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Growg up Fort Washgton, Md., durg the 1990s, she rells Black History Month teachgs that often rehashed the achievements of semal figur like the Rev. Mart Luther Kg Jr. and Harriet Tubman.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">But 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 Movement.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">She might have learned nam like <a href=" target="_blank">Audre Lor</a>, a Black lbian poet and activist who dited her life and work to addrsg social jtic, and <a href=" target="_blank">Marsha P. Johnson</a>, a transgenr activist who was a proment figure of the 1969 Stonewall rts and the gay rights movement spired.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">The transgenr women at Stonewall were phed out of the gay rights movement. Now they are gettg a statue New York.</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“I didn’t learn anythg about the gay liberatn movement, Stonewall, any of that,“ Hazzard said. “And once I did, I thk took me years to realize that Black women, Black trans women, were at the foreont of creatg some of those chang.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Many the Black LGBTQ muny echo Hazzard’s sentiment: “I was really searchg for, my youth, ins, lears, thkers who lived at those tersectns like I did,” said Kaila Story, an associate profsor the partments of Pan-Ain studi and women’s, genr and sexualy studi at the Universy of Louisville. “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.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In a <a href=">2018 say</a> for the nonprof publisher Rethkg Schools, Hazzard challenged tors to “queer Black history” — a phrase she f, part, as reworkg and upendg teachgs to elevate Black LGBTQ stori.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“It starts wh regnizg that all Black histori matter,” Hazzard said, “and that clus the liv and ntributns of Black LGBTQ people.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Amid a rise both vlent and polil attacks agast<b> </b>LGBTQ people, activists say the stori are of growg importance. In recent years, activists say,<b> </b>Black trans aths have <a href=">creased</a>, a wave of <a href=" target="_blank">anti-LGBTQ legislatn</a> has swept the untry and renewed <a href=" target="_blank">book banng efforts</a> are primarily targetg tl about racial and sexual inty.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“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 “<a href=">Strange F: Mgs on Polics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life</a>.” “Whe supremacy, as an ia, says that Black folks haven’t ntributed anythg, and pecially Black LGBT folks.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Today, people like Laverne Cox, Andrea Jenks, Phill Wilson and Chigo Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot are brgg creased visibily as openly LGBTQ, high-profile Black lears.<b> </b>Still, activists say teachgs <a href=" target="_blank">have fallen short </a> tg stunts about the historil Black LGBTQ figur who paved the way for the achievements.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">The long road to more accurate portrayals of Black LGBTQ people on televisn</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“It is an ethil impossibily to tell the story of Black liberatn stggl whout talkg about Black LGBTQ participatn, volvement and learship,” said C. Riley Snorton, a profsor of English and genr and sexualy studi at the Universy of Chigo.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In regnn of Black History Month, profsors and activists reflected on the seldom-told stori of Black LGBTQ trailblazers and their ntributns to Amerin history.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="listicle-rd-EFABGA7FHJGCDE2ZOW7VIAHPVQ-0"><div id="list-headle-EFABGA7FHJGCDE2ZOW7VIAHPVQ-0" tabx="0" class="wpds-c-jKHtLo"><div></div><h3 class="wpds-c-eKlvKd listicle-headle" data-qa="list-headle">Lucy Hicks Anrson (1886-1954)</h3></div><a href="#sendary-nav" class="skip-lk sr-only sr-only-focable black unrle brad-md pa-lg mb-xs borr-box font-sans-serif font-bold">Return to menu</a><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null"><b>Transgenr pneer for marriage equaly</b></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Before <a href=" target=_blank>Christe Jensen</a>, often regnized as Ameri’s first proment trans woman, there was Lucy Hicks Anrson. She preced Jensen’s notoriety when stori of her trans inty ma news the early 20th century, Snorton said,<b> </b>who wrote about Anrson and the erasure of Black transsexual narrativ the book <a href=" target=_blank>“Black on Both Sis: A Racial History of Trans Inty.”</a></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">After marryg a soldier Oxnard, Calif., 1944, lol thori disvered that Anrson was assigned male at birth and the uple was charged wh perjury. Takg a stand urt, Anrson <a href=" target=_blank>reportedly said</a>, “I fy any doctor the world to prove that I am not a woman. I have lived, drsed, acted jt like what I am, a woman.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Instead of prison time, Anrson and her hband were placed on 10 years of probatn. Anrson was<b> </b>also orred to rea om wearg cloth ma for women, acrdg to <a href=" target=_blank>the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn</a>. Years later, the uple was charged aga — this time for d after Anrson received feral money rerved for ary spo. Both went to prison and were banned om Oxnard upon release. The uple then moved to Los Angel, where Anrson lived for the remar of her life.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="listicle-rd-6ONPRC7KLVAWHJGLRZAF77P42Y-1"><div id="list-headle-6ONPRC7KLVAWHJGLRZAF77P42Y-1" tabx="0" class="wpds-c-jKHtLo"><div></div><h3 class="wpds-c-eKlvKd listicle-headle" data-qa="list-headle">Gladys Bentley (1907-1960)</h3></div><a href="#sendary-nav" class="skip-lk sr-only sr-only-focable black unrle brad-md pa-lg mb-xs borr-box font-sans-serif font-bold">Return to menu</a><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null"><b>Blu sger, pianist and drag kg pneer</b></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Black arts and culture blossomed durg the Harlem Renaissance, but an <a href=">often overlooked</a> aspect of the era was s queer nightlife enclav and the fluence of Black lbian and transgenr blu. As a lbian blu sger, pianist and cross-drsg performer, Gladys Bentley was nsired “<a href=" target=_blank>Harlem’s most famo lbian</a>,” often sgg her own rnchy lyrics to popular tun and performg her signature top hat and tuxedo.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In the 1930s, Bentley headled at Harlem’s Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chos le of drag queens. “She also donned male artifice and attire and performed as a drag kg <a href=" target=_blank>Harry’s Clam Hoe</a> New York the 1920s,” Story said. “She was like, ldblood, the bt.” <a href=" target=_blank>Acrdg to the New York Tim</a>, Bentley was one of the bt-known Black entertaers the untry.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Toward 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.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="listicle-rd-HD4MU7BW3JBDROBT4MOKH466W4-2"><div id="list-headle-HD4MU7BW3JBDROBT4MOKH466W4-2" tabx="0" class="wpds-c-jKHtLo"><div></div><h3 class="wpds-c-eKlvKd listicle-headle" data-qa="list-headle">Bayard Rt (1912-1987)</h3></div><a href="#sendary-nav" class="skip-lk sr-only sr-only-focable black unrle brad-md pa-lg mb-xs borr-box font-sans-serif font-bold">Return to menu</a><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null"><b>Gay civil rights activist</b></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Bayard Rt is regnized as one of the <a href=" target=_blank>key lears</a> of the civil rights movement. He advised Kg on nonvlent tactics, helped plan the Montgomery, Ala., b boytt and was a chief anizer of the 1963 March on Washgton. But as an openly gay man, Rt faced discrimatn of his own while fightg for the rights of others.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In 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 <a href=" target=_blank>ed to target gay people</a>, forced Rt to register as a sex offenr and nearly railed his reer as a civil rights activist.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“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 Maryland.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">For years, Rt’s arrt siled him the civil rights movement. He stggled to fd work and was phed out of Kg’s ner circle. Then, 1963, Rt’s longtime mentor appoted him as a key anizer of the March on Washgton. Followg the succs of the march, Rt ntued to advote for civil rights, and he brought the AIDS crisis to the NAACP’s attentn an effort to enurage others to <a href=" target=_blank>“e out” and live their tths</a>.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="listicle-rd-PNHGQ4OQY5GE3PFYGNFTGQEFFQ-3"><div id="list-headle-PNHGQ4OQY5GE3PFYGNFTGQEFFQ-3" tabx="0" class="wpds-c-jKHtLo"><div></div><h3 class="wpds-c-eKlvKd listicle-headle" data-qa="list-headle">Pli Murray (1910-1985)</h3></div><a href="#sendary-nav" class="skip-lk sr-only sr-only-focable black unrle brad-md pa-lg mb-xs borr-box font-sans-serif font-bold">Return to menu</a><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null"><b>Lawyer, scholar and women’s rights activist</b></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Lawyer and activist Pli Murray is wily creded for <a href=" target=_blank>buildg the legal ameworks</a> that paved the way for the civil rights and women’s rights movements. Both of the late Supreme Court Jtic<b> </b>Ruth Bar Gsburg and Thurgood Marshall said they were fluenced by Murray’s arguments on race and genr. In particular, Marshall hailed Murray’s 700-page summary of racism state law as<a href=" target=_blank> “the bible” of <i>Brown v. Board of Edutn.</i></a><i> </i>And Murray was also nsired <a href=" target=_blank>stmental argug</a> for the 14th Amendment’s equal protectn clse, which stated discrimatn based on sex is unnstutnal.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Murray was an “archect of civil rights legislatn and civil rights victori who was queer,” Hazzard said, “and if she was alive to day, might even intify as transgenr.” Acrdg to <a href=" target=_blank>the Pli Murray Center for History and Social Jtice</a>, Murray self-scribed as a “he/she personaly” earlier life and also attempted to receive genr-affirmg health re, cludg hormone therapy, but was repeatedly nied.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">Pli Murray applied to be a Supreme Court jtice 1971. 50 years later, a Black woman uld make history.</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="listicle-rd-VO2ZRLJCQFCF5NTTO3LTEYR544-4"><div id="list-headle-VO2ZRLJCQFCF5NTTO3LTEYR544-4" tabx="0" class="wpds-c-jKHtLo"><div></div><h3 class="wpds-c-eKlvKd listicle-headle" data-qa="list-headle">Miss Major Griff-Gracy (1940-prent)</h3></div><a href="#sendary-nav" class="skip-lk sr-only sr-only-focable black unrle brad-md pa-lg mb-xs borr-box font-sans-serif font-bold">Return to menu</a><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null"><b>Transgenr rights activist</b></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Throughout her lifetime, transgenr activist Miss Major Griff-Gracy has stood at the foreont of a wi range of — many of which were spired by <a href=" target=_blank>her own personal challeng</a>. Early her life, she said, she experienced homelsns, rceratn and engaged sex work to survive.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Griff-Gracy is also nsired <a href=" target=_blank>a proment figure</a> the Stonewall rts. She was prent the night police raid the Stonewall Inn on June 27, 1969, New York, which prompted the monstratns, and was reportedly stck on the head by police and taken to ctody. While prison, an officer broke her jaw, she later said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">After the rts, Griff-Gracy foced her efforts on workg wh trans women who were rcerated, homels or battlg addictn. ”Her work has been about specifilly upliftg Black trans women,” Story said, “and really givg them teachg tools around how to al wh rceratn, police btaly.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">When the HIV/AIDS epimic stck the 1980s, Griff-Gracy also <a href=" target=_blank>provid direct health-re servic</a>. Now 81, she ns <a href=" target=_blank>a retreat center</a> for trans and genr-nonnformg Southern lears. “She’s a piece of livg history that I thk, even Black LGBT spac, a lot of folks don’t seem to talk about her and how foundatnal she was as much,” Story said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="wpds-c-VkPmP hi-for-prt"><div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="grid-center grid-body"><div class="wpds-c-jjHkyS hi-for-prt"><div data-qa="ntent" class="wpds-c-dgPYWO wpds-c-dgPYWO-iPJLV-css"><h3 data-qa="lkbox-headle" class="wpds-c-jtAZFm">Fd our genr and inty verage here</h3><p class="wpds-c-eynqHn">Read the latt stori on <a href=" target=_blank>our genr and inty page</a>.</p><p class="wpds-c-eynqHn">Also be sure to <a href=" target=_blank>sign up for our ee newsletter</a> and <a href=" target=_blank>follow on Instagram</a>.</p></div><div class="wpds-c-eZxssT"></div></div></div><div class="flex mt-md grid-center grid-body"><div class="mb-lg-mod" data-qa="ments-btn-div"><button aria-label="Scroll to the ments sectn" data-qa="ments-btn" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-nsy-flt wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left ments hi-for-prt"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg><span class="ral-unt unfed" data-ral-notext="te"></span> Comments</button></div><div class="wpds-c-dXjReQ"><button id="gift-share-shortcut" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left hi-for-prt ml-sm"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf "><path d="M10.73 5h.14a1.75 1.75 0 0 0 1-2.25 1.83 1.83 0 0 0-.51-.75 1.72 1.72 0 0 0-1.48-.35 1.76 1.76 0 0 0-1.2.94L8 3.93l-.68-1.4A1.76 1.76 0 0 0 4 3.59 1.74 1.74 0 0 0 5.13 5H2v4h1v5h10V9h1V5ZM9.58 3a.77.77 0 0 1 .51-.4h.17a.73.73 0 0 1 .47.17.72.72 0 0 1 .27.71.72.72 0 0 1-.48.58l-1.77.66ZM5 3.43a.72.72 0 0 1 .27-.71.73.73 0 0 1 .47-.17h.17a.77.77 0 0 1 .51.4l.83 1.7L5.48 4A.74.74 0 0 1 5 3.43ZM3 6h4.5v2H3Zm1 3h3.5v4H4Zm4.5 4V9H12v4ZM13 8H8.5V6H13Z" data-name="Path 10"></path></svg><span class="wpds-c-iSKIAI">Gift this article</span>Gift Article</button></div></div><div class="grid-center grid-body"><div></div></div></ma></div><div class="grid-center grid-mobile-full-bleed"><div class="hi-for-prt ml-to mr-to mt-md pt-lg recirc" data-qa="recirc"><div class="flex-l jtify-center hi-for-prt"><div class="pr-sm ml-sm ml-0-ns b-l br-l bc-gray-darkt more-om-post"><div></div><div class="dn db-l pb-md pt-md"><div data-qa="newsletter" class="hi-for-prt relative"><div class="dib w-100"><div><div class="flex jtify-center align self-center center transn-all duratn-400 ease--out" data-qa="sc-newsletter-signup" aria-label=""><svg aria-labelledby="react-aria-1-aria" role="img" viewBox="0 0 100 80"><tle id="react-aria-1-aria">Loadg...

gay black pioneer

Contents:

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. 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.

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

"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.

GAY HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY: THE 10 INS PROVE IT

“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. 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.

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.

LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: EARLY PNEERS OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

”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.

Zefart via Getty ImagMagn HirschfeldBorn 1868 what is now Poland, sexologist Hirschfeld is often nsired the "Este of Sex" and was an outspoken advote for gay and transgenr rights.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY BLACK PIONEER

LGBTQ History Month: Early pneers of the gay rights movement .

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