2025 Participant Biographies

Martha Marvel is a trans person who spent over 40 years in the closet while working for a major christian denomination. When she retired in 2017, she came out of the closet and began to live her faith - but not talk a lot about it. She is the founder and current President of a community of care and service that is known as the (Green) Bay Area Council on Gender Diversity (BACGD). Today BACGD is a growing all volunteer non-profit organization with an email list of over 500 trans persons, parents, family members and community allies. The organization offers a number of monthly and special programs and services for adults and youth primarily in NE Wisconsin. BACGD also has a group called the Trans Artists Collaborative (TAC). This talented group created "The Transperience" a multi-media digital and tactile immersive art experience that has been staged at various colleges and a museum in NE Wisconsin. Martha has two master's degrees - one in Social Work and another in Religious Studies. She is married, with four mostly grown children and eleven grandkids.