Advocate NL 8/20/26

Hello and Happy Thursday, folks!Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox to take you back to November 17, 2011 -- or rather, photographer Mike Nelson is.That is the day Mike writes he was at the U.S. Capitol "in the large, ornate office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. I had just finished setting up the lighting for photographer Tim Coburn on a magazine cover shoot."As she moved through the planned portrait setups, Mike recalls he "stood off to the side near her desk, taking behind-the-scenes photos with my BlackBerry.""I was at the epicenter of news and power, and it was intoxicating. Yet the real significance of that day would not reveal itself for nearly 15 years," he writes.Flash forward to just a few months ago, when The Advocate's Christopher Wiggins reached out to Mike to offer him the opportunity to photograph Pelosi for our September/October cover issue. "It was one of the easiest yeses of my career," he writes."As any insecure artist might, I searched to see whether Pelosi had appeared on the cover of The Advocate before — and how my work compared. The cover of the magazine’s February 2012 issue popped up, and my mouth fell open."Don't miss his full story here -- and go behind the scenes of our Pelosi interview, with exclusive quotes and photos, by becoming an Advocate member. For as little as $5/month, you can support The Advocate's journalism and get access to our members-only email newsletter. Join by Friday, August 21, to get this special members-only coverage in your inbox!Two covers and 15 years: How a portrait of Nancy Pelosi brought my career full circleFlorida voters deliver wins for LGBTQ+ candidates and losses for Moms for LibertyThe closetocracy? 11 anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans dogged by gay rumorsNew Jersey shields abortion and gender-affirming care from out-of-state investigationsEx-Virginia cop demands $15 million after sharing locker room with trans colleagueDEA joins investigation into Hayden Panettiere's deathKansas law