June Spotlight: Nuhamin Eiden, Pride Month Edition

As Pride Month lights up Oregon, it’s a time to not only celebrate queerness in all its beauty but to also uplift the leaders in our communities who are pushing for real, lasting change. At Unite Oregon, we’re proud to honor one of our own: Nuhamin Eiden (she/they). They are a brilliant, grounded, and deeply committed leader who brings her full self to the fight for justice.

Nuhamin isn’t just leading Unite Oregon as our Interim Executive Director, she is part of the fabric of this organization. She first showed up as a community member in our early days, joining the Pan-Immigrant Leadership and Organizing Training (PILOT) program. That space, built to support immigrant and refugee leaders, was a launchpad for Nuhamin. Since then, she’s worn many hats: Leadership Council member, board member, Coalition Manager, Chapter Director, and eventually Co-Deputy Director. Now, she’s leading the entire organization and doing so with intention, courage, and care.

Nuhamin brings her lived experience as an Ethiopian immigrant, queer Black woman, and long-time Oregonian to everything she does. She moved to the U.S. at 16 as a high school exchange student in Virginia, later attending Portland State University, where she earned her degree in Cultural Anthropology. Through it all, her vision has remained rooted in collective liberation fighting for immigrant rights, racial justice, queer and trans liberation, and the kind of community power that lasts.

Under her leadership, Unite Oregon is doing just that centering queer voices, especially those navigating multiple systems of oppression: Black, Indigenous, immigrant, disabled, low-income, and beyond. As a BIPOC, Queer leader, Nuhamin is not immune to the struggles that many Queer leaders like herself face professionally and personally. 

“Professionally, we want those collective wins for our communities,” she shares. “But learning how to do that without losing ourselves that’s an ongoing process that I am continually learning how to put into practice.” 

Nuhamin also calls out the dangers of complacency. Yes, Oregon is often seen as a progressive state, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over.

“Anti-queer legislation isn’t just happening somewhere else. The hate is real. It’s growing because people are scared of what it means for all of us to live freely, as we are,” she says. “Policy work matters. We need to show up not just locally, but nationally, to push for a future where our rights aren’t constantly under threat.”

At a time when queerness is still being vilified and reproductive rights are on the line, Nuhamin’s voice and vision are essential. Her leadership is about showing up fully, for herself, her community, and the movement. It’s about building teams that thrive, partnerships that last, and a world where no one has to hide who they are to belong.

This Pride Month, we celebrate Nuhamin. We honor her brilliance, her resilience, and her unwavering belief that everyone deserves to live and love freely. And we recommit to doing the work to build a future that holds space for all of us.