PRIDE is commemorated every June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in NewYork City,
when patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn staged an uprising to resist the police
harassment and persecution to which LGBTQ+Americans were commonly subjected.This
uprising marked the beginning of a movement to outlaw discriminatory laws and practices
against LGBTQ+Americans.
This year, I am celebrating PRIDE by sharing bits of our rich history. Every day this month, I
will post a series of profiles highlighting LGBTQ+ icons who have made significant
contributions to society.Take a moment to learn about these scientists, artists, athletes,
activists, business and political leaders whose stories inspire me to live authentically, and
to continue the fight for equity and justice, every day.
Happy PRIDE 2020!
LGBTQ+ ICONS

SYLVIA RIVERA
Sylvia Rivera was a queer, Latina, self-
identified drag queen who fought tirelessly for
transgender rights, as well as for the rights of
gender-nonconforming people. After the
Stonewall riots, where she was said to have
thrown the first brick, Rivera started S.T.A.R.
(StreetTransvestiteAction Revolutionaries), a
group focused on providing shelter and
support to queer, homeless youth. She also
fought against the exclusion of transgender
people in NewYork’s SexualOrientation Non-
DiscriminationAct. She was an activist even
on her deathbed, meeting with the Empire
State Pride Agenda about trans inclusion.
Credit: Valerie Shaff

Credit: MPJ Institute
MARSHA P. JOHNSON
Marsha P. Johnson was a Black trans
woman, a sex worker, and an activist
who spent much of her life fighting for
equality. She served as a mother figure
to the drag queens, trans women, and
homeless youth of Christopher Street in
NewYork City. She was alongside Sylvia
Rivera at the beginning of the Stonewall
riots, and together they founded
S.T.A.R. Johnson was a central figure in
the beginning of the gay liberation
movement of the 1970s in the United
States.

ALICIA GARZA
“It was July 2013 when the world encountered a
brilliant, powerful assemblage of words that would
come to define a generation. Alicia Garza gifted Black
millennials the rallying cry #BlackLivesMatter in the
aftermath of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the
murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. She unleashed
the power of digital activism to create a movement and
revealed to us that a hashtag, a post, an image, and a
video shared online could change the course of history.
Before joining forces with community organizers
Patrisse Cullors-Khan and Opal Tometi, Alicia’s work
had already spanned nearly two decades. Drawing
inspiration from her childhood growing up in a
household with a single mother, the lifelong
began her early work with an emphasis on
justice. Since then, she has been able to see how the
pieces of seemingly disparate issues like economic
justice, students’ rights, and police brutality are all
intertwined in the fight against state violence.”
— Raquel Willis, Out Executive Editor
Credit: Jessica Chou

GILBERT BAKER
Political activist, designer and flag-maker Gilbert
Baker created the Rainbow Flag in 1978. Until then,
the pink triangle had been the symbol for the gay
movement. But it represented a dark chapter in the
history of same-sex rights, as Adolph Hitler conceived
the pink triangle during WWII as a stigma placed on
homosexuals in the same way the Star of David was
used against Jews. Baker and many others felt that we
needed something that was positive, that celebrated
our love. “The rainbow came from earliest recorded
history as a symbol of hope. In the Book of Genesis, it
appeared as proof of a covenant between God and all
living creatures. It was also found in Chinese, Egyptian
and Native American history," said Baker. "A Rainbow
Flag would be our modern alternative to the pink
triangle. Now the rioters who claimed their freedom at
at the Stonewall Bar in 1969 would have their own
symbol of liberation.”
Credit: Spencer Platt

BRENDA HOWARD
“A month after the [Stonewall] riots ended,
New York City saw one of the country’s
public marches where [LGBTQ+] people
proudly, publicly claimed their identities:
The Christopher Street Liberation Day
March. The parade influenced other cities
around the world, laying the groundwork
for Pride parades internationally. And
Stonewall has become an iconic moment in
our collective history, many are unaware
that the first Pride parade, the Liberation
Day March, was organized by a bisexual
woman. A year later, the same woman
coordinated the one-year anniversary of
the Christopher Street Liberation Day
march, sparking what would become a
lifelong passion for the late Brenda
Howard.”
– Eliel Cruz
Credit: Efrain Gonzalez

HARVEY MILK
Harvey Milk believed that government
should represent individuals and ensure
equality for all citizens while providing
needed services. He encouraged the
participation of LGBTQ+ people and other
minorities in the political process. The more
gay people came out of the closet, he
believed, the more their families and friends
would support protections for their equal
rights. In the years since Milk’s
assassination, public opinion has shifted on
gay marriage, gays in the military, and other
issues, and there have been hundreds of
openly LGBTQ+ public officials in America.
Yet, the work continues.
Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

JAMES BALDWIN
James Arthur Baldwin was an American
novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.
activist. His essays, as collected in Notes of a
Native Son, explore intricacies of racial, sexual,
sexual, and class distinctions in Western
societies, but most notably in mid-20th century
US. With his second novel, Giovanni’s Room, he
courted controversy because of its explicit
depictions of homosexuality, prompting him to
first publish it abroad. And although the Civil
Rights Act was passed less than a decade later,
white supremacy in the form of state-
sanctioned violence, spatial segregation, and
the war on drugs was still king — and the
promise of freedom from oppression, Baldwin
understood, was not yet complete. This made
his socio-political interventions, especially at
the intersection of queerness and Blackness, all
the more audacious as he linked the struggles
of communities once thought to be in
opposition.
Credit: Richard Avedon

LENA WAITHE
Actor, writer and proud lesbian Lena
Waithe is currently on a roll —
recently inked an overall deal with
Amazon to produce the upcoming
horror anthology Them, amongst
other original series for the online
streaming platform. Besides being the
the first Black woman to win the
outstanding writing for a comedy
series Emmy for Netflix’s Master of
None, Waithe has created and
executive produced successful shows
such as drama series The Chi on
Showtime and BET’s Boomerang.
Credit: Cara Robbins

LARRY KRAMER
Four years after AIDS first made headlines,
more than 6,000 Americans had already died.
Yet the budget for AIDS research was a fraction
of what the U.S. government spent on diseases
that were far less threatening. President Ronald
Reagan had yet to even say the word AIDS in
public. Angered by this inaction that was
primarily killing people in the LGBTQ+
community, Larry Kramer founded the AIDS
Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), an
influential direct action protest organization
aiming to gain more public action to fight the
AIDS crisis. ACT UP ultimately forced the
government and the scientific community to
fundamentally change the way medical
research is conducted — paving the way for the
discovery of a treatment that today keeps alive
an estimated half-million HIV-positive
Americans and millions more worldwide.
Credit: Robert Giard

GAVIN GRIMM
Gavin Grimm is a student
and transgender rights
activist who became famous
for the lawsuit fighting the
bathroom laws of his former
high school in Gloucester,
Virginia. He has become a
national face for transgender
students and currently
resides in California.
Credit: Scout Tufankjian

BAYARD RUSTIN
Bayard Rustin was a close friend and
advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
the organizer of the 1963 March on
Washington. However, because he was
an openly gay man, he did not receive
wide recognition for his integral role in
the civil rights movement. Rustin’s
sexuality was used against him and Dr.
King by opposing parties, who
threatened to spread lies about their
relationship. This forced Rustin to work
in the shadows to prevent bringing
further controversy to both Dr. King and
the March on Washington. Despite this,
Rustin still remained a political and gay
activist, working to bring the AIDS crisis
to the NAACP’s attention.
Credit: Eddie Adams

WILLIAM DORSEY SWANN
Born in Maryland around 1858, William Dorsey Swann
endured slavery, the Civil War, racism, police surveillance,
torture behind bars, and many other injustices. But
beginning in the 1880s, he not only became the first
American activist to lead a queer resistance group; he also
became, in the same decade, the first known person to dub
himself a “queen of drag”—or, more familiarly, a drag
queen. During that time, Swann organized a series of balls
in Washington, D.C., where men who were former slaves
would gather to dance in their satin and silk dresses. Years
later, these events would inspire the “ball culture,” an
underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in 1920s
New York City, in which people "walk" for trophies, prizes,
and glory at events known as balls. This important part of
the our LGBTQ+ history inspired the documentary Paris Is
Burning, FX’s Pose and, more recently, HBOMax’s
Legendary.
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ALPHONSO DAVID
Alphonso David became the first
person of color to lead the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the
country’s largest LGBTQ+ rights
group. He was also the first Black
and openly gay man to serve as
chief counsel to the governor of
New York. During his time as a
staff attorney for Lambda Legal in
the mid-2000s, David also worked
on New York’s first marriage
equality case, Hernandez v. Robles.
Credit: HRC

SHERYL SWOOPES
Sheryl Swoopes was one of the first
first women to be drafted into the
WNBA, and she has three Olympic
gold medals. More notably, some
refer to her as the Michael Jordan
of the WNBA. In 2005, she came
out as gay. "I was at a point in my
life where I am just tired of having
to pretend to be somebody I am
not," Swoopes told The New York
Times. "I was basically living a lie.
lie. For the last seven, eight years, I
was waiting to exhale." Swoopes
retired from the sport in 2011.
Credit: Bill Baptist

BRIAN SIMS
Brian Sims is a Democratic member of the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He is also
also a lawyer and an activist on LGBTQ+ civil
rights. Sims is the first openly gay elected state
legislator in Pennsylvania history. The son of two
retired Army lieutenant colonels, Sims came out
to his football team after helping to lead them to
the Division II national championship game as
their captain. He remains the only former NCAA
football captain to have ever come out, and is
one of the most notable collegiate athletes to do
so in any sport. He is dedicated to making
Philadelphia safer, strengthening and protecting
public education, preserving services for seniors
and other vulnerable Pennsylvanians, making
affordable health care more available, expanding
expanding civil rights for all Pennsylvanians,
preserving our environment while investing in
alternative energy, creating jobs and cleaning up
Harrisburg.
Credit: NBC News

