Jon-Marc McDonald

Jon-Marc McDonald (born September 20, 1976) is an American-born writer, playwright, political campaign manager and political activist. McDonald gained national attention when, at the age of 21, he simultaneously came out of the closet as a gay man and resigned as campaign manager from the 1998 United States congressional campaign of conservative Republican candidate Brian Babin.

On May 27, 2016, McDonald presented his paper, "''Relatively Conscious: the Enduring Rage of Baldwin and the Education of a White Southern Baptist Queer''," as well as chaired a panel discussion entitled "''Baldwin's Rage and Ethics''" at the annual International James Baldwin Conference in Paris, France. The paper was subsequently published in volume 2 of the ''James Baldwin Review''.

In February 2018, McDonald's play, ''Relatively Conscious'', premiered at the New York Theater Festival in New York City. Described as historical fiction, the play centers around the brutal murder of James Byrd Jr., and includes a character resembling McDonald who also resigns as campaign manager from a fictitious congressional campaign.

McDonald is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. Provided by Wikipedia