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GLBT History Month: 31 Days, 31 Heroes

October is GLBT History Month, a national celebration of queer culture through the ages. To remind people of our achievements, the Equality Forum has honored a hero for every day of the month. Who made the list?

By Neal Broverman and Kandice Day

An Advocate.com exclusive posted October 31, 2008

This month's GLBT History Month was created to remind our youth that gay people can accomplish anything. The Equality Forum -- the nonprofit civil rights group that coordinates GLBT History Month -- is spreading the word about gay achievement by honoring a different queer leader every day through Halloween. Its esteemed list is below; click here for more info on these history-makers.

1. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon -- Gay rights advocates and longtime partners. Martin and Lyon were legally married in California just months before Martin passed away in August.

2. Stephen Sondheim -- Tony-, Oscar-, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway composer and lyricist. His works include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd.

3. Gianni Versace -- Trendsetting fashion designer who designed for the jet set before his murder in 