2023 Honorees

Amrit Kapai & Nicholas Kouchoukos

Visibility Award

Amrit Kapai (WashU Law '11) is a partner at the law firm Goldstein & McClintock LLLP in Miami, FL, where he specializes in corporate restructuring and litigation, but recently he found another meaningful calling: serving as a voice for the South Asian LGBTQ+ community through his cast member role on Bravo TV's Family Karma alongside Nicholas Kouchoukos, his now husband. 

Nicholas graduated from NYU Steinhardt and is a trained teacher, most recently teaching 4th and 5th grade Spanish Language Arts at a Dual Language school in Chicago Public Schools. 

Amrit has been recognized internationally for this groundbreaking role, earning a spot on the coveted Out 100 list, which recognizes members of the LGBTQ+ community for their trailblazing, ripple-inducing, and culture-shifting impact worldwide. Emory University, his undergraduate alma mater, recognized Amrit in their 2021 class of 40 Under Forty, and he was honored with the Visibility Award by the Human Rights Campaign. Amrit’s emotional, televised coming out to his late grandmother and gay interracial wedding to Nicholas, the first of its kind to appear on national television, was instrumental in Family Karma securing a nomination for Best Outstanding Reality Series at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards and 2023 GLAAD Media Awards, respectively.

Nicholas Hite

Hostetter-Habib Family Award

Although 1 in 3 LGBTQ+ people live in the South, accessing quality LGBTQ+ specific legal representation in a state like Louisiana is challenging. As the founder and Principal of the only openly queer-run, queer-centered law firm — The Hite Law Group — in Louisiana, Nicholas Hite has served over 1,000 clients across 13 parishes in Louisiana and continues to provide leading-edge legal services for LGBTQ+-identified clients, especially adult and child survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

Instrumental in spearheading policy and practice changes for trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming (TGNC) Louisianans making ID corrections more accessible, Nicholas is the sole TGNC-competent legal resource in Louisiana recognized by the Transgender Legal Services Network, Transgender Law Center, and Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

He also serves as a qualified family law mediator, juvenile public defender, co-founder and managing attorney for the non-profit Family Justice Legal Center, and legal counsel for the New Orleans Family Justice Alliance. In 2022, Nicholas was recognized as one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the national LGBTQ+ Bar Association. At a time of increased attacks against LGBTQ+ youth and families—especially in the south—Nicholas’ tireless efforts to support family members as they navigate new legal barriers to healthcare, secure legally recognized parent-child relationships and seek to protect the safety and well-being of their children are more important than ever.