RUPAUL
The multi-talented RuPaul burst onto our screens in
2009 with the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race —
popular reality show in which drag queens compete
for the title of America’s next drag superstar, as well
as a cash prize. Since then, RuPaul Andre Charles
has produced and hosted the reality competition
series, for which he has received six Primetime
Emmy Awards. Considered to be the most
commercially successful drag queen in the United
States, RuPaul has been credited with creating wider
wider exposure for drag queens and LGBTQ+
into mainstream society. In 1999, RuPaul was
awarded the Vito Russo Award at the GLAAD Media
Awards for work in promoting equality in the
LGBTQ+ community. In 2017, he was included in
annual Time 100 list of the most influential people
the world.
Credit: Press

MARK FINLEY
Mark Finley has been the Artistic Director of The
Other Side of Silence (TOSOS) since its revival in
2002. NYC’s oldest and longest-producing
LGBTQ+ theater company, TOSOS is “dedicated to
to an honest and open exploration of the life
experience and cultural sensibility of the LGBTQ+
community, and to preserving and promoting our
literary past in a determined effort to keep our
theatrical heritage alive.” Finley has directed many
many of its acclaimed and award-winning
productions, including Doric Wilson’s A Perfect
Relationship (OOBR award). He made his off-
off-Broadway directorial debut with Chris
Penny Penniworth. His work has been seen locally,
locally, regionally and internationally. Finley is
an actor, an author and a graduate of the
University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

CHRIS E.VARGAS
Chris E.Vargas is the Executive Director of the Museum
ofTransgender History & Art (MOTHA), an arts and
history institution highlighting the contributions of trans
art to the cultural and political landscape.Vargas is also
a video maker and interdisciplinary artist. His work
explores the complex ways that queer and trans people
negotiate spaces for themselves within historical and
institutional memory and popular culture. He earned his
MFA in the department of Art Practice from the
University of California, Berkeley. From 2008-2013, in
collaboration with GregYoumans, he made the web-
based trans/cisgender sitcom Falling In Love...with Chris
and Greg. Episodes of the series have screened at
at numerous film festivals and art venues, including MIX
NYC, SF Camerawork, and theTate Modern.With Eric
Stanley,Vargas co-directed the movie Homotopia (2006)
and its feature-length sequel Criminal Queers (2015)
which have been screened at Palais deTokyo, LACE,
Centre for ContemporaryArtsGlasgow, and the New
Museum, among other venues.

CAMDEN ADOR
Camden is a trans person and visual
artist. After serving in the US Navy,
he moved to NYC to pursue a degree
in visual arts with a concentration in
photography. Right now his focus is
in LGBTQ+ portraiture and
exploring, through photography, the
many facets of sexual and gender
identity. He hopes his work
continues to not only challenge
society’s obsession with gender but
also to provide a source of
education, showing that identity
goes far beyond the binary.

RENATO BARUCCO
Renato Barucco is a writer and public health
advocate who coordinates research studies on
gender and sexuality at Columbia University. He
has extensive experience implementing and
managing transgender health programs in
underserved New York City neighborhoods,
including the development of HIV/AIDS
education and cultural competency training
curricula. Barucco was the recipient of the 2013
George Washington University School of Public
Health and Health Services Geiger Gibson
Emerging Leader award. His work has appeared
or is forthcoming in Not One of Us, Storyscape
Literary Journal, Adelaide Literary Magazine, and

AIMEE STEPHENS
Aimee Stephens was the first
transgender person whose civil rights
case was heard by the Supreme Court,
according to the American Civil
Liberties Union, which represented her.
Her case concerns the question of
whether federal law prohibiting
employment discrimination applies to
transgender employees. "If you're part
of the human race, which we all are,
all deserve the same basic rights,”
Stephens said. “We're not asking for
anything special. We're just asking to
be treated like other people are."
Credit: Paul Sancya

RYAN O’CONNELL
Actor-writer Ryan O'Connell stars in
Special, a semi-autobiographical series
series based on his memoir. He plays
Ryan, a gay man with cerebral palsy
who decides to do away with his
identity as an accident victim and go
after the life that he wants. After years
of dead-end internships, blogging in
his pajamas and mainly
communicating through text, Ryan
figures out how to take his life from
bleak to chic as he gets ready to start
limping toward adulthood. O'Connell
serves as an executive producer on the
comedy series, along with The Big
Bang Theory star Jim Parsons.

LINDSAY CHURCH
Lindsay Church is the Executive Director and co-
founder of Minority Veterans of America. After
serving in the Navy as a linguist as an LGBTQ+
service member under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,”
Church was medically retired in 2012. She began
her work with veterans in 2014 and has since
worked in higher education, traditional veteran
service organizations, congressional advocacy,
and more. Despite taking great pride in her work,
through the years, she noticed that there were
many people being left out of the veteran
community. In 2017, Church resigned her
as the Commander of an American Legion post to,
to, along with co-founder Katherine Pratt, start
the Minority Veterans of America (MVA), an
organization dedicated to creating community
belonging and advancing equity for minority
veterans. The primary communities MVA serves
are veterans of color, women, LGBTQ+, and
(non)religious minority veterans.
Credit: MVA

FRIDA KAHLO
Frida Kahlo was a gifted painter who
was openly bisexual. She used her
medium to depict taboo topics, like
female sexuality, pain, and feminine
beauty standards, primarily through
self-portraits. She also honored
indigenous Mexican culture through
her art, which drew the attention of
Mexican painter Diego Rivera.
Rivera became her patron and the
two eventually married. During their
marriage, Kahlo was known to have
affairs with men and women,
including Josephine Baker and Leon
Trotsky.
Credit: Imogen Cunningham

ANNE KRONENBERG
Anne Kronenberg is an American political
administrator and LGBTQ+ rights activist who
is best known for being Harvey Milk's
campaign manager during his historic San
Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign in
1977, and his aide as he held that office until
he and mayor George Moscone were
assassinated.As an openly lesbian political
activist, Kronenberg was noted for her
instrumental role in the gay rights movement,
both for Milk's campaign and in her own right.
In 2018, Kronenberg retired from her post as
the executive director of the San Francisco
Department of Emergency Management. She
is known globally through her public
appearances in her role as co-founder of the
Harvey Milk Foundation.
Credit: Joyce Garay

DAVID HOCKNEY
Artist David Hockney's career flourished
in the 1960s and 1970s, when he flitted
between London and California, where
he enjoyed an openly gay lifestyle with
friends like Andy Warhol and
Isherwood. Much of his work, including
the famous Pool Paintings, featured
explicitly gay imagery and themes. In
1963, he painted two men together in the
painting ‘Domestic Scene, Los Angeles,’
one showering while the other washes
his back. He is considered one of the most
most influential British artists of the 20th
century.
Credit: Andy Warhol

PATRICIO MANUEL
Patricio Manuel started boxing
professionally as a woman in the early
2000s and made a name for himself,
becoming a USA National Amateur
Boxing Champion. When he
transitioned and came out as trans, he
lost his coach and his gym in the
process. "It hurt a lot … gyms are our
safe space," Manuel told The Guardian.
"To have someone basically say you
can be here, but no one can know
you're here, I don't live my life like
that. I will never compromise who I
to make someone feel comfortable." In
In 2018, Manuel fought Hugo Aguilar
in a professional match, and he won,
becoming the first openly transgender
boxer in the US.
Credit: Everlast

MORGANA BAILEY
After hiding her true self for 16 years, Morgana
Bailey came out in a TED Talk sponsored by her
internationally-reputed employer in front of an
audience of her co-workers. Overnight, she
became a human resources and human rights
activist. In her brave TED Talk, Bailey uttered four
words that had been paralyzing to her, “I am a
lesbian.” But why speak up? Because she realized
that her silence had personal, professional and
societal consequences. As a global HR leader, Bailey
Bailey collaborates with people across her
organization as corporate policies, regulatory
requirements and related employee data
requirements continually evolve. Her career
experiences have confirmed that the only constant
is change, and one’s ability (or inability) to adapt
can generate profound long-term outcomes. “I
want to see the diversity of society reflected in the
workplace.”
Credit: TED

INDYA MOORE
Indya Moore started as a model, but they really
made a name for themselves when they were
cast as Angel on FX's Pose. As a trans and non-
binary person, they became a mainstream
success, booking even more modeling gigs and
eventually becoming Elle's first trans cover
model. In that cover story, Moore said activism is
one of the most important parts of their life.
"When I'm around people having conversations
about their day, I'm looking at them, like, 'What
could they possibly be talking about? How are
we not talking about deconstructing white
supremacy right now? How are we not trying to
save trans people?'" Moore told Elle. "I don't
know who I am outside of someone who's just
trying to be free and find safety for myself and
for others."
Credit: Thomas Whiteside

ROB SMITH
Rob Smith grew up as a young boy who was a little
feminine, rather artistic, and very sensitive. And
that side did not fit squarely into the norms and
expectations of society. So, he decided to suppress
suppress his unique personality and manifest an
entirely different version of himself. Why? Because
it was easier to be the cool kid rather than the
isolated one. Fast forward 30 years: Rob is the
Founder of The Phluid Project: The first retail
brand that does not stick to the binary definition of
of gender — and is on a mission to build a brand
that exists to empower individuals to express
themselves openly, without judgment or fear.

ERIN URITUS
Erin Uritus is the CEO of Out & Equal, the
premier organization working exclusively
on LGBTQ+ workplace equality. Through
worldwide programs, Fortune 500
partnerships, and annual Workplace
Summit conference, Out & Equal helps
LGBTQ+ people thrive and support
organizations creating a culture of
belonging for all. Throughout her entire
career, Uritus has worked to help mission-
driven organizations and their staff partner
with and energize stakeholders to achieve
extraordinary impact, navigate through
historical challenges and opportunities, and
and become healthier and happier along
the way.

