I lived unapologetilly as a Black gay man the 70s. Now I’m agg wh pri & digny. – SAGE

gay black pioneer

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9 PNEERS OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT YOU NEED TO KNOW (BUT PROBABLY DON'T)

" Beyond her LGBTQ activism, DeLarverie also anized and performed at fundraisers for women who suffered om domtic vlence and their Jam Baldw (Photo by Ted Thai)The LIFE Picture Collectn/GettyJam Baldw (1924-1987)A wrer and social cric, Baldw is perhaps bt known for his 1955 llectn of says, "Not of a Native Son, " and his groundbreakg 1956 novel, "Gvanni's Room, " which picts them of homosexualy and bisexualy. Baldw spent a majory of his lerary and activist reer tg others about Black and queer inty, as he did durg his famo lecture tled “Race, Racism, and the Gay Communy” at a meetg of the New York chapter of Black and Whe Men Together (now known as Men of All Colors Together) and playwright Lorrae Hansberry her New York Cy apartment April Attie / Getty ImagLorrae Hansberry (1930-1965)Hansberry was an activist and playwright bt known for her groundbreakg play “A Rais the Sun, ” about a stgglg Black fay on Chigo’s South Si.

The inic work was then ma to a 1961 film starrg Sidney Poier and Ruby to “A Rais the Sun” fame, Hansberry — who never publicly acknowledged she was a lbian — joed lbian rights group Dghters of Bilis and ntributed letters about femism and homophobia to s magaze, “The Ladr, ” acrdg to LGBTQ historian Eric Marc, host of the “Makg Gay History” podst. Now 79, Miss Major, known to many simply as “Mama, ” ris Ltle Rock, Arkansas, where she ntu to be a vol Sprg's mayor Ron On, April 18, Khan / LA Tim via Getty ImagRon On (Born 1950)When On was elected mayor of Palm Sprgs, California 2003, he ma history by beg the first openly gay Ain Amerin man elected mayor of an Amerin cy. He explored issu of sexualy and black inty his work, and his avant-gar story “Smoke, Lili, and Ja” is thought to be the first explicly gay story published by a black RUSTIN (1912-1987)Bayard Rt his Park Avenue South office New York Cy, April 1969.

In 2013, Rt was posthumoly award the Printial Medal of Freedom, the natn’s hight civilian honor, for his tirels work promotg equal BALDWIN (1924-1987)Author Jam BaldwTed Thai / LIFE Picture Collectn/Getty“There isn't a sgle black gay wrer of lerary fictn or nonfictn that has not been fluenced by Jam Baldw on some level, " Charl Stephens, executive director of the Counter Narrative Project, told NBC News.

I LIVED UNAPOLOGETILLY AS A BLACK GAY MAN THE 70S. NOW I’M AGG WH PRI & DIGNY.

A wrer and social cric, Baldw is perhaps bt known for his 1955 llectn of says, "Not of a Native Son, " and his groundbreakg 1956 novel, "Gvanni's Room, " which picts them of homosexualy and AILEY (1931-1989)Dancer and choreographer Alv Ailey.

"RON ODEN (Born 1950)Ron On, April 18, Khan / LA Tim via Getty ImagWhen On was elected mayor of Palm Sprgs, California, 2003, he ma history by beg the first openly gay Ain-Amerin man elected mayor of an Amerin cy, acrdg to The Advote. And Harriet as a young Black girl g to terms wh her queer inty, Hazzard, now 31, said would have been transformatnal to learn about change-makers who played a role both gay liberatn and the Black Freedom might have learned nam like Audre Lor, a Black lbian poet and activist who dited her life and work to addrsg social jtic, and Marsha P.

“People that were both Black and gay; people that were mted to queer liberatn as well as Black liberatn; people that saw those two thgs as nnected. “Edutn is a pathway to margalized muni’ sense of empowerment bee plac wh a historil genealogy that whe supremacy says we’re not a part of, ” said Story, who also -hosts the podst “Strange F: Mgs on Polics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life. ” Acrdg to the New York Tim, Bentley was one of the bt-known Black entertaers the the end of her life, Bentley married a man, nied that she was gay and exprsed regret for her drag performanc, Story said, “but that, to me, was no doubt om the ensug prsure of homophobia and all of those thgs.

GAY HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY: THE 10 INS PROVE IT

But as an openly gay man, Rt faced discrimatn of his own while fightg for the rights of January 1953, he was arrted on a “morals charge” after police officers ught him engaged wh two other men a parked r Pasana, Calif.

The nvictn, which was often ed to target gay people, forced Rt to register as a sex offenr and nearly railed his reer as a civil rights activist.

“He was a proment gay man durg the civil rights movement when there was no space to talk about lbian and gay issu, ” said Karsonya Whehead, an associate profsor of munitn and Ain and Ain Amerin Studi at Loyola Universy years, Rt’s arrt siled him the civil rights movement.

GAY PNEERS

He died the followg year, but his extensive activism clud fightg for the passage of New York’s gay rights bill and urgg the NAACP to acknowledge the AIDS ncept of “lbian rights” was virtually nonexistent buttoned-up 1950s Ameri. But perhaps the greatt legacy she left behd is the Amerin Library Associatn’s biblgraphy of lerature about gays and lbians, one of the first llectns of s sprg 1980, Aaron Fricke looked forward to attendg prom wh the rt of his classmat at Cumberland High Rho Island.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: EARLY PNEERS OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

In 1992, she joed other activists a lawsu challengg a Colorado amendment that banned extendg civil rights protectns to gay Milk wh a mpaign poster. / John Phillips/GettyImagThe Stonewall Rts of 1969, which a late-night police raid of a New York Cy gay bar evolved to a fiant prott by patrons, is largely seen as the drivg event behd the morn LGBTQ rights movement. / Getty / Mark Wilson / StaffLeonard Matlovich wasn’t the first gay man to serve the ary, but he may have been the first to e out on such a public platform.

An terview wh The New York Tim soon followed, and then a famo appearance on the ver of TIME magaze that displayed his portra above the words I Am a Homosexual. ”Even after the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn classified homosexualy as an illns 1973, the stigma persisted the medil muny; gay patients were often approached as sick dividuals who need to be cured. Richard Isay was one of the first proment psychiatrists/psychoanalysts to enurage his gay patients to accept themselv rather than ny their feelgs.

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