Adam Bessman has been a legislative coordinator for Iowa QSA since August 2024 and the Program Director for QSA since June 2025. He is from Mount Vernon, Washington, and is currently a sophomore at Drake University in Law. Politics, & Society, and Environmental Sustainability & Resilience.

 

In high school, Adam was a student director for a low-voice small choral ensemble, and took the ensemble to State competitions in YYYY and YYYY. He has also worked with the Mount Baker Planned Parenthood as a member of Skagit Teen Council. Here, he has been able to teach his peers about sexual-education topics they may have missed out on in traditional sex-ed, and lobby his home state representatives to protect reproductive freedoms and justice. He graduated from high school in 2024 with various school-wide honors. In his first year of university, he has made both the Dean’s and President’s List. This summer, he has worked as a Factory Farm Team Organizing Intern in Des Moines with Food & Water Watch.

 

Adam became a member of Iowa QSA because his queerness has always been a key part of his identity.. Since moving back to Iowa after a decade away, he knew he wanted to get involved in his new community. When he learned about Iowa QSA, he was excited to see there was a place to be his full, radically trans and bisexual self! In the past he’s acted as a “queer fairy godfather” for peers in his community, and he wants to continue to be that fairy godfather for queer kids in Iowa. He is extremely passionate about social justice, activism through education, and collective community care. Through QSA, he hopes to bring these elements into his community and help further our fight for queer liberation in Iowa.