Evan Young is originally from Little Rock, Ark. He graduated basic training in 1989 and rose to the rank of sergeant before transitioning from enlisted to officer. In 1998, Evan graduated from Northwestern State University of Louisiana with a B.A. in English. From there, he continued his studies while on Active Duty and graduated from Nova Southeastern University in Florida with a M.S. in Information Systems Management. He earned his public affairs credentials in 2004 and broadcasting management credentials in 2007. He served in the Reserves, Guard, and Active Duty. He was the Hawaii National Guard Public Affairs officer and a Media Officer at NORAD and US NORTHCOM. Evan began transition in 2011. He retired from the Army in 2013 as a Major. Since then he began his own web development company, has written for OutServe magazine as a blogger on a regular basis, and is a consultant for the project “Study of Transition, Outcomes & Gender (STRONG)”. Evan volunteers with several transgender advocacy groups. He was elected in October 2014 as the Board President of the Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition, where he directly oversees all board activities, including the implementation of the Legal Name and Gender Change clinics, and the Arkansas Transform Health initiatives. In addition to ArTEC, he served on two committees with SPARTA, an Active Duty transgender service member alliance. Evan was a member of the Transgender American Veterans Association from 2013 until 2020, and in 2014 after serving as board secretary and later vice-president, he was elected national president of the organization. While serving as president, he represented more than 134,000 transgender veterans by actively engaging with the Department of Veterans affairs in ensuring equality in benefits and health care. In 2015, Evan was named one of the top 25 visionaries of Arkansas by the Arkansas Times in their annual Visionaries issue, a celebration of Arkansans with ideas of transformative power. He is a national speaker on transgender issues.
