Part 2: Our Hall of Fame

Any celebration of the The Advocate's founding in 1967 must honor the LGBT rights heroes that we've covered for 45 years. With one honoree named per year, the list will be announced in segments and culminate in an event in Los Angeles this month.

BY Advocate.com Editors

March 19 2012 2:00 AM ET

HEROES 2003 BISHOP V. GENE ROBINSON X560 | ADVOCATE.COM Dustin Lance Black writes about people who have changed the world and manages to change it all over again.

Black won an Academy Award in 2008 for Best Original Screenplay after his biopic Milk reminded the world of Harvey Milk's perseverance on behalf of LGBT people and his assassination for trying. Black also wrote a screenplay about Pedro Zamora, who changed opinions of the MTV generation by sharing his experiences as an HIV-positive gay man in a reality show.

Now Black is a founding board member for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is challenging California's Proposition 8 as unconstitutional. Black wrote a play, called 8, about what happened as LGBT activists fought the law in court. A cadre of Hollywood's brightest stars joined in readings in New York and Los Angeles, and now the show is headed to states where same-sex marriage bans are on the ballot. As before, Black's work has taken something too few people had noticed and given it a bigger stage.
—Lucas Grindley