[1][4] On September 17, 1999, during a game at Traverse City, Smith became the first person assigned female at birth to score a varsity touchdown in the State of Michigan.

[9][10] He has also explored the stage, performing stand-up, sketch, and improv comedy as a member of numerous troupes including Gotham City Improv,[citation needed] as well as acting in off-Broadway and regional theater in a handful of plays, including Women Are Crazy Because Men Are A**Holes and Mitch Albom's Duck Hunter Shoots Angel.

[12] Smith became the first black openly trans man in a series regular role on network television when he was cast as firefighter Paul Strickland in FOX's 9-1-1: Lone Star (2020).

[8]In 2018, Ava Duvernay won a GLAAD Excellence in Media Award for her advocacy for inclusion of LGBT people in front of and behind the camera on her projects, particularly for creating Toine Wilkins and casting a transgender actor for the role.

[22] Speaking on his second year of inclusion, Smith said, "My hope is that my visibility can encourage and empower others who want to be their full selves but are afraid or can't see a future for themselves, to take a step towards being who they are.

"[10] Since Queen Sugar, Smith has used his visibility and platforms to advocate for better trans representation in television and film and to encourage LGBTQ youth to create their own media.

[25] During NYC Pride he participated in the GLAAD Game Changers Panel in 2018 with Jamie Clayton and Amiyah Scott to discuss the changing landscape of transgender representation in television.

[27] In August 2018, Smith joined Laverne Cox, Trace Lysette, Jen Richards, Alexandra Billings and Chaz Bono in a Variety magazine's first Transgender in Hollywood Roundtable.

[29] In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named him among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".

[30][31] In July 2021, Smith joined the Human Rights Campaign's Board of Director, the nation's largest LGBT-interest activist organization, to continue to advocate for social and legislative equality and protections for LGBTQ+ people.