Tyler McCoy Gay

Tyler Gay serves as a Policy Research Fellow for the Southern Center for Human Rights. At SCHR, Tyler assists the Public Policy Unit with researching, analyzing, and producing work projects relative to the best practices and reforms to address police violence and the use of force in the city of Atlanta.

Tyler has extensive experience working to mobilize and advocate for marginalized communities across the South. Over the past five years, Tyler has held leadership and community organizing positions in social justice organizations, such as The Feminist Majority Foundation, Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity (URGE), and The Movement for Black Lives.

In addition to Tyler’s public service, he has relevant criminal justice research experience. Currently, Tyler is a 4th-year PhD student of Sociology at Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta, Georgia. Here, he has worked as a Graduate Editorial Fellow for one of the leading urban inequality research journals, City and Community. In addition, Tyler also serves as an Instructor in Georgia State’s Department of Sociology, teaching courses such as Introduction to Social Problems and Introduction to COVID-19 and Systemic Racism.

Tyler also serves as a fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research program. As a fellow, Tyler’s research interests center on psychosocial health disparities towards Black men and sexual and gender minority populations due to police discrimination.