everyone in the classroom, teacher and students, recognize that they are responsible for creating a learning community together, learning is at its most meaningful and useful.” He has worked in community development and wellness since the age of 16. In San Francisco, Joshua founded and pastored an all-beliefs faith community, welcoming seekers of spiritual healing and dialogue including Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, pagans, and those who were exploring their own paths regardless of labels.

Joshua is a long-term survivor of HIV since 2001, and attributes his passion for this work to the loss of his uncle Patrick to AIDS in 1988 and the commitment to one day see an AIDS-free generation. He has worked on the frontlines of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and addictions education internationally. He served as the former director of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) Global HIV/AIDS Ministry and the Drug and Addictions Ministry. He filmed and produced a documentary on MCC’s service initiative in Zimbabwe, “We Who Are One Body: A Spiritual Walk with AIDS,” and wrote the book entitled Uncommon Hope: A Curriculum Reflecting the Heart of the Church for People Affected by HIV/AIDS. He also developed a drug education workshop and curriculum entitled “Deconstructing Meth,” presented around the globe.

Joshua completed his Bachelor of Science in human services at Skidmore College and completed a Master of Divinity at Episcopal Divinity School, with an emphasis on pastoral care. In San Francisco, he completed a yearlong clergy internship and served for a year as an interfaith CPE chaplain at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in the oncology, psychiatric and burn units.