Famous gay men in history
12 LGBT icons from history you should know about
Marsha P. Johnson was an African American transgender-rights activist, whose work in the s and s had a huge impact on the LGBT community.
At this time, being gay was classified as a mental illness in the United States. Gay people were regularly threatened and beaten by police, and were shunned by many in society.
In June , when Marsha was 23 years old, police raided a gay bar in New York called The Stonewall Inn. The police forced over people out of the bar and onto the streets, and then used excessive violence against them.
Marsha, who was living and working in New York at the time, was one of the key figures who stood up to the police during the raids.
Marsha resisted arrest, but in the following days, led a series of protests and riots demanding rights for gay people.
News of these protests spread around the world, inspiring others to join protests and rights groups to battle for equality.
Read more about Marsha P. Johnson here.
Historical Figures of LGBTQ+ History
Barbara Jordan was born on February 21, , in Houston, Texas. After attending Phyllis WheatleyHigh School, Jordan graduated in Upon graduation, Jordan attended Texas Southern University and earned her bachelor’s degree in She then obtained her law degree from Boston University to practice law in Houston, TX. In , Jordan began her political career and ran for the Texas House of Representatives. She lost this election and ran again in However, she lost again, so in she decided to run for Texas Senate, instead. This time, Jordan won and became the first African American woman to be elected in that was the first African American state senator in the U.S. since On March 28, , she was elected President of the Texas Senate, making her the first Black woman in America to oversee a legislative body. She also ran for Congress, during this time, and became the first African American in the 20th century to be elected to Congress from the South. In addition to these accomplishments, Barbara was also the first LGBTQ+ woman in Congress. Nancy Earl, an edu
The Gays of Old – Famous Gay People in History
As the grand high queen herself, Ru Paul, often declares:, ‘Knowing our his(her)story is fundamental’. However, gay history is often &#; quite literally &#; buried under the ages. The battle to uncover and reclaim the gay figures of old is a real one, with LGBTQ+ historians accused of imposing new ideology on historical times. Yet why should a heterosexual assumption take precedence when historical evidence clearly points to the adj – even if the pos ‘gay’ was yet to be used.
We delve into the stories of six prominent gay figures &#; from emperors to poets, traveling through history from ancient times to the modern era.
Emperor Ai of Han (25 BC – 1BC)
Traveling all the way back to Ancient China, the older dynasties were surprisingly somewhat less conservative than the latter ones. Men weren’t expected to be monogamous and thus many emperors had “male favorites” alongside their wives &#; the most famous of which being Emperor Ai of Han.
The story of Ai’s affections for his lover Dong Xian is
June is Pride Month, which commemorates the Stonewall riots of , when patrons of a gay bar, The Stonewall Inn, in New York City fought back against a police raid. It was an inflection point in the gay liberation movement. To celebrate Pride Month, I wanted to share a bit about LGBTQ+ scientists of the past.
I often feel uncomfortable with these lists, especially when sexual orientation and/or gender identity is speculative. Many LGBTQ+ people in history couldn't come out publicly (and the truth is that many today still can't), and it feels a little intrusive to speculate based on a letter or some ambiguous anecdote. But I also know that the fine that comes from the visibility of those historical figures is significant. It's important to study about the contributions LGBTQ+ people have long been making. So I've included in this list people who were public about their identity and/or orientation as well as people who are thought to have been LGBTQ+.
This list is more on the historical side and includes mostly (though not entirely) people who are no longer workin