WILFRED OWEN
Wilfred Owen was one of the leading poets of WWI.
Through fellow soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon,
Owen was introduced to a sophisticated
homosexual literary circle which broadened his
outlook and increased his confidence in
incorporating homoerotic elements into his work,
including a reference to Shadwell Stair, a popular
cruising spot for gay men in the early 20th Century.
Sassoon and Owen kept in touch during the war
in 1918 they spent an afternoon together. Three
weeks later, Owen bid farewell to Sassoon as he was
on the way back to France. Sassoon waited for word
from Owen but was told that he was killed in action
exactly one week before the signing of the Armistice
Armistice which ended the war. He was only 25.
Throughout his life and for decades after, accounts
of his sexuality were obscured by his brother,
Harold, who had removed any discreditable
passages in Owen’s letters and diaries after the
death of their mother.

FRANCES FREI
A professor at the Harvard Business
School, Frances Frei formerly served as
Uber's first SVP of leadership and strategy.
strategy. Her work at Uber focused on
building a world-class leadership team,
fostering leadership at all levels of the
organization, and guiding the clear
articulation of strategy and planning. Frei
has been central to Uber’s cultural
transformation. Her research examines
how leaders create the context for
organizations and individuals to thrive.
She is the best-selling author of
Uncommon Service: How to Win by
Putting Customers at the Core of Your
Your Business. She received her PhD from
from the Wharton School.

TROY PERRY
In 1968, Reverend Troy Perry
founded the Metropolitan
Community Church in Los
Angeles, one of the first to
specifically minister to LGBTQ+
people. He has become an
internationally recognized
spiritual leader and one of the
world's leading activists for the
civil rights of LGBTQ+ people. In
1984, Rev. Perry completed a one-
hour video on the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan
Community Churches, titled "God
Gays & The Gospel: This Is Our
Story" which is available for
broadcast on local public access
stations.

DEREK JARMAN
Derek Jarman was an English film director,
stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener, and
author. For a generation he was a hugely
influential, high-profile figure at a time when
there very few famous out gay men. His art
was an extension of his social and personal life
and he used his platform as a campaigner and
created a unique body of inspiring work. He
founded the organization at the London
Lesbian and Gay Centre at Cowcross Street,
attending meetings and making contributions.
Jarman participated in some of the best-known
known protests including the march on
Parliament in 1992. In 1986, he was diagnosed
as HIV-positive and discussed his condition in
public. In 1994, he died of an AIDS-related
illness in London.
Credit: Howard Sooley

LILI ELBE
Lili Elbe was a Danish transgender woman who
was among the early recipients of gender
reassignment surgery. Born Einar Magnus
Wegener, Lili was a successful painter under that
name. During this time, she also presented as Lili
and was introduced publicly as Einar's sister. In
1930, Elbe went to Germany for gender
reassignment surgery, which was highly
experimental at the time. A series of four
operations were carried out over a period of two
years. After successfully transitioning, she
changed her legal name to Lili Ilse Elvenes and
stopped painting altogether. The name Lili Elbe
was given to her by Copenhagen journalist Louise
Lassen. Lili’s life was brought to the big screen in
the 2015 movie The Danish Girl.

TIM COOK
American business executive and
industrial engineer Timothy Donald
Cook is the chief executive officer of
of Apple, and previously served as
the company's chief operating
officer under its cofounder Steve
Jobs. In 2014, Cook became the first
chief executive of a Fortune 500
company to publicly come out as
gay. Cook also serves on the boards
of directors of Nike, Inc., the
National Football Foundation, and is
is a trustee of Duke University. In
March 2015, he said he planned to
donate his entire stock fortune to
charity.
Credit: Apple

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Florence Nightingale was a British social
reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern
modern nursing. She came to prominence while
serving as a manager and trainer of nurses
during the Crimean War, in which she
care for wounded soldiers. Nightingale also
loved three women passionately, according to
1993 book Superstars: Twelve Lesbians Who
Changed the World. This reportedly included
included her cousin, Marianna Nicholson. The
19th century British icon was apparently so in
love with Marianna that she pretended to be her
brother Henry in order to avoid the judgment of
others. Nightingale, who never married, also
enjoyed intimate relationships with her aunt Mai
and cousin Hilary.

ERNESTINE ECKSTEIN
Ernestine Eckstein was an African
American woman who helped steer the US
US LGBTQ+ rights movement during the
1960s. As a leader in the New York
of Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), her
influence helped the DOB move away
from negotiating with medical
professionals and towards tactics of public
demonstrations. Her understanding of,
and work in, the civil rights movement
lent valuable experience on public protest
to the lesbian and gay movement. In the
1970s she became involved in the Black
feminist movement, in particular the
organization Black Women Organized for
Action (BWOA).
Credit: Kay Tobin

ANDY WARHOL
Andy Warhol was an American artist, director
and producer who was a leading figure in the
visual art movement known as Pop Art. He
lived openly as a gay man before the gay
liberation movement. In an interview in 1980,
he indicated that he was still a virgin but in
1960 he received hospital treatment for
condylomata, a sexually transmitted disease.
Throughout his career, Warhol produced erotic
photography and drawings of male nudes.
Many of his most famous works draw from gay
underground culture or openly explore the
complexity of sexuality and desire. The first
works that Warhol submitted to a fine art
gallery, homoerotic drawings of male nudes,
were rejected for being too openly gay. After
gallbladder surgery, Warhol died of cardiac
arrhythmia in 1987. His work sells for
of millions of dollars.

THOMAS PAGE MCBEE
Thomas Page McBee is an author, film and TV
writer, reporter, and “questioner of masculinity.”
His Lambda award-winning debut memoir, Man
Alive, was named best book of the year by NPR
Books, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, and Publisher's Weekly.
His “refreshing [and] radical” follow-up, Amateur,
explores the vexed relationship between
masculinity and violence with a beginner’s mind.
In the course of reporting the book, McBee
became the first transgender man to ever fight in
Madison Square Garden. Amateur was shortlisted
for the UK’s Baillie-Gifford nonfiction book prize
and the Wellcome Book Prize, named a best book
of 2018 by many publications, and translated into
multiple languages. McBee speaks internationally
on the intersection of gender and culture. He
lives in Los Angeles with his wife.
Credit: Michael Sharkey

SELMA LAGERLÖF
Selma Lagerlöf was the first female writer to ever be
awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she won in
1909. In 1992, the Swedish author’s letters to her Jewish
lover and fellow writer, Sophie Elkan, were published in a
book, Du lär mig att bli fri. This Swedish title translates to:
“You teach me to be free.” The women started a relationship
relationship after meeting in 1894, and stayed together
until Elkan died in 1921, writing thousands of letters to
other in the meantime. In one of these, Lagerlöf tells her
beloved: “I have you with me everywhere, see you and hear
you and live with you. Once I can’t do that anymore, I will
long for you. In any case, I can’t thank you enough for these
past days.” Lagerlöf was also the first woman to ever feature
feature on a Swedish banknote, gracing the 20 kronor note
when it was created in 1991.

HUNTER SCHAFER
Hunter Schafer's only acting credit to
date is her role as Jules on HBO's
Euphoria. Though her acting resume is
resume is small, it's impactful. Her
character is one of the only trans
characters onTV that doesn't actually
struggle with her identity. "There
need to be more roles where trans
people aren't just dealing with being
trans; they're being trans while
dealing with other issues," Schafer
told Variety. "We're so much more
complex than just one identity."
Credit: Dan Wong

JASON PAUL COLLINS
In 2013, Jason Paul Collins made history when he
became the first person to openly come out in any of the
the four major professional sports. When he was a
Washington Wizards center, he broke the news in an
article in Sports Illustrated, writing, "I'm a 34-year-old
NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. I didn't set out to be
the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American
team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the
conversation," he said. "I wish I wasn't the kid in the
classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If
had my way, someone else would have already done
this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."
The following year, Collins retired from the NBA after
13 seasons in the league.

FRANK KAMENY
One of the earliest gay rights
activists, Frank Kameny is known
today for protesting after being fired
from a US government job for being
gay. He led an "Annual Reminder"
picket protest for gay rights in
Philadelphia until 1969. He was
active in the Mattachine Society of
Washington, DC, and he and
Gittings were active in persuading
the American Psychiatric Association
to delist homosexuality as mental
disorder in 1973.
Credit: Chuck Kennedy

PHYLLIS LYON & DEL MARTIN
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin
and Phyllis Ann Lyon were an American
lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-
rights activists. They had been together
for three years when they cofounded the
Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in San Francisco
in 1955, which became the first social and
political organization for lesbians in the
United States. They both acted as
president and editor of The Ladder until
1963, and remained involved in the DOB
until joining the National Organization for
Women (NOW) as the first lesbian couple
to do so.
Credit: Clem Albers

SELISSE BERRY
Selisse Berry is the founder of Out & Equal, an
LGBTQ+ workplace equality non-profit organization
that provides training and resources to LGBTQ+
employees and corporations alike through advocacy,
training programs and events. Under her leadership,
the organization grew with dramatic increases in
attendance at the annual Workplace Summit and the
expansion of programs and global initiatives. Berry’s
clear and unwavering vision has been instrumental
creating an international organization whose
philosophy reflects the importance of treating all
colleagues in the workplace with respect and dignity.
Since her first job as a guidance counselor, Berry has
continued her commitment to justice as a teacher
and as a leader of several social service organizations.
organizations. She has master’s degrees in education
and theology from the University of Texas and San
Francisco Theological Seminary, respectively. Berry
and her wife, Cynthia Martin, were legally married
California in 2008.
Credit: Todd Johnson

ORLANDO CRUZ
In 2012, Orlando Cruz, a professional
boxer from Puerto Rico, announced he
was gay. “I don't want to hide any of my
identities," he told ESPN. "I want people to
to look at me for the human being that I
am. I am a professional sportsman that
always brings his best to the ring. I want
for people to continue to see me for my
boxing skills, my character, my
sportsmanship. But I also want kids who
suffer from bullying to know that you can
be whoever you want to be in life,
including a professional boxer, that
anything is possible and that who you are
or whom you love should not be an
impediment to achieving anything in life."
In 2016, he dedicated a match to the
victims of the gay nightclub shooting at
Pulse in Orlando, Florida.

