Who We Are
The Seattle LGBTQ Commission consists of 21 representative residents of Seattle appointed to serve in an advisory capacity to the Mayor, City Council, Seattle Office for Civil Rights, and other Seattle City departments. Eight commissioners are appointed by the Mayor, eight appointments are made by the City Council, and the Commission appoints four members. Commissioners are appointed to a two year term of office and serve without pay. The 21st member joins the Commission each year through Get Engaged, a leadership development program for 18-29 year olds.
The Seattle Office for Civil Rights provides staff and support to the Commission.
Meet Our Commissioners

Andrew Ikechukwu Ashiofu
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Andrew is a second generation Nigerian-American who was born in Houston, but moved back to Nigeria. Living under a military dictatorship helped to motivate and inform his community involvement, and Andrew participated in a number of organizations such as part of the UN Youth Caucus of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the House of Rainbow Nigeria. Since moving back to the United States in 2016, Andrew has been actively involved with Black Lives Matter and has been an active Commissioner on the Seattle LGBTQ Commission since 2021 and is a current Co-chair of the Commission.

Brett Pepowski
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Brett is a queer science and health educator, originally from Chicago. Brett currently works for the Downtown Emergency Service Center, connecting adults in supportive housing to medical services. Outside of work, Brett proudly volunteers for Camp Ten Trees, an overnight camp for queer youth and youth of nontraditional families, and supports Rainbow City Performing Arts as a lighting designer. As a commissioner, Brett hopes to increase access to healthcare and housing for the Seattle queer community, with a special focus on the queer+disabled community.

Kody Allen
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Kody Allen is a social service worker for YouthCare, an organization that provides services and support for homeless and at-risk youth in Seattle. He comes with a strong background in nonprofit leadership and advocacy, having served as the Executive Director of a food pantry, the chairperson for the City of Casper’s LGBTQ Inclusion Committee, and a board member for various social justice causes in his home state of Wyoming. He moved to Seattle with his husband in 2022 to embrace a more diverse and welcoming community. In his spare time, he enjoys expressing his creativity through painting and playing the piano, as well as volunteering for local charities. His passion is to make a positive difference in the lives of LGBTQ youth and other marginalized groups, and is always eager to learn new skills and perspectives to enhance his work.

Ry Armstrong
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Ry Armstrong (they // she // he) is an American, genderqueer artist who was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by nature and the arts. Their upbringing, which did contain both white and male-presenting privilege, was full of arts education and ultimately compelled them to follow a career in storytelling. Shortly after finishing an undergraduate degree in theatre arts, they moved from the Emerald City to the Big Apple and quickly became involved, as an actor, in productions Off-Broadway (Pete the Cat, Orphans & Outsiders) and in regional houses across the country. Complementary to their acting, their focus lies on their international creative endeavors of producing and writing new works of art to be experienced on the stage and screen. After finishing their graduate degree in International Relations, they took an interest in environmental activism as that issue is set to be the defining crisis of their lifetime. Most recently, Armstrong can most recently be seen in HBO's The Gilded Age.

Victor Loo
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Victor Loo (he/him) is a principal consultant, executive coach, strategist, national leader who addresses health disparities and leads with equity. He is 1 of the 25 national leaders in the SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions’ Addressing Health Disparities Leadership Program, and 1 of the 15 national leaders in the National Council for Behavioral Health's Healthy Youth Leadership Institute. He represents US Department of Health & Human Services’ Region 10 -Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington on the National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health Steering Committee, and Washington State Commit to Change Steering Committee.Besides the compassion, passion and vision to serve Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, immigrants, and refugees, homeless, unhoused and unsheltered individuals; he is also an active community advocate/leader for the LGBTQ+ community and is Co-Chair with the City of Seattle LGBTQ Commission.