With the start of LGBT History Month comes a month of celebrating pride and educating the general public on iconic figures in the LGBTQ+ community. Everyone knows about icons such as Harvey Milk, Ellen DeGeneres, and even James Baldwin. But we should never forget about the queer women of color, especially queer Black women, who helped to pave the way for LGBTQ+ rights today. Read on to learn about some of the queer community’s own hidden figures.
1. Marsha P. Johnson
You know her for being a prominent figure in the Stonewall Riots, but Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson has quite the lengthy resume. She helped found the Gay Liberation Front, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), and was an AIDS activist associated with Aids Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Johnson was a legend in her own right and is the main reason Pride exists today.
2. Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was multifaceted in every sense of the word: a civil rights activist, intersectional feminist, womanist, and a writer of essays, prose, and poetry. Although she never liked the concept of labels, Lorde was proud of who she was as a lesbian black woman and worked tirelessly to bring the intersections of sexuality, race, and gender to the forefront of modern feminism.
3. Sylvia Rivera
Latina queer activist Sylvia Rivera was the definition of badass. She was another prominent name in the Stonewall Riots and continually fought to improve transgender and LGBTQ+ rights in America during the 1970s. Rivera, along with close friend Marsha P. Johnson, founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) to give shelter to queer homeless youth. Even when she passed away at 50 from liver cancer in 2002, she was involved with the Empire State Pride Agenda, which goes to show that she fought for inclusiveness and equality until the very end.
4. Barbara Jordan
Representative Barbara Jordan was the first Black woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives from Texas in 1972. She made strides with her position and was never very explicit about her personal life, but it was reported that she lived with a woman for 30 years. Jordan was not just generally unbothered, but she was also a queer black woman who lived her life by her personal standards, not anyone else’s.
5. Stormé DeLarverie
Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera may have been the most recognizable figures of the Stonewall riots, but there is another name we shouldn’t exclude or forget about: Stormé DeLarverie. She was an unapologetic butch lesbian who, like the other entries on this list, eschewed the status quo, regularly dressed in drag, and was a frequent performer at Radio City Music Hall and the Apollo Theater. She’s also earned the moniker of “the Rosa Parks of the gay community” rightfully so!
6. Mabel Hampton
Mabel Hampton spent her years being a singer and dancer in the Harlem Renaissance and is one of the most distinguished icons of the era. Like fellow black lesbian Audre Lorde, Hampton was a proud-AF black lesbian who became a philanthropist for both LGBTQ+ and Black rights and their intersection. She was in a relationship with partner Lillian Foster for 46 years from 1932 until Foster’s death in 1978, and they referred to each other as “husband and wife”. If those aren’t relationship goals, I don’t know what is!
7. Laverne Cox
Oh, come on, you know this list wasn’t going to be complete without the Laverne Cox! Though she is a more recent figure in the LGBTQ+ community, she has already made history by being the first openly trans woman to garner an Emmy nomination for her role as Sophia Burset in the hit Netflix comedy series, “Orange Is The New Black.” Cox is not only a certified badass, but she continues to fight for LGBTQ+ rights, especially for trans people.
8. Margaret Cho
Creator of “All-American Girl”, stand-up comic, actress, writer, musician; Margaret Cho is no stranger to the LGBTQ+ community or Hollywood. She is openly bisexual and also an activist focusing on Asian-Americans, women and LGBT culture. She’s also tried her hand at being a burlesque dancer if you can believe that (which you should because anything she does is pure gold)!