FALLON FOX
In 2013, Fallon Fox came out in a series of
interviews for Sports Illustrated and Outsports,
becoming the first transgender woman in
MMA fighting history. But her coming out did
not go well. Instead, it sparked widespread
criticism and controversy, leaving many to
question if she should be allowed to fight cis
women. "It took me about a year to
understand and to feel the support from the
transgender community," Fox told The
Guardian. "Because heck, they're scared.
scared. Some of them support me, but they're
scared of showing up at my fights because of
this. But I did have a fight where people came
to support me and that's all I needed. I
needed to know for certain that I had
someone I was fighting for besides myself."
Credit: Vince Wasseluk

MEGAN SMITH
A few years into President Obama’s second term, Megan
Smith left a cushy executive role at Google to become the
country’s third Chief Technology Officer (CTO), a position
Obama created when he first took office. Smith was the
first woman in that role. While there, she helped
spearhead initiatives such as TechHire, which aimed to
develop new tech talent in rural communities, and
Computer Science for All, which increased federal
and encouraged state and local leaders to invest in
improving computer science training for K-12 students.
Google, Smith started the group Women Techmakers and
supported a number of other diversity and inclusion
initiatives—an echo of her earlier work as the CEO of
PlanetOut, a media company for the LGBTQ+ community
that used to own Out magazine and The Advocate. These
days, Smith is at the helm of Shift7, a company working to
address systemic social, environmental, and economic
problems by bringing together tech innovators across the
world.
Credit: Ariel Zambelich

TITUSS BURGESS
Tituss Burgess is an American actor
and singer who has appeared in
numerous Broadway musicals and is
known for his high tenor voice. He is
best known for starring as Titus
Andromedon on the Netflix comedy
series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,
for which he has received four
consecutive Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a
Comedy Series nominations. He
received the HRC Visibility Award at
the 2015 St. Louis Gala.
Credit: Jeff Mills

RYAN MURPHY
Ryan Patrick Murphy is an American screenwriter,
director, and producer who is best known for creating
producing a number of television series, such as Nip/Tuck,
Glee, American Horror Story, Scream Queens, Pose, 9-1-
Credit: Jesse Cramer

MJ RODRIGUEZ
Before landing her role on Pose, MJ Rodriguez
appeared in shows like Nurse Jackie and The
Diaries. But it's her role as Blanca Rodriguez on
Rodriguez on Pose that really catapulted her into
the spotlight. Rodriguez told Metro that she sees
this newfound attention as an opportunity to
represent the trans community. "[It's] invigorating
in a way we get to be ourselves and live out loud.
Intimidating because there are so many things that
that come our way. And with what we have to deal
with and the responsibilities that we have, [it] can
be a little overwhelming," she told Metro. "Just
making sure that we speak for our community in
the right way and that we do the work that needs
to be done that a lot of people out there aren't
doing. Whether through our craft or speaking on a
platform that we need to be speaking on."
Credit: Getty

CHELLA MAN
Chella Man, a prominent Jewish-Chinese
YouTuber and actor who played superhero
Jericho in the DC Universe series Titans, is
known for sharing his experiences being
transgender, Deaf and genderqueer. He’s also
given a powerful talk at a TedX Conference
called “Becoming Him” and is an outspoken
activist for changing the disparity of roles in
Hollywood for both disabled and transgender
actors. He uses his Instagram as a platform for
for acknowledging others identifying as trans
and/or disabled and sharing sweet, sometimes
sometimes sexually empowering photos of
himself and his girlfriend, photographer and
performance artist MaryV Benoit.
Credit: Ryan Duffin

JUSTIN HALL
Justin Hall is an American cartoonist and educator who has
written and illustrated autobiographical and erotic comics.
He edited the Lambda Literary Award-winning, Eisner-
nominated No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics,
which he’s now producing as a feature-length documentary
film. Most recently, he conceived and co-edited the
anthology Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers. Hall
curated the world’s first museum show of LGBTQ+ comics at
the S.F. Cartoon Art Museum, as well as co-curated the
largest such show at the Schwules Museum in Berlin. He is
the first Fulbright Scholar of Comics, an Associate Professor
of Comics at California College of the Arts, and the co-
organizer of the Queers & Comics Conference. Hall is on the
boards of the non-profits Prism Comics (supporting LGBTQ+
comics) and Siewphewyeung/Our Books (supporting
Cambodian comics), and has written chapters on both
LGBTQ+ comics and erotic comics for the Routledge
Companion to Comics and the Cambridge History of the
of the Graphic Novel.

LEANNE PITTSFORD
It’s no secret that tech has a gender diversity issue, but
recruiting efforts often overlook an important segment of
of women: members of the LGBTQ+ community. Leanne
Pittsford is fighting daily to change that. In 2012, she
founded Lesbians Who Tech & Allies to create
networking opportunities and increase visibility for
queer women in the industry. Today the group is the
largest LGBTQ+ community of technologists in the world,
world, with 60,000 members and 40-plus city chapters.
Lesbians Who Tech & Allies helps further the careers of
its members through scholarships, mentoring, and
leadership programs. Its annual San Francisco Summit
draws more than 6,000 women, nonbinary people, and
allies. It’s also the largest event for women in tech in
California. In 2017, Pittsford expanded her mission by
creating the job-listing and networking platform
To date, Lesbians Who Tech has connected diverse talent
with more than 600,000 open jobs.

NANCY CÁRDENAS
Playwright and director Nancy
Cárdenas is thought to be one of the
first Mexican people to openly come
out on television. Much of her work
revolved around her lesbian identity,
writing collections of poetry and
plays addressing gay and lesbian
themes. Cárdenas was also an activist
activist who helped start the fight
against gay prejudice in Mexico and
fought for equal rights for everyone,
no matter their sexuality.

SIMON NKOLI
Simon Nkoli is seen by many as the
central hero of the gay and lesbian
struggle in South Africa. He was an
apartheid, gay rights, and HIV/AIDS
activist who founded the Gay and
Lesbian Organisation of the
Witwatersrand (GLOW). In 1990, Nkoli
and GLOW organized the first Pride
March in Johannesburg. They also
played an integral role in convincing
African National Congress, South
Africa’s ruling political party, to
recognize gay and lesbian rights in the
country. Five years later, Nkoli declared
his HIV positive status and began
working to destigmatize HIV/AIDS.

IFTI NASIM
Ifti Nasim was a gay Pakistani poet
who moved to the United States to
avoid persecution for his sexuality.
His collection of poems, Narman, is
thought to be the first gay-themed
book of poetry written and published
in Urdu. He also founded
SANGAT/Chicago, an organization
which supported the South Asian
LGBTQ community. Nasim was
honored in 1996 by being inducted
into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall
of Fame.

JÓHANNA SIGURÐARDÓTTIR
Former Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ leader of a nation,
but to many of her constituents she was just another leader.
“Most Icelanders saw nothing unusual about a lesbian prime
minister,” writesTrudy Ring for The Advocate.The country
had repealed laws against gay sex in 1940, when it was a
dependency of Denmark. In 1996 it became one of the first
nations in the world to establish civil partnerships for same-
sex couples. In 2006 it followed up by approving adoption
rights for gay and lesbian couples. In 2010, a year into
Sigurdardóttir’s tenure as prime minister, Iceland passed a
marriage equality law. She and her partner, author Jonina
Leosdóttir, were one of the first couples to take advantage
of it.The women, both divorced mothers, had been in a civil
partnership since 2002. Sigurðardóttir left office in 2013.

MISS MAJOR GRIFFIN-GRACY
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy has dedicated 50 years of
her life to organizing for trans women of color. She
is a veteran of the Stonewall riots, a survivor of
AtticaCorrectional Facility, and the founding
executive director ofTransgender,GenderVariant,
Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), a nonprofit that
centers and supports trans, gender-
nonconforming, and intersex people in and out of
prisons, jails, and detention centers.A few years
ago, Griffin-Gracy moved from the comfort of
home in San Francisco toArkansas, where she
heard a call to help the trans community build a
stronger movement. In Little Rock, she’s building
the Griffin-Gracy Education Retreat and Historical
Center, lovingly known as the House of GG.
Credit: Mickalene Thomas

CARLOS HUBER
Carlos Huber is a Mexican architect
and perfumer who is greatly
inspired by historical objects and
buildings such as the Palace of
Versailles and the works of
Theodore Gericault. Huber moved
to New York in 2006 to study
historic preservation at Columbia
University. Recently, he launched
Arquiste, a line of perfumes that
reflects his love for historical
elements.
Credit: Arquiste

BILLIE JEAN KING
Billie Jean King is one of the most
famous names in professional tennis.
Over the course of her career, she
earned 39 Gram Slam titles from
1966 to 1975. She also beat Bobby
Riggs in the famous "Battle of the
Sexes" match. In 1981, King was
outed as a lesbian, and her publicists
told her to deny the claim. "I said: 'I'm
going to do it. I don't care. This is
important to me to tell the truth.'"
King told NBC News 44 years later.
"The one thing my mother always
said, 'To thine own self be true.'"
Credit: AP

RICKY MARTIN
Enrique Martín Morales, better known as Ricky
Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, actor, and author
who is known as the "King of Latin Pop." Once
evasive about his private life, Martin came out in
2010 on his website, where he wrote "I am proud
to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am
very blessed to be who I am." An activist for many
causes, he founded the Ricky Martin Foundation
in 2000 as a child advocacy organization. The
group runs the People for Children project, which
fights child exploitation. Through his foundation,
Martin also supports efforts by other charitable
organizations. He has received numerous awards
for his philanthropic work, including the 2005
International Humanitarian Award from the
International Center for Missing and Exploited
Children. He and his husband Jwan Yosef, an artist
who was born in Syria and raised in Sweden, are
raising four children.

