Tullalah Bankhead

1902-1968

Openly “ambisextrous” stage and screen actress, gay icon, and pioneering civil rights activist who strongly and publicly opposed racism and segregation.

Bobbi Campbell

1952-1984

Early self-identified person with AIDS whose prolific writing helped inform the public, empower early sufferers, and destigmatize the condition.

Esther Eng

1914-1970

San Francisco native, affectionately known as Big Brother Ha, the first Chinese-American woman to produce a motion picture in Hollywood, direct a film in Hong Kong and film in color.

Leslie Feinberg

1949-2014

Radical activist and author whose book, Stone Butch Blues, familiarized readers with transgender, non-binary and genderqueer terms, pronouns, concepts, and politics.

Sally Gearhart

1931-2021

American teacher, radical feminist, science-fiction writer, and political activist.

Lorraine Hansberry

1930-1965

First African American woman to have a play performed on Broadway and the youngest playwright to receive the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

Magnus Hirschfeld

1868-1935

Pioneering German physician and sexologist, outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, important theorist of sexuality, and a prominent advocate for sexuality minorities in the early 20th century.

Billie Holiday

1915-1959

Incomparable bi-sexual jazz legend, known for vocal elegance, dramatic intensity, and great improvisational skills, who unapologetically performed her signature song “Strange Fruit” as a declaration against American racism.

Langston Hughes

1901-1967

Leader of the Harlem Renaissance, whose poetry, plays, novels, and columns gave fresh insight into the experience of Black men in the United States.

Carlos Jáuregui

1956-1996

A courageous Argentinian activist who fiercely fought for the rights of the full spectrum of the LGBTQ community