Mandy Carter is one of the US's leading African American lesbian activists.

Born in Albany, NY, she was raised in orphanages and foster care. She arrived in NC via San Francisco. Mandy's early political activism includes her work with the War Resistors League. Mandy was an early director of NCPRIDEPAC, and helped found SONG - Southerners On New Ground - at the Durham Creating Change Conference in 1993.

A noted speaker, Mandy has traveled extensively, educating audiences about LGBT rights in a broader social justice movement. A winner of the prestigious Stonewall Award, Mandy Carter has enough energy for an army of organizers, and she never fails to maintain her sense of humor. Mandy is an articulate and non-confrontational doer, who get things accomplished by her motivational mentoring and by exemplary and tireless activity. She has forged strong and indelible ties between the natural allies that exist in the African-American, religious, and LGBT communities.

A key focus of Ms. Carter's work is the monitoring of the radical right in communities of color, with special attention paid to the divisive tactic of anti-gay organizing in the black church and black community.

Ms. Carter was elected to be the Secretary-Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee Gay and Lesbian American Caucus. She is also a member of and serves on both the DNC Black Caucus and the DNC Gay and Lesbian Caucus.

She served as a consultant for the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, the only national organization dedicated to the nation's estimated two and a half million African American gays and lesbians. Established in 1988, The Forum works to empower black lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered by developing their leadership skills, increasing their visibility and building bridges between their various communities.

Ms. Carter was honored at the 1999 Forum's National Conference in Atlanta, GA where she was the recipient of the Bayard Rustin Award for Political Activism.

In the fall of 1997, Mandy was on special assignment from the Forum and was Program Director for Equal Partners in Faith, a multiracial grassroots coalition of people of faith committed to equality and diversity, that coordinated a DC-Metro area response to the Promise Keeper's "Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men" October 4th rally held on the Mall in Washington, DC. The Promise Keepers is an evangelical Christian men's-only movement who's leadership has ties to the Religious Right.

With awards from many human rights and community organizations to acknowledge her achievements, Ms. Carter currently sits on the Boards of the International Federation of Black Prides, the National Stonewall Democratic Federation, the Triangle Foundation, Equal Partners in Faith and Ladyslipper Music.

Ms. Carter lives in Durham, North Carolina.