JIM PARSONS
Actor Jim Parsons studied his craft at the
University of Houston and the University of San
Diego. Following a series of small film and TV
roles, he rocketed to fame as the socially stunted
but brilliant theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper
on The Big Bang Theory, winning four Lead Actor
Emmy Awards during the hit sitcom's 12-year
Along with appearing in films like The Muppets
and Hidden Figures, Parsons has earned acclaim
for his performances in Broadway productions of
The Normal Heart and The Boys in the Band. For
Credit: Michael Lewis

NICOLE MAINES
Before acting, Nicole Maines was the subject of
several documentaries that focused on the trans
experience. In 2016, she was profiled in HBO's The
Trans List, and in 2018, she was profiled again in
again in Not Your Skin. She then moved into
becoming the first trans superhero on TV, playing
reporter named Nia Nal on CW's Supergirl. The
character is eventually turned into a superhero
named Dreamer. "I've been doing a lot of auditions
lately because a lot of different shows have been
really eager to tell the story of transgender people,"
people," Maines said at Comic Con. "It seems only
fitting that we have a trans superhero for trans
kids to look up to. I wish there was a trans
superhero when I was little."
Credit: Robert Hanashiro

MATT ALBER
Matt Alber is a Portland-based singer/
songwriter, filmmaker and youth advocate.
In 2014, Lincoln Center in New York
him to perform on their esteemed American
American Songbook series, which garnered
a printed review by the New York Times. In
2015, he was selected by the U.S. State
Department as a musical ambassador to
Russia, Hungary, Kosovo and to Sudan,
Africa where he taught recording arts &
sciences to young artists in Khartoum. Alber
Credit: Stuart Gregory

ALOK VAID-MENON
A gender non-conforming poet and
performance artist, ALOK Vaid-
Menon is known for their bold,
eccentric sartorial choices. In 2017
they received a Live Works
Performance Act Grant and released
a book of poetry called Femme In
Public, saying the chapbook “is a
a dream of what it could look like to
celebrate transfemininity in public —
both in ourselves and for the people
who desire us (by which I mean:
everyone, across time, always)." On
Instagram, ALOK spotlights
genderqueer and gender fluid
activists as well as plenty of photos of
of their iconic, quirky style.
Credit: Bronson Farr

STEVE ENDEAN
Steve Endean played a pivotal role in the
foundation of the Human Rights Campaign
and served as its first treasurer. Earlier, in
1978 he had moved toWashington, DC to
serve as Executive Director and lobbyist of
the Gay Rights National Lobby, which then
merged with HRC in 1985. He also served as
the first president of the Right to Privacy
Foundation (RPF), a predecessor to HRC’s
education and policy units. In 1986, Endean
founded the Fairness Fund to generate high
volumes of citizen mailgrams and letters to
members of Congress at pivotal moments in
the legislative process. In 1988, this
organization also merged with HRC. Endean
died from complications relating toAIDS at
the age of 44.

KELLY RAKOWSKI
Photo editor-by-day Kelly Rakowski is also somewhat of
an internet sensation, first with the creation of a lesbian
culture Instagram account called @h_e_r_s_t_o_r_y, in
which she posts photos of lesbian culture from the
1800s to early 2000s. Her next endeavor was Personals
— a text-only queer dating platform that’s supposed to
provide users with the opposite experience they might
have on an application like Tinder, a kind of “slow
dating” that allows people to connect based on similar
traits instead of looks alone. The Personals Instagram
features a plethora of the often quippy, well-spoken
personal ads you can find on the dating platform and
are very fun to read.
Credit: Cait Oppermann

BILLY PORTER
The iconic Billy Porter is perhaps best known for his leading
role as Pray Tell on the FX series Pose, for which he was
nominated for both a Critic’s Choice Award and a Golden
Globe, but Porter actually got his start in musical theater.
He’s performed in a number of Broadway shows such as
Grease and Dreamgirls, but is most famous for his role as
role as Lola in the Broadway adaptation of Kinky Boots, for
which he won both a Tony and a Grammy. Porter is also
known for his statement-making, gender-bending red
carpet looks such as a red velvet and pink tulle uterus suit
wore to the 73rd Annual Tony Awards in support of
reproductive rights.
Credit: Shavonne Wong

GUS KENWORTHY
In 2014, Gus Kenworthy won the silver
medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympic
games for skiing. Just a year later, the
freeskier made headlines again when
he came out. He tweeted a picture of
himself on the cover of ESPN
magazine with the words, "I am gay."
"Wow, it feels good to write those
words," Kenworthy said on Facebook
at the time. "For most of my life, I've
been afraid to embrace that truth
about myself. Recently though, I've
gotten to the point where the pain of
holding onto the lie is greater than
the fear of letting go, and I'm very
proud to finally be letting my guard
down."
Credit: Kevin Jairaj

ALAN TURING
Mathematician Alan Turing played a pivotal role
cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled
enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many
crucial moments. In so doing, he helped win
WWII. In 1952, Turing was convicted for having
relationship with 19-year-old Arnold Murray. At
the time it was illegal to engage in gay sex, and
Turing underwent chemical castration. He took
his own life at the age of 41 after using cyanide to
poison an apple. Turing was posthumously
pardoned, which led to new legislation pardoning
all gay men under historical gross indecency laws.
That provision is informally known as the "Alan
Turing law." Turing was named ‘The Greatest
Person of the 20th Century’ following a public
vote on the BBC last year.

COLETTE
The French author and legend Sidonie-
Gabrielle Colette, better known as
Colette, lived openly as a bisexual
woman and had relationships with
many prominent queer ladies,
Napoleon’s niece Mathilde ‘Missy’ de
Morny. Police were called to the
Rouge back in 1907 when Colette and
Missy shared a kiss on the iconic stage.
Best known for her novel Gigi, Colette
also wrote the Claudine series, which
follows the titular character who ends
up despising her husband and has an
affair with another woman. Colette
died in 1954 at the age of 81.

JOHNNY WEIR
Johnny Weir is considered a superstar in
world of figure skating. He first made a
name for himself on the international field
at the Olympic games in 2006 and 2010.
Since then, Weir crossed into mainstream
media, appearing in his own reality show
called Be Good Johnny Weir, and hosting
several lifestyle talk show segments. In
2011, he published his memoir in which he
came out as gay. "I wear my sexuality the
same as I wear my sex or my skin color. It is
something that simply is and something I
was born into," Weir tweeted in 2018. "I
extremely lucky to grow up in a
family/community of acceptance and
perhaps that's why I don't see my sexuality
as something that needs addressing. I am
forever indebted however, to the warriors
who came before me that allow me to lead
the life I do so openly."
Credit: Eric McCandless

GABBY RIVERA
Gabby Rivera is a Bronx-born, queer Puerto
Rican author on a mission to create the
wildest, most fun stories ever. She’s the first
Latina to write for Marvel Comics, penning
the solo series America about America
Chavez, a portal-punching queer Latina
powerhouse. Rivera’s critically acclaimed
debut novel Juliet Takes a Breath was called
“f*cking outstanding” by Roxane Gay and was
re-published in September 2019 by Penguin
Random House. Currently, Rivera is the writer
and creator of b.b. free, a new original comic
series with BOOM! Studios. When not
she speaks on her experiences as a queer
Puerto Rican from the Bronx, an LGBTQ+
youth advocate, and the importance of
prioritizing joy in QTPOC communities at
events across the country.
Credit: Julieta Salgado

FREDDIE MERCURY
Freddie Mercury is regarded as one of the greatest
singers in the history of popular music. He was known
for his flamboyant stage persona as the frontman of
Queen and his four-octave vocal range. In the early
1970s, Mercury had a long-term relationship with
Austin, whom he lived with for several years. By the
mid-1970s, he had begun an affair with a male
American record executive at Elektra Records, and in
1976, Mercury told Austin of his sexuality, which
their relationship. While some claimed he hid his sexual
orientation from the public, others claimed he was
openly gay. Some have said he identified as bisexual.
Freddie’s legacy was immortalized in the Queen biopic,
Bohemian Rhapsody, with Rami Malek portraying the
portraying the music legend.
Credit: Getty

MISS J. ALEXANDER
Miss J. Alexander of America’s Next
Top Model fame was the first real,
real, queer, accessible representation
representation for many LGBTQ+
people consuming television around
the turn of the century. “Miss J. was
the runway expert and taught an
entire generation of models — as
well as queer people at home — how
to walk the runway,” says Out staff
writer Mathew Rodriguez, a personal
fan of the show. A triumph for
visibility, Alexander is a professional
runway coach, designer, author and
model.

RYAN O'CALLAGHAN
Ryan O'Callaghan played six seasons in the NFL for
the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs.
He retired in 2011, which is when he had suicidal
thoughts and became addicted to painkillers
because he was closeted, he said. "My whole plan
was to play football and kill myself," he told NBC
News. "I was convinced from a young age that my
family would never love me if they knew who I
really was. The things you hear as a child—every
time you hear someone say 'faggot' or talk bad
about a gay guy, or see something on TV and make
fun of that. If you have a closeted kid, he hears
every one of those times you say something. It
sticks with him. This was 25 years ago. Most of the
things they said were out of ignorance, not hate." A
A psychologist convinced the athlete to come out to
to his family instead, and when he was accepted
with open arms, he came out publicly in 2017.
Credit: John Amis

ZANELE MUHOLI
Visual activist Zanele Muholi forever changed the
image of Black queer South Africans through her
portraiture and organizing during a time when the
country’s LGBTQ+ media representation
sensationalized and demonized queer people. In
2006, Muholi developed Inkanyiso (meaning
“illumination” in Zulu) as a digital platform for queer
media and activism in response to the lack of visual
histories and skills training produced by and for
LGBTQ+ persons, especially artists (in the form of
photography, film, visual arts, and multimedia). Three
years later, it grew into a full-fledged organization
and now boasts seven volunteer contributors and a
mobile school of photography, educating community
members on how to also be agents of documenting
the world around them. Through the organization,
Muholi has created opportunities for younger Black
LGBTQ+ community members to home in on their
strengths.

