Best Activist

Our readers voted in equal measures for these two public service legends. Both leaders bring together disparate groups of people sometimes touting very different agendas with the goal of finding areas of agreement to achieve the greater good. Since the 1970s, Bettie Naylor has served as a working Texas feminist icon striving for human rights amid touchy topics like reproductive rights, fair wages, and the ERA. Naylor was one of the first "out" lesbians to lobby on behalf of gay rights in the Texas legislature and was an original founder of what has become the Human Rights Campaign. You can still find the amazing almost-octogenarian kicking up a ruckus on behalf of the community (Zach Scott, Atticus Circle, ASA, HRC, etc.) today. While no one-trick pony himself, Bill Bunch's name is almost synonymous in folks minds with his No. 1 cause: Save Our Springs. The Alliance's executive director is on a life mission to keep Austin's natural resources clean and pure so that future generations may enjoy their beauty.