Norma Jean Eckard is a community advocate, organizer, and public speaker whose work advances equity, safety, and dignity for LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities. With more than two decades of experience in grassroots organizing, education, and trauma-informed community outreach, Norma brings lived experience, policy knowledge, and an unwavering commitment to justice into every space they enter.
Norma is actively involved with Sussex Pride and works in coalition with organizations including Speak Out Against Hate (SOAH), Bulletproof Pride, Indivisible, and the Working Families Party, focusing on anti-hate advocacy, community safety, and LGBTQIA+ visibility. She is the founder of PRIDE 365, a grassroots LGBTQIA+ advocacy organization established in Texas, and a co-founder of Trans Fam, a support network dedicated to uplifting and protecting transgender individuals and their families.
Within the Unitarian Universalist Society of Southern Delaware, Norma serves on the Social & Environmental Justice Committee and the Welcome Committee, helping build inclusive, justice-centered spaces rooted in care, belonging, and collective responsibility.
Norma has provided public comment before State Senate and House Committees, advocating for gender-affirming care, LGBTQIA+ civil rights, and equitable public policy. She has also been invited by several State House Representatives to be a guest speaker on LGBTQIA+ policy issues, trans rights, and the real-world impacts of discriminatory legislation, bridging lived experience with legislative advocacy.
After facing escalating anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA policies in Texas, Norma and their transgender child, Vienna Cavazos, made the difficult decision to relocate to Delaware in search of safety, dignity, and protection. That journey continues to shape Norma’s advocacy, centering intersectional justice, the protection of trans and queer youth, and the belief that justice is not abstract; it is lived, embodied, and built through community.
As an advocate speaker, Norma brings honesty, urgency, and hope, amplifying marginalized voices, challenging systems of harm, and inspiring collective action grounded in resilience, love, and solidarity.