SALLY RIDE
America’s first female astronaut, the
first woman in space, and space shuttle
shuttle robotic arm operator, Sally Ride
Ride helped pave the way for women
in STEM. When she came out
posthumously, and subtly, in her
obituary, she became many, many
more firsts for queer women
everywhere. The end of the obit stated
simply: “In addition to Tam
O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27
years, Sally is survived by her mother,
Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece,
Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her
of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many
friends and colleagues around the
country.”
Credit: NASA

JANELLE MONÁE
Janelle Monae is an American singer, songwriter,
rapper, actress, and producer. If her sexuality has
been a subject of fascination, so too has her dizzying
dizzying body of work. In 2018, Monáe released her
widely acclaimed third album, Dirty Computer,
earned her two Grammy nominations. (Monáe has
racked up eight nominations over the years.) The
Prince-inflected single “Make Me Feel,” whose
accompanying video featured Monáe and Tessa
Thompson awash in neon lighting, was hailed as a
“bisexual anthem” even before Monáe came out.
Earlier this year, she tweeted the hashtag
#IAmNonbinary, along with a quoted tweet, which
trended on Twitter that day. Monáe stated in an
interview with The Cut a month after the tweet, that
it was made "in support of Non-binary Day and to
bring more awareness to the community." She did
not explicitly confirm nor deny whether she is non-
binary.
Credit: Justin French

EUGENE LEE YANG
Eugene Lee Yang is a producer, actor,
director, writer and one of today's most
recognizable queer Asian American
performers. His digital work over the past
years as a viral video producer has been
viewed billions of times, and he is
recognized as one of the world's most
culturally influential YouTube creators. In
early 2018, he and the comedy quartet The
Try Guys launched their own independent
production company, 2nd Try, amassing
millions of followers with projects including
his official coming out video, which raised
over $100,000 for The Trevor Project, the
national organization providing crisis
intervention and suicide prevention services
to LGBTQ+ youth. In 2019, he received
HRC’s Visibility Award.

RAMI KASHOU
The son of the former Miss Jordan, Rami
Kashou grew up in style. Kashou was born in
Jerusalem and raised in Ramallah where he
was often commissioned by the local town
socialites to design their ensembles. Upon
arriving in the U.S. in 1996, Kashou worked
retail for several years. After a stint of
traveling to Europe as a buyer, Kashou bit the
bullet and purchased two sewing machines.
After three years of self-education, he began
creating what would later be known as the
“One of a Kind” collection that was picked up
by various notable Los Angeles boutiques.
Kashou showcased his finale collection in
Bryant Park as a finalist and runner up
his appearance on Project Runway, where his
passion for fluid draping was embraced by
many women around the globe.

JIM OBERGEFELL
Jim Obergefell is the named plaintiff
in the landmark Supreme Court case
Obergefell v. Hodges, a decision that
that brought nationwide marriage
equality to the United States on June
26, 2015. He and his husband John
launched their legal battle with the
State of Ohio to demand recognition
of their lawful marriage on John’s
impending death certificate. John
died of ALS three months after their
first court hearing, and Obergefell
continued the fight along with more
than 30 other plaintiffs from four
states.
Credit: Emma Parker

MEGAN RAPINOE
Ever since Megan Rapinoe scored a goal
against Colombia in the 2011 World Cup
then headed to the corner to serenade the
flag with “Born in the USA,” she’s established
established herself as someone who leaves
an impression. She’s used that sway beyond
the field—a constant voice for equal rights
whether the discussion is focused on gender,
gender, race or sexual preference. She also
runs a camp with twin sister, Rachael, where
she passes on the values that have made her
great: having fun and working hard. Her
favorite part is talking with the kids. When
it’s time to rotate to her station, the campers
campers sit down and ask her anything they
want—like "how did you get to be you?"
Credit: Franck Fife

TRACE LYSETTE
Trace Lysette began her acting career in 2014,
playing Shea on Amazon's Transparent. Her
character is an openly trans woman who is a
yoga instructor and educator. Lysette made
headlines in 2017 when she came forward and
accused her Transparent co-star, Jeffrey
Tambor, of inappropriate sexual behavior while
on set. "Despite multiple uncomfortable
experiences with Jeffrey, it has been an
incredible, career-solidifying honor to bring
to my character, Shea, on Amazon's
Transparent," the actress wrote in a statement
statement at the time. "Working on the award-
winning series as a low-income trans woman
with active roots in New York's ball culture is a
rare opportunity most of my sisters are not
given." Outside of Transparent, Lysette has
appeared on FX's Pose and Hustlers.

BARBARA GITTINGS
Barbara Gittings heard the term “homosexual” for the
first time in her life when she was rejected for
membership to the National Honor Society when a
teacher suspected her of “homosexual inclinations.” By
college she was a psychiatrist-confirmed lesbian who,
with no groups or organizations to turn to, took it upon
herself to research her “condition.” After meeting with
the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first
lesbian-centric organization in the US, Gittings started a
a DOB chapter in New York City, placing her in the
of a near-silent movement. By the 1960s Gittings
became a recognizable face on the picket line, lobbying
for gay rights in Washington and around the country.
the early 1970s, shortly after the Stonewall riots,
Gittings helped with petitioning the American
Psychiatric Association to change its stance on
homosexuality. In 1973, the APA withdrew its
of homosexuality as a mental disorder.
Credit: Kay Tobin

MICHAEL MCCONNELL & JACK BAKER
Michael McConnell and Jack Baker always said theirs was the first
legal same-sex marriage in the country – and now they have the
Social Security document to prove it. In 2019, they received the
letter from the federal administration confirming Baker was
McConnell’s legal spouse going back nearly 50 years, and
entitled to monthly husband’s benefits. The document was tangible
tangible proof the federal government recognized a Minnesota
court’s decision that the Minneapolis couple’s 1971 same-sex
marriage was, in fact, legal. “When we got that letter in our hot
little hands, we opened a bottle of champagne, patted ourselves on
on the back and toasted. Then we drank and watched a trashy
movie,” McConnell, 76, told the Daily News. “That was very
important to us.” The committed couple of 52 years fought long
and hard for the rights they knew they deserved. After meeting and
and falling in love, they decided to get married in 1967, back when
the American Psychiatric Association still classified homosexuality
as a disorder.
Credit: Tobin Kay

MARK ASHTON
Mark Ashton was an Irish gay rights activist who co-
founded the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners
Movement with close friend Mike Jackson. The
support group collected donations at the 1984 Lesbian
and Gay Pride march in London for the miners on
strike, and the story was later immortalized in the
2014 film Pride, which saw Ashton played by actor
Schnetzer. Ashton also served as General Secretary of
the Young Communist League. In 1987 he was
admitted to Guy’s Hospital after being diagnosed with
HIV/AIDS. He died 12 days later of an AIDS-related
illness at the age of 26.

OSCAR WILDE
Oscar Wilde was one of London's most popular
playwrights in the early 1890s. He is best remembered
for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of
Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his criminal
criminal conviction for homosexuality and
imprisonment at the height of his fame. His books
were crucial in his conviction and were quoted in
as evidence of his “immorality.” After being forced to
do hard labor for two years, his health had suffered
greatly from the harshness of prison. Although Lord
Alfred Douglas had been the cause of his misfortunes,
he and Wilde were reunited in 1897 and they lived
together near Naples for a few months until they were
separated by their families. Wilde spent his last three
years impoverished and in exile. He died at the young
age of 46. In 2017, Wilde was pardoned for
homosexual acts under the Policing and Crime Act
2017, known informally as the Alan Turing law.

TOM PHELAN
Tom Phelan has a short list of acting credits, but his
role in The Fosters is revolutionary. He has become
one of the first trans actors to play a young trans
character. In the show, his character tackles taking
hormones and experiencing misgendering. He told
The Hollywood Reporter that while his character is
character is great for trans visibility, he worries that
won't make that big of an impact. "We've come a long
long way with being in the public eye, but in terms of
lessening violence, there hasn't been a lot of change,"
change," he said. "Media representation is great, but
it's not going to promote visible, genuine change.
Media representation is for the community and for
young trans kids and it's for people looking to see
themselves. I don't think it's for the rest of the world.
Its primary function is to serve as a looking glass so
that people who feel lost and confused can look and
see themselves."

KEITH HARING
Keith Haring was an American artist whose pop art
and graffiti-like work grew out of the New York City
street culture of the 1980s. His later work often
addressed political and societal themes – especially
homosexuality and AIDS – through his own
iconography. From 1982 to 1989, he was featured in
more than 100 solo and group exhibitions as well as
produced more than 50 public artworks in dozens of
charities, hospitals, day care centers, and orphanages.
He used his imagery during the last years of his life to
speak about his illness and to generate activism and
awareness about AIDS. In 1989, he established the
Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding and
imagery to AIDS organizations and children's
programs, and to expand the audience for his work
through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of
his images. Haring died of AIDS-related illness at the
age of 31.
Credit: Keith Haring

LESLIE CHEUNG
A Hong Kong singer and actor, Leslie Cheung was considered
"one of the founding fathers of Cantopop" for achieving huge
success both in film and music. He debuted in 1977 and rose
to prominence as a teen heartthrob and pop icon of Hong
Kong in the 1980s, receiving numerous music awards.
distinguished himself as a Canto-pop singer through
embodying the politics, sexual and gender identity of a queer
subject position. He announced his same-sex relationship
with Daffy Tong during a concert in 1997, earning him
prestige in LGBTQ+ communities in China, Japan, Taiwan,
Hong Kong. In an interview with Time magazine in 2001,
Cheung said he identified as bisexual. Before his suicide,
Cheung mentioned in interviews that he had become
depressed because of negative comments about gender-
crossing in his Passion Tour concert. He had planned to retire
from stage performance because of the strain of being a gay
artist in Hong Kong. On what would have been his 60th
birthday, over one thousand fans joined Florence Chan in the
morning at Po Fook Hill Ancestral Hall for prayers.

