One career that is becoming visibly more GLBT-friendly is politics. From California’s Lavender Caucus to Coronado’s first openly gay councilmember to the first openly lesbian politician in Texas, each year there are more members of the community moving into political office.

This week’s cover model, John Mavar, is just one example. At the age of 26, Mavar just completed a two-year term as honorary mayor of San Pedro. “Four years ago I was involved with the Chamber of Commerce in local politics and I knew that this position was opening up,” he told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “I thought, ‘I’m a young guy and I want to show the community that someone my age can do something productive and give back. So I ran for Honorary Mayor at 22, the youngest candidate ever.’”

Mavar lost the first race, but was encouraged to run again two years later and won, becoming the youngest Honorary Mayor in San Pedro’s history. He is currently finishing his degree in business and plans to get back into politics after receiving his B.A.