Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber
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Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber 

Social Justice Activist 

b. October 20, 1969

“We will never speak for anyone but with everyone.”

Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber is an artist and the founder and chief activist of The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice in Princeton, New Jersey. He has dedicated his career to developing LGBTQ+ support programs.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Seda-Schreiber grew up in East Windsor Township, New Jersey. Named Robert Martin, after Kennedy and King, he credits his parents for his activist bent. He says he “marched for peace and equality with them, whilst still in the womb.” 

Seda-Schreiber began his social-justice work at the height of the AIDS crisis. He founded the Creatures of Awareness Theatre Co., a nonprofit community theater group to raise money for HIV/AIDS. He taught art in the East Windsor Regional School District for 25 years, where he created the first gay-straight alliance (GSA) in a New Jersey middle school. He has helped schools across the nation do the same.

In 2018 Seda-Schreiber founded The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice (BRCSJ). Dedicated to preserving the legacy of the gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, it serves as a community activist hub and educational safe space for LGBTQ+ youth, intersectional families, and other marginalized communities. The BRCSJ provides free therapy and counseling for at-risk kids, plans rallies and events—including Princeton’s first pride parade—and offers programming around subjects such as gender identity, trans health, reproductive rights, and other issues.
 
To connect the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, Seda-Schreiber hosted the Social Justice Power Hour. Its more than 600 shows featured inspirational interviews with local and nationally known figures, including activists, artists, actors, and politicians. 

An internationally recognized visual artist, Seda-Schreiber has created two works featured in “Design For Obama,” a book on permanent display at the Obama Presidential Center. Under the auspices of The BRCSJ, he is currently writing a graphic novel about Bayard Rustin and is partnering with the Tony- and Grammy-winning musician Bryan Carter to create the oratorio "Rustin in Renaissance" at the Lincoln Center in New York.

Among many other honors, Seda-Schreiber has received the Martin Luther King Jr. Champion for Justice award, the Jefferson Award for Public Service, and the Social Justice Activist of the Year award from the NEA. He was honored with two Senate Proclamations recognizing his service as a teacher, along with a Senate Resolution and a U.S. Congressional Proclamation for his work at The BRCSJ.
 
Seda-Schreiber identifies as bisexual. He lives in New Jersey with his partner, Cyndi, a deputy public defender, and his son, Jack Marley, a musician.