JACKIE SHANE
Jackie Shane was an American soul and rhythm &
blues singer, who was most prominent in the local
music scene of Toronto in the 1960s. Considered to be
a pioneer transgender performer, she was a
contributor to the Toronto Sound and is best known
for the single “Any Other Way.” She soon became the
lead vocalist for The Motley Crew and relocated to
Toronto with them in late 1961 before having a
successful music career of her own. In 1967, the band
and Jackie recorded a live LP together, by which time
she was often performing as a woman. Throughout
her active musical career and for many years
thereafter, Shane was written about by nearly all
sources as a man who performed in ambiguous
clothing that strongly suggested femininity. SHe faded
faded in prominence after 1971, with even her own
former bandmates losing touch with her. Shane died
in her sleep, at her home in Nashville, in 2019.
Credit: Jeff Goode

BARBARA SMITH
In her 72 years, Barbara co-founded the
Combahee River Collective and helped
build a visible Black feminist movement
during a period when one did not exist.
“Virtually everything I have done has been
in service of that mission,” Smith says,
from teaching one of the first courses on
Black women writers in the United States
in 1973, to building the field of Black
women’s studies by asserting that there
was and could be such a thing. She co-
founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color
Press in 1980, the first United States
publisher for all women of color to reach
large national audience, which published
the second edition of the beloved and
groundbreaking anthology This Bridge
Called My Back.
Credit: Getty

WALTER MERCADO
Walter Mercado Salinas, also known by his stage name
Shanti Ananda, was a Puerto Rican actor, dancer, and writer,
best known as a television personality for his shows as an
astrologer. His astrological predictions shows aired for
decades in Puerto Rico, Latin America and the United States.
States. He favored long and colorful brocades and huge
gemstone rings, which he flashed while pointing to viewers.
His catch phrase to his audience: “Above all, lots and lots of
love.” Though Mercado never publicly stated his sexuality,
he was an icon in the gay community as someone who
challenged the conservative television culture in Latin
America. “This is a culture that’s been dominated by
machismo and homophobia for a very long time,” said Alex
Fumero, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who has been
working on a documentary about Mercado. “For someone
who so brazenly played with gender and sexuality and
always remained something of a mystery . . . he was really
brave.”
Credit: Sundance Institute

LEONARDO DA VINCI
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the
Renaissance whose areas of interest included invention,
drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, science, music,
music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy,
geology, astronomy, botany, paleontology, and
cartography. The Mona Lisa is the most famous of his
works and the most popular portrait ever made; The Last
Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all
of all time; and his Vitruvian Man drawing is regarded
a cultural icon. Salvator Mundi was sold for a world
$450.3 million at a Christie's auction in New York in
the highest price ever paid for a work of art. Leonardo da
Vinci repeatedly depicted male sexuality in his art and
faced accusations of sodomy during his lifetime. The
artist was twice publicly accused of having gay sex, his
youthful male protégé was removed because of the
“wicked life he had led” with Da Vinci, and his own
writings repeatedly mused on his own attraction to men.

DICK LEITSCH
Richard Joseph Leitsch, also known as
Richard Valentine Leitsch, was an
American LGBTQ+ rights activist and
president of gay rights group the
Mattachine Society in the 1960s. He
conceptualized and led the "Sip-In" at
Julius' Bar, one of the earliest acts of gay
civil disobedience in the United States.
LGBTQ+ activists used "sip-ins" to attempt
to gain the legal right to drink in bars in
New York. Leitsch was also known for
being the first gay reporter to publish an
account of the Stonewall Riots and the first
person to interview Bette Midler in print
media.

MARTHA SHELLEY
One of the first members of the Gay
Liberation Front, Martha Shelley is one
one of the best-known lesbian activists
activists in America. A writer and poet,
she was also active in Lesbian activist
group Lavender Menace. The name
"Shelley" was an alias taken to avoid
being identified in FBI surveillance of
the Daughters of Bilitis.
Credit: Diana Davies

RITA MAE BROWN
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer, activist, and
feminist who is best known for her first novel,
Rubyfruit Jungle. Brown was a member of the Gay
the Gay Liberation Front, Lavender Menace, and
joined a lesbian commune in Washington, D.C.,
called Furies Collective, whose founding documents
stated: "Sexism is the root of all other oppressions,
and Lesbian and woman oppression will not end by
smashing capitalism, racism, and imperialism.
Lesbianism is not a matter of sexual preference, but
rather one of political choice which every woman
must make if she is to become woman-identified and
and thereby end male supremacy." In 1979, Brown
met and fell in love with tennis champion Martina
Navratilova. In 1980, they bought a horse farm in
Charlottesville where they lived together until their
breakup, over Navratilova's then concern that
coming out would hurt her application for U.S.
citizenship.
Credit: PBS

BILLY BEAN
Over the course of his MLB career, Billy
Bean played for the Detroit Tigers, Los
Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres,
Padres, but in 1995 he left the game
because he could not live with his secret
anymore. In 1999, he finally came out
as gay. Today, he's the Ambassador for
Inclusion at the MLB, which allows him
to speak to each team in the league
about the importance of inclusion and
acceptance. "I feel rewarded in those
moments that we're creating an
environment where it's not sinister,"
Bean told Cleveland.com. "I think the
fact that we're having this conversation
means we're getting close. These
conversations, I feel like we should've
taken care of a long time ago. But it's
happening."

SHARICE DAVIDS
Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids
made history in multiple ways when
she was elected to Congress, ousting
her Republican opponent David
by a nearly double-digit margin. Not
only is Davids the first openly
LGBTQ+ Kansan elected to Congress,
she’s also one of the first two Native
American women to hold
Congressional office as a member of
the Wisconsin Ho-Chunk or
Winnebago people. The former White
House fellow and pro fighter was
raised by a single mother who spent
20 years in the U.S. Army.

GREG LOUGANIS
Greg Louganis won four gold medals
and one silver medal at three
Games from 1976 to 1988 as a diver,
but it wasn't until 1994 that he came
out as gay. The following year, the
diver announced he was also living
with AIDS. "Things are different now,"
now," Louganis told ESPN. "I think
we've come to a place of
acknowledging bullying and
recognizing the importance of
standing up for your fellow
teammate. I think there is less of that.
that. There is much more sensitivity,
and people are much more open. Just
look at how many athletes have come
come out now."
Credit: Dean Treml

JOSEPHINE BAKER
Josephine Baker was a well-known
entertainer of the Jazz Age who
identified as bisexual. One of the
most successful African American
performers in French history,
Baker used her platform as an
entertainer to advocate for
desegregation, refusing to perform
in segregated venues and even
speaking at the 1963 March on
Washington. Baker also served as a
spy for the French during World
War II, passing along secrets she
heard while performing for
German soldiers.
Credit: Estate of Emil Bieber / Klaus Niermann

KARL HEINRICH ULRICHS
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is regarded by some as
the pioneer of the modern gay movement and
the first person to publicly “come out.”
Volkmar Sigusch, a leading German scholar in
sexual science, described him as “the most
decisive and influential pioneer of homosexual
emancipation … in world history.” Ulrichs was
a judge in Germany but was forced to resign in
1854 after a colleague discovered he was gay.
After he resigned, he became an activist for gay
gay rights. He wrote pamphlets about being
gay in Germany. In 1867, Ulrichs spoke in
Munich at the Congress of Jurists to demand
legal equal rights for all sexualities.

JAMIE CLAYTON
Jamie Clayton is known for her role as Nomi
Marks on Netflix's Sense 8. In the series,
Clayton plays a trans hacker who develops
the ability to see into the minds of eight other
people around the world. When the show
ended in 2018, Clayton joined Netflix's
Designated Survivor as Sasha Booker. Outside
Outside of TV, Clayton has become an activist
for trans rights, especially trans visibility in
Hollywood. "Actors who are trans never even
get to audition for anything other than roles
of trans characters," she tweeted. "That's the
real issue. We can't even get in the room. Cast
actors who are trans as non-trans characters.
I dare you."
Credit: Eva Mueller

TAMMY BALDWIN
In 2013, Senator Tammy Baldwin
became the first openly LGBTQ+
senator in American history — and
from Wisconsin, no less. A staunch,
longtime defendant of LGBTQ+
rights, Sen. Baldwin has most
recently helped introduce the
Equality Act, the nation’s first ever
comprehensive legislation to protect
protect LGBTQ+ people from
discrimination. And while the Act
has very little chance of passing the
Senate, with politicians like Sen.
Baldwin in Washington the fight to
pass federal non-discrimination
legislation is long from over.
Credit: Bill Clark

MICHAEL SAM
In 2014, Michael Sam came out as
in an interview with ESPN. When he
was drafted by the St. Louis Rams, Sam
Sam became the first openly gay man
to ever be drafted into the NFL. "Since
"Since February and my big
announcement, this has been a whole
[lot of] speculation of the first openly
gay football player, but you know
what? It's not about that. It's about
playing football," Sam said in a press
conference shortly after being drafted.
drafted. Unfortunately, Sam was let go
go from the team, and in 2015, he
announced he was leaving the sport
for good.

LAVERNE COX
No stranger to superlatives, trailblazer
Laverne Cox was the first openly
transgender person to receive a
primetime Emmy nomination for her
role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix
series Orange is the New Black, the first
African-American transgender woman
to produce and star in her own TV show
(Vh1's TRANSform Me), and the first
openly transgender person to appear on
the cover of TIME. Cox is also known for
her uplifting social media presence,
which she uses to promote the hashtag
#TransIsBeautiful.
Credit: Danielle Levitt

BRIAN MICHAEL SMITH
Brian Michael Smith has been earning acting
credits since 2011, appearing in TV shows
Gossip Girl, Girls, Chicago P.D., Blue Bloods,
Credit: Natasha Karam

GLENN BURKE
Glenn Lawrence Burke was a Major League Baseball
player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland
Athletics from 1976 to 1979. He was the first MLB
player to come out as gay to teammates and team
owners during his professional career, and the first
to publicly acknowledge it, stating, "They can't ever
say now that a gay man can't play in the majors,
because I'm a gay man and I made it." In 1977,
ran onto the field to congratulate his Dodgers
teammate Dusty Baker after Baker hit his 30th home
home run; Burke raised his hand over his head and
Baker slapped it. They are widely credited with
inventing the high five. He died from AIDS-related
causes in 1995. In 2013, Burke was among the first
class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian
Sports Hall of Fame. Burke was inducted into the
Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2015.
Credit: LA Dodgers

ROBERTA COWELL
Roberta “Betty” Cowell was the first
known person in Britain, and among
the first in the world, to undergo
pioneering gender-reassignment
surgery in 1948, before more
famous cases such as April Ashley
and Christine Jorgensen. Before the
war, as Bob, she (Cowell herself
joked in her autobiography that one
of the trickiest parts of undergoing
gender reassignment was knowing
which pronoun to use) had been a
racing driver, competing at
Brooklands in Surrey and in the
Belgian Grand Prix. Later, Cowell
became a fighter pilot, flying Tiger
Moths and Spitfires. When her plane
was shot down, she was captured
and interned in Stalag Luft I.
Credit: Maurice Ambler

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
Dusty Springfield was one of the most
successful British female singers in history.
She had six top 20 singles in the US, and is a
member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Considering herself to be bisexual, Springfield
said in 1970, "I couldn't stand to be thought of
as a big butch lady. But I know that I'm as
perfectly capable of being swayed by a girl as
by a boy." This was quite a thing to admit at
the time, just one year after the Stonewall
Riots. When she died of breast cancer in 1999,
Melissa Etheridge told The Advocate "As a
child listening to the radio, I was taken by
surprise when a sexy, husky woman's voice
came out. 'Son of a Preacher Man' is one of the
the steamiest, coolest songs ever sung by a
woman. She will be missed."
Credit: David Magnus

CAROLINE SPURGEON
The first ever female university
professor at the University of London—
and only the second in England—
Caroline Spurgeon asked to be buried
next to civil servant Lilian Clapham,
who was made an MBE for promoting
job opportunities for women. Spurgeon
Spurgeon designed the gravestone
which memorializes Clapham—who
was also captain of the England
women’s hockey team—and left a
message remembering their “happy life
life together” when she died in 1935,
according to LGBTQ+ history charity
Brighton Ourstory. They can be found
buried next to each other in Alciston
churchyard, East Sussex.

DAVID DENSON
David Denson was playing for the
Milwaukee Brewers when he came
out as gay in an interview in 2015.
He became the first person to be
openly gay while playing in the
league. "I think I opened the door. I
showed just because I'm gay doesn't
doesn't make me any different or
less of a person," Denson told the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "If
"If there are others who want to
come out, hopefully, they have my
story to fall back on and see it's
OK." Denson announced he was
retiring from baseball in 2017 and
told the media it had nothing to do
with coming out.
Credit: CNN

RENÉE RICHARDS
Renée Richards transitioned from male
male to female in the '70s, and in
she applied to participate in the US
Open. She refused to take the required
required Barr body test, which would
test her blood to find out her sex.
When she was rejected by the US
Open, she sued the United States
Tennis Association for gender
discrimination and won. Richards
eventually retired from the sport in
1981 and has gone on to become an
influential coach. Today, she refuses to
be put in the spotlight as a trans
activist. "Years ago I was the pioneer,
no question about it. They all quoted
me and my court case," she told Sports
Illustrated. "But I am not anymore."
Credit: Manny Millan

NATE BERKUS
Nate Berkus is a Chicago-based
interior designer who became a
household name after his appearance
on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Since
then, Berkus has had his own TV
shows, written two New York Times
bestselling books and has developed
numerous product lines. In 2014,
Berkus and fellow designer Jeremiah
Brent were the first same-sex couple
to marry at the New York Public
Library. He and his husband actively
support pro-LGBTQ+ initiatives and
advocate it openly in their interviews.

NYLE DIMARCO
Nyle DiMarco is an American model, actor, and
Deaf activist. In 2015, he was the second male
winner and the first Deaf winner of America's Next
Top Model. The following year, he won the televised
televised dance competition Dancing with the Stars,
with professional dance partner Peta Murgatroyd.
DiMarco does not consider himself disabled by
deafness and sees his media profile as an
opportunity to bring awareness to Deaf culture. He
views deafness as an advantage in modeling
because he is accustomed to communicating
without speaking. He believes deaf actors should
play deaf roles. DiMarco is a spokesperson for
LEAD-K (Language Equality and Acquisition for
Deaf Kids). He is also a signer and creative
collaborator on The ASL App, an app that teaches
ASL. In 2016, DiMarco started The Nyle DiMarco
Foundation, a non-profit organization providing
access to resources for deaf children and their
families.
Credit: Getty

ROBBIE ROGERS
Robbie Rogers played soccer in
England until 2013 when he
he was gay and leaving the sport. He
later told The Guardian that he left the
sport after coming out because he
didn't want the media attention and
scrutiny. "I'd just want to be a
footballer," Rogers said. "I wouldn't
want to deal with the circus. Are
people coming to see you because
you're gay? Would I want to do
interviews every day, where people are
asking: 'So you're taking showers with
guys – how's that?'" But a few months
later, he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy
team and became the first openly gay
man to play in a major US professional
league.
Credit: Gary A. Vasquez

ALEXANDRA BILLINGS
Alexandra Billings is the first transgender person to play a
transgender character on TV when she took the role of
Donna in 2005's Romy and Michele: In the Beginning.
then, she has appeared in How to Get Away with Murder,
Grey's Anatomy, ER, Eli Stone, and Goliath as a trans
trans character. But the actress is best known for her role
as Davina on Amazon's Transparent. She has also been
outspoken about cis-gendered people taking trans roles. In
In an op-ed for HuffPost, she explained her frustrations
with Jared Leto's Oscar-winning performance in Dallas
Buyers Club, in which he played a trans woman. She
She especially found it frustrating that the actor didn't
acknowledge the trans community in his acceptance
speech at the Golden Globes. "He spoke about shaving his
legs, he spoke about his backside in his bikini, and he
spoke about a Brazilian wax he never got because it
seemed to be too much trouble," Billings wrote. "What he
didn't speak about was the transgender woman he played,
or the millions of other transgender people in the
audience, or the hundreds of millions of people around the
world who are living with and dying from the AIDS virus."

DYLAN MARRON
Dylan Marron is an IFP Gotham Award &
Drama Desk-nominated writer, performer,
and video maker. He is the voice of Carlos
on the hit podcast Welcome to NightVale,
an alum of the NewYork Neo Futurists, and
the creator of Every SingleWord (Tumblr's
"MostViral Blog" of 2015; Shorty Award
Nominee), a video series that edits down
popular films to only feature the words
spoken by people of color. He hosts and
produces Conversations with PeopleWho
Hate Me, a podcast where he calls up the
the people behind negative comments on
the internet. It was selected as a Podcast
Pick by USAToday and The Guardian,
named "the timeliest podcast" by
FastCompany, and won aWebbyAward.
Award.
Credit: James Hartley

RYAN RUSSELL
Ryan Russell played for the Dallas Cowboys
and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a
defensive end, and now he is a free agent.
But in 2019, he made headlines when he
announced his bisexuality in an essay on
ESPN. "Let that sink into your brain: Even
Even though openly LGBTQ+ people are
thriving in every area of public life —
politics, entertainment, the top
corporations in America — they are so
invisible in pro sports that a gossip blogger
is doing a favor for a bisexual football
player by not disclosing that he happens to
date men," Russell wrote in the essay.
"Nobody should need a favor to live
honestly. In nobody's world should being
careful mean not being yourself. The career
you choose shouldn't dictate the parts of
yourself that you embrace."
Credit: Benjamin

GEORGE TAKEI
George Hosato Takei is an American actor,
author, and activist who is best known for his
role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS
Enterprise in the television series Star Trek. He
also portrayed the character in six Star Trek
feature films and one episode of Star Trek:
Voyager. Takei is a proponent of LGBTQ+ rights
LGBTQ+ rights and is active in state and local
politics. He has won several awards and
accolades in his work on human rights and
Japan–United States relations, including his
work with the Japanese American National
Museum. Takei's work on the Broadway show
Allegiance, as well as his own internment in
in two US-run internment camps during
has given him a platform to speak out against
the Trump administration's rhetoric about
immigrants and immigration policies.

JAIME HARKER
Author Jaime Harker is a professor of English and
the director of the Sarah Isom Center for Women
and Gender Studies at the University of Mississippi,
where she teaches American literature, LGBTQ+
literature, and gender studies. She has published
essays on Japanese translation, popular women
writers of the interwar period, Oprah’s book club,
William Faulkner, Cold War gay literature, and
women’s liberation and gay liberation literature. In
2017, she opened Water Valley Bookstore,
Mississippi's only queer, feminist, transinclusive
bookstore. More than a business, Harker describes
her LGBTQ-friendly bookstore as a mission. “I want
a kid to come in, get a book and find hope and a
future here. This is what I can do. I can open an
LGBTQ bookstore that suggests, ‘There’s a place for
for you here. We want you here. Stay here.’”

HOWARD CRUSE
Howard Cruse was an American
alternative cartoonist known for
the exploration of gay themes in
his comics. First coming to
attention in the 1970s during the
underground comix movement
with Barefootz, he was the
founding editor of Gay Comix in
1980, created the gay-themed strip
strip Wendel during the 1980s,
reached a more mainstream
audience in 1995 when an imprint
of DC Comics published his
novel Stuck Rubber Baby.
Credit: Compadre Media

DAVID BOWIE
David Bowie was a bisexual English musician, actor, record producer
and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently
reinventing his music and image, Bowie was widely regarded as an
innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He has been cited as
influence by many musicians and was known for his voice and the
intellectual depth of his work. Bowie outed himself in an interview with
Melody Maker in 1972, a move coinciding with the first shots in his
in his campaign for stardom as Ziggy Stardust. In a 1976 interview with
Playboy, Bowie said: "It's true — I am a bisexual. But I can't deny that
deny that I've used that fact very well. I suppose it's the best thing that
ever happened to me." He distanced himself from that in a 1983
interview with Rolling Stone, saying his earlier declaration of
was "the biggest mistake I ever made." In response to that comment in a
a 2002 interview with Blender; Bowie said: “I don’t think it was a
in Europe, but it was a lot tougher in America. I had no problem with
people knowing I was bisexual. But I had no inclination to hold any
banners or be a representative of any group of people. I knew what I
wanted to be, which was a songwriter and a performer, and I felt that
[bisexuality] became my headline over here for so long. America is a
very puritanical place, and I think it stood in the way of so much I
wanted to do."
Credit: Jim King