Dustin Lance Black is a screenwriter, director, film and television producer and LGBT rights activist. He has won a Writers Guild of America Award and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.

Dustin created the ABC mini-series When We Rise based on the memoirs of LGBT activist Cleve Jones. When We Rise chronicles the personal and political struggles, set-backs, and triumphs of a diverse group of LGBTQ+ individuals who helped pioneer a portion of the civil rights movement from its infancy in the 20th century to the successes of today. The 45-year saga tells the evolving history of the modern gay rights movement, starting just after the Stonewall riots in 1969.