World Record Holder Running Across Nebraska Panhandle To Raise Awareness for LGBTQ+ Community
By William Padmore, Host/Reporter Nebraska Public Media
Oct. 14, 2021, 2:47 p.m. ·
A world record holder, travel journalist, and self-proclaimed adventurer is halfway through running 158 Miles across Nebraska’s panhandle to raise the visibility of LGBTQ+ people.
Mikah Meyer started his run a little over two weeks ago on Nebraska’s South Dakota border and plans to reach the Colorado border on Sunday.
A Lincoln native and son of a pastor, Meyer said he didn’t meet another openly gay man until he left for college.
Before that, all he saw were negative stereotypes.
“So it made it hard for me to feel like I could be myself and that I had a future as a gay person,” Meyer said. “Now that I'm an adult, it's really important to me to be that role model that I never had to show LGBTQ+ youth that they can grow up to be a professional athlete or adventurer or world record-setter.”
Meyer is raising money for Outside Safe Space, a non-profit he founded that asks people to wear a unique symbol resembling a rainbow-colored tree in outdoor and rural places to notify LGBTQ+ that they are welcome.
Meyer said he is scheduled to reach the Colorado-Nebraska border by Sunday. He holds the Guinness World Record for visiting all 419 National Parks in one continuous trip.
Find out more about "Run Across Nebraska"HERE.