Pride Month Ancestors

Presenting 30 days of LGBTQ ancestors!

#1 Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld

Founder of the world's first gay rights movement.
Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, 1927. Credit: Photo via Making Gay History Podcast and courtesy Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft e.V., Berlin.
Magnus Hirschfeld (at right with glasses and bushy mustache, holding the hand of his lover, Karl Giese) at a costume party at the Institute of Sexual Research, 1920. Credit: Photo via Making Gay History Podcast and courtesy of Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft e.V., Berlin.
Get to know more about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast

#2 Marsha P. Johnson

Co-founder of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR)
Marsha P. Johnson, circa 1980. Credit: Netflix.
Marsha P. Johnson (left) and Sylvia Rivera (right), co-founders of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) at the Christopher Street Liberation Day Gay Pride Parade, New York City, June 24, 1973. Credit: Leonard Fink, via Making Gay History Podcast courtesy LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
Get to know more about Marsha P. Johnson:
Marsha P. Johnson Institute
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast
Netflix: The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Interview with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries

#3 Gonzalo "Tony" Segura

Co-founder of the New York City chapter of the Mattachine Society
Tony Segura.
Tony Segura, fifth from left in white, from the December 1957 Mattachine Interim. Credit: Archives of Sexuality and Gender.
Get to know more about Gonzalo "Tony" Segura:
Slate
Equality Virginia

#4 Audre Lorde

"Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet."
Audre Lorde, Austin, Texas, 1980. Credit: K. Kendall via Flickr.
Audre Lorde (left) with writers Meridel Le Sueur (middle) and Adrienne Rich (right) at a writing workshop in Austin, Texas, 1980. Credit: K. Kendall via Flickr.
Get to know more about Audre Lorde:
Wikipedia
The Audre Lorde Project
The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde

#5 Bayard Rustin

Principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Bayard Rustin at news briefing on the Civil Rights March on Washington, Statler Hotel, Washington, DC, August 27, 1963. Credit: Warren K. Leffler via United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division.
Bayard Rustin, New York, 1965. Credit: Stanley Wolfson, New York World-Telegram and Sun via United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division.
Get to know more about Bayard Rustin:
Wikipedia
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Making Gay History Podcast

#6 Barbara Gittings

Founder of the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.
Barbara Gittings, 1972. Credit: Photo by Kay Lahusen courtesy Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.
Kay Lahusen (left) and Barbara Gittings (right), West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1995. Credit: Photo by Ray Harriman courtesy Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.
Get to know more about Barbara Gittings:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast

#7 James Baldwin

Novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.
James Baldwin, Hyde Park, London, 1969. Credit: Photo by Allan Warren.
James Baldwin (left) and Engin Cezzar (right), Istanbul, 1970. Photo credit: Sedat Pakay. Still shot from "James Baldwin: From Another Place," a film by Sedat Pakay.
Get to know more about James Baldwin:
Wikipedia
Open Library
C-SPAN
James Baldwin Debates William F. Buckley (1965)

#8 Vito Russo

LGBT activist, film historian, and author.
Vito Russo, New York, 1989. Credit: Massimo Consoli
Bette Midler (left) and Vito Russo (right) at the Gay Pride rally in Washington Square Park, New York City, June 24, 1973. Credit: Photo via Making Gay History Podcast courtesy of Vito Russo.
Get to know more about Vito Russo:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast
Open Library: The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies

#9 Henry Gerber

Founder of Society for Human Rights in Chicago (1924).
Henry Gerber, date unknown.
Get to know more about Henry Gerber:
Wikipedia
National Park Service
Legacy Project Chicago

#10 Pierre Seel

French gay Holocaust survivor and author.
Pierre Seel at the International Colloquium organized by the Pink Triangle Coalition, Berlin, February 21, 2000. Credit: James Steakley.
Get to know more about Pierre Seel:
Wikipedia
Legacy Project Chicago
I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual (Amazon)

#11 Gladys Bentley

Blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance.
Gladys Bentley, Harlem, New York, circa 1930.
Gladys Bentley, Harlem, New York, circa 1946. Credit: Photo courtesy of Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Get to know more about Gladys Bentley:
Wikipedia
Smithsonian Magazine
Before Stonewall, Episode 3: Gladys Bentley (YouTube)
"Worried Blues" (YouTube)

#12 Christine Jorgensen

Actress, singer, author, and first American to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
Christine Jorgensen, New York, 1954. Credit: Photo by Maurice Seymour.
Howard J. Knox (left) and Christine Jorgensen (right) after being denied a marriage license in New York. 1959.
Get to know more about Christine Jorgensen:
Wikipedia
Legacy Project Chicago
BBC
Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography (Internet Archive)

#13 Frank Kameny

Astronomer and gay rights activist.
Frank Kameny.
Frank Kameny and President Barack Obama at the signing of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. December 22, 2010.
Frank Kameny and members of The Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. Christopher Street Liberation Day. March, June 28, 1970, New York City.
Get to know more about Frank Kameny:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast
Legacy Project Chicago

#14 Langston Hughes

Poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist.
Langston Hughes. Harlem, New York. 1936. Credit: Carl Van Vechten via United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division.
Langston Hughes. Circa 1960. Credit: Photo from the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Courtesy of Nell Winston, The Louis Draper Archive.
Get to know more about Langston Hughes:
Wikipedia
Langston Hughes: Leading Voice of the Harlem Renaissance | Biography (YouTube)
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
"The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain"

#15 Shirley Willer

Feminist and gay rights activist.
Shirley Willer. Atlantic City, New Jerser. Circa 1965. Credit: Lesbian Herstory Archives.
Shirley Willer (fourth from left). ECHO (East Coast Homophile Organizations) conference in New York City. September 25-26, 1965. Credit: Photo by Kay Lahusen courtesy Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.
Get to know more about Shirley Willer:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast

#16 Harry Hay

Gay rights activist, co-founder of the Mattachine Society, co-founder of the Radical Faeries.
Harry Hay. 1933. Credit: Photo by Hazel Kalarney via Making Gay History Podcast courtesy of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
Harry Hay. Los Angeles. 1989. Credit: Photo by Robert Giard via Making Gay History Podcast courtesy of The New York Public Library.
Get to know more about Harry Hay:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast
Hope Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay

#17 Angelina Weld Grimké

Journalist, teacher, playwright, and poet.
Angelina Weld Grimké. Unknown date.
Angelina Weld Grimké. Unknown date.
Get to know more about Angelina Weld Grimké:
Wikipedia
AfroPoets
Internet Archive
Modern American Poetry
Legacy Project Chicago

#18 Claude McKay

Poet and author.
Claude McKay. 1920.
Claude McKay. New York. July 25, 1941. Credit: Photo by Carl Van Vechten courtesy Van Vechten Trust, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Get to know more about Claude McKay:
Wikipedia
Legacy Project Chicago
Poetry Foundation

#19 Bessie Smith

Empress of the Blues.
Bessie Smith. New York City. 1936. Credit: Carl Van Vechten, restored by Adam Cuerden, courtesy of United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division.
Bessie Smith.
Get to know more about Bessie Smith:
Wikipedia
NPR
"St Louis Blues" (YouTube)

#20 George Cecil Ives

Poet, writer, criminologist, gay rights activist, and founder of the Order of Chaeronea.
George Cecil Ives
George Cecil Ives (2nd from right on front row). Authors v. Artists Cricket Match. May 22, 1903.
Get to know more about George Cecil Ives:
Wikipedia
LGBT Archive
Order of Chaeronea (Wikipedia)

#21 Sylvester

Singer-songwriter.
Sylvester. 1979.
Sylvester. 1971. Credit: Courtesy of David Miller, from the estate of Clay Geerdes.
Get to know more about Sylvester:
Wikipedia
Love Me Like You Should: The Brave and Bold Sylvester (YouTube)
Legacy Project Chicago
KQED

#22 Owen Dodson

Poet, novelist, and playwright.
Owen Dodson. New York City. 1943. Credit: Carl Van Vechten.
Owen Dodson. New York City. 1942. Credit: Carl Van Vechten.
Get to know more about Owen Dodson:
Wikipedia
The Unpublished Poetry of Owen Dodson
An Interview with Owen Dodson

#23 Ellen Corby

Actress and screenwriter.
Ellen Corby. The Waltons (1971-1981).
Ellen Corby. Susan Slept Here (1954).
Get to know more about Ellen Corby:
Wikipedia
IMDb

#24 Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

Lawyer, journalist, author, gay rights activist.
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. 1899. Credit: Engraving appeared in Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen.
Get to know more about Karl Heinrich Ulrichs:
Wikipedia
Matt Baume
Out History

#25 Steve Dain

Teacher, chiropractor, naturopath, trans rights pioneer.
Steve Dain. Circa 1980.
Steve Dain (right) accompanied by his lawyer Larry Sleizer (center) being arrested by Emeryville Police Department Lt. Dave Reno (left) following a citizen's arrest by Emery USD Superintendent Lewis Stommel (rear). September 2, 1976. Emeryville, California.
Get to know more about Steve Dain:
The Emeryville Eye
Bay Area Reporter
Obituary

#26 Jean O'Leary

Lesbian feminist, gay rights activist, founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, co-founder of National Coming Out Day.
Jean O'Leary. Museum of Natural History. New York City. August, 1973. Credit: Bettye Lane via Making Gay History Podcast courtesy Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute.
Jean O'Leary (second from left). Meeting in the Roosevelt Room at the White House between lesbian and gay rights activists and senior White House staff. March 26, 1977. Credit: White House Photo via Making Gay History Podcast.
Get to know more about Jean O'Leary:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast

#27 Sylvia Rivera

Gay liberation and trans rights activist.
Sylvia Rivera. New York City. Circa 1973.
Sylvia Rivera (right) and Marsha P. Johnson (left). New York City. Circa 1989. Credit: Photograph by Rudy Grillo courtesy of The Rudy Grillo Collection at the The LGBT Community Center National History Archive.
Get to know more about Sylvia Rivera:
Wikipedia
Making Gay History Podcast
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Interview with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries

#28 Stormé DeLarverie

Entertainer, bouncer, volunteer street patrol worker, and gay rights icon.
Stormé DeLarverie.
Stormé DeLarverie (center). Credit: Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
Get to know more about Stormé DeLarverie:
Wikipedia
In The Life: A Stormé Life (YouTube)

#29 Marie Equi

Medical doctor, birth control advocate, labor political activist.
Marie Equi.
Marie Equi. Mug shot following arrest for sedition in 1918.
Get to know more about Marie Equi:
Wikipedia
Before Stonewall, Episode 9: Marie Equi (YouTube)
Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions (Amazon)

#30 Barbara Jordan

Lawyer, educator, politician, civil rights activist.
Barbara Jordan. 1973. Credit: Photograph by Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, restored by Adam Cuerden.
Barbara Jordan, delivering the keynote address before the 1976 Democratic National Convention. Credit: Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report Magazine.
Get to know more about Barbara Jordan:
Wikipedia
Barbara Jordan speaking as a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, July 25, 1974 (YouTube)
Ann Richards Eulogy of Barbara Jordan, January 20, 1996 (YouTube)

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