Anthony Arrien is a transgender man who provides LGBTQIA+ Cultural Competency Training and Professional Development presentations for The LOFT LGBTQ+ Community Center. As a volunteer, he has facilitated the adult transgender peer support group at The LOFT since 2016. Since 2019 he has given workshops on LGBTQ+ and TGNCNB topics at major conferences such as The LOFT's Hudson Valley Trans Forum, The Philadelphia Transgender Wellness Conference, TransLives: The Intersection of Health and Law at UCONN in Connecticut, PrideWorks LGBTQ+ Youth Conference, and 'First Event' transgender conference in Boston. He has also done trainings, special presentations, and panel discussions for local libraries, universities, medical and mental health services organizations, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, K-12 School administrators, staff and teachers, and various organizations that serve LGBTQ+ youth and/or adults.
Anthony served on the Board of Directors of The LOFT during the period between July 2019 and early October 2023. He has also served as a board member of GLSEN Lower Hudson Valley since 2019 and, as their Professional Development Co-Chair, has done trainings and panel discussions for students, administrators, advisors, and teachers in K-12 schools in Westchester and Putnam Counties. He was certified by GLSEN in late 2022 as a Legendary class facilitator. Anthony brings his experience in K-12 Schools to design Professional Development workshops for The LOFT to serve the needs of LGBTQ+ youth better.
On the public policy front, Anthony has done numerous legislative visits for LGBTQ+ advocacy in New York State for laws such as GENDA (The Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act), the Gender Recognition Act, the prohibition of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth in NY, the elimination of the so-called "Panic Defense" previously used to provide lesser sentences for the murder of LGBTQ+ individuals and many other pieces of legislation to help the TGNCNB community as well.
He recently retired from his career in Community Media, running local government and educational channels for a town in Putnam County. He has been a public policy warrior for many years supporting legislation to preserve Community Media and hyper-local Public, Educational, and Government programming in New York State as the Chairman of the Alliance for Community Media of New York.
Anthony holds a BA in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Arizona and studied film directing at Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts MFA program. Before his Community Media job and his gender transition, he worked for 25 years as a freelancer in the NYC Film and Video industry as an IATSE gaffer and electrician on movies, national commercials, music videos, industrials, and episodic television. He started his own production company to do independent filmmaking on subjects in astronomy, the humanities, and social justice. Anthony now sees his primary mission as LGBTQIA+ education and advocacy as a trans elder with unique life experience.
In his spare time, Anthony is a plein air landscape painter who works in oils on linen board. He is a member of the Lower Hudson Valley Plein Air Painters and also likes to travel to the Southwest to paint desert landscapes. He enjoys roller and ice skating for physical recreation and is known to pack his skates for trips to new rinks.