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This Pride Month, Benach Collopy is happy to celebrate Sandy, one of our latest clients to bring home a win. Sandy came to the US in 2015 to study for his masters, and when his program was ending, he knew that he needed a more permanent status in the US, so he filed an application with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to be able to stay.

But USCIS took a long time, and while he was waiting, Sandy became such an integral part of the DC LGBTQ+ community. First he joined KhushDC, a South Asian Queer and Trans Society, where he began to meet other folks from South Asia who form part of our city’s vibrant queer tapestry. Through KhushDC, Sandy had the chance to wear a beautiful Ghagra for the first time and performed his first drag piece to songs by his idol, Madhuri Dixit. He has been able to fight for other queer South Asians, both through his art and his advocacy efforts on their behalf.

Sandy started attending Capital Pride here in DC and celebrating with the greater DC queer community. In 2019, he marched in the parade and was featured in photos from the Washington Blade. His participation with Pride has only grown since then, and this year he has even worked on fundraising efforts. He’ll be marching in the parade this year as part of glamazon, Amazon’s official LGBTQ+ affinity group for its employees. Just recently, Sandy was promoted to Senior Business Development Manager at Amazon, and he was elected to the position of Vice President of glamazon.

Sandy has also gotten involved in DC’s Stonewall Kickball league, where he plays for the Blue Ballers, who won their championship last year. Sandy and his team have not only played some excellent games of kickball, they’ve also done lots of volunteering in the community, including raising money for Joseph’s House, which offers medical respite and end-of-life care for individuals with HIV and cancer experiencing homelessness here in Washington, D.C., and for SMYAL, an organization that has supported and empowered DC’s queer youth for more than 40 years. Last year in October, Sandy won Stonewall’s Got Talent with another fabulous drag performance.

Throughout all of this time, though, Sandy was waiting endlessly to hear back from USCIS about his immigration status. After nearly seven years, Sandy linked up with the BC team this past January to sue the government over their unreasonable delay, which finally led to him getting an interview. Like the fearless advocate that our community knows him to be, Sandy knocked it out of the park at his interview, and we are very pleased to say that he won his case.

Benach Collopy is so happy for Sandy, and so thankful for the work he does in supporting the DC LGBTQ+ community. We are proud to have been part of his journey, and we can’t wait to see what he does next!