15 Black Gay & Queer Men From History You Should Know

Contents:

• FEATURED STORI
• GAY HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY: THE 10 INS PROVE IT
• HISTOIR éROTIQU GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GAY RIGHTS

FEATURED STORI

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.

GAY HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY: THE 10 INS PROVE IT

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh.

HISTOIR éROTIQU GAY

The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail. Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”. For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space. " 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.

GAY RIGHTS

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.

They've served as civil rights lears, revolutnary artists, labor anizers, scientists, policians, and tors, and their impact has touched every part of this still, many Black gay men are fotten, and erased om history, wh their acplishments beg washed away.

When he released his send novel, Gvanni's Room, 1956, s them of gay social and self-acceptance Black muni were somethg never talked about such a public way. His wrg on Black gay and bisexual men has paved the way for queer wrers of all typ, and his mark on culture will never be and Rt were two of the only out gay men promently volved the Amerin civil rights movement.

Wh the ballroom muny, Dupree walked as a "butch queen drags" which was generally unrstood to be a gay man wearg feme garments -- some might term this nonbary or genr nonnformg today.

His outspoken pictns of homosexualy sometim ed him to fall out of favor wh other, more discreet ntemporari, but his wrg and art, cludg the short story "Smoke, Lili, and Ja, " on terracial male sire, have stood the tt of time. Grav was a Black clergyman who served as the first print and -director of the Society for Human Rights (the former headquarters of which are pictured), the first regnized gay rights anizatn the Uned Stat.

The group only had seven members at 's foundg, and jt a year after s foundg, was shut down after the police arrted Grav, Gerber, and other members on false charg that they performed homosexual acts ont of one member's children. Glenn Burke wasn't only the first Major League Player to e out as gay durg his reer and publicly acknowledge his sexualy, he also vented the high five 1977. 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.

"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.

(Drag) Kgs and Queens, dyk, homos, genr nonnformg, same-genr lovg, queer and trans folk populate our history and have been foundatnal to every sgle emancipatory movement we’ve ever had.

Johnson to Jimmy Baldw; om Audre Lor to Richard Nugent; om Countee Cullen to Patrisse Cullors—we owe to ourselv, to our muny, to all of our children, gay and otherwise, to tell the whole story. Remarkably, Rt was out his entire life, yet still faced discrimatn wh the black muny and the larger movement for his sexualy, cludg a particularly paful episo where Congrsman Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem wield Rt’s homosexualy agast him and threatened MLK, who dropped him for polil expediency.

Blakk, a drag queen alter ego of Terence Smh (also of Pomo Ao Homos fame), ma her world but 1974, and 1991, ran agast Chigo Mayor Richard M. At a time where HIV and AIDS were cimatg the black and gay muny, separately and together, Blakk ed her voice to speak tth to power, nsistently puttg the issu and needs of gay, black and margalized people at the fore.

Wrer and playwright Lorrae Hansberry pos for a portra her apartment 1959 New York David Attie (Getty Imag)Lorrae Hansberry (1930-1965) Young, Gifted & GayLorrae Hansberry was a prolific wrer, playwright, activist, and the wrer of the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, who died far too young. Before her ath at 34, Hansberry joed the NY Dghters of Bilis as an activist the “homophile” movement and ntributed two letters to their magaze, The Ladr, unr her ials, “LHN.

Miss Major is all of the followg: a prison abolnist, an AIDS activist, and a performer, all the while llg out the racism and transphobia of the gay muny.

DeLaverie was one of several “butch lbians” who fought the opprsive, prejudiced NYPD on that fateful summer night—for this, she has been dubbed the “Rosa Parks of the Gay Rights Movement. DeLarverie was also a fixture the Gay Pri para for years, and a bouncer at many lbian bars and clubs New York Cy’s Greenwich Village, packg a legal gun (until she was 85) to protect agast those who would do the gay muny harm.

Force éta nstater que dans ce magas, hier, vers 18h30, c’éta effectivement rempli d’homo avec 5 gay pour 8 clients… Mais ce n’t pas cette renntre toute plate qui me fa m’extasier.