Palana Belken is a mover and shaker that proudly calls Rochester home.
Palana’s extensive LGBTQ-centric work has included organizing trans and gender non-conforming folks with the ACLU of New Hampshire, serving as the first openly trans person to be elected to a city council in New Hampshire, and managing cafe-turned-queer-oasis Teatotaller. She also helped launch the Affirming Spaces Project, a new non-profit organization aiming to make New Hampshire a more affirming place for folks of all gender identities.
In 2020, Palana made The Advocate’s Champions of Pride list and authored an extensive report about transgender students for ACLU-NH titled “The Case For Lived Equality in the Classroom”.
Palana lives in Rochester with her Weimaraner, Hapley. She is currently the Director of Operations at New Hampshire Harm Reduction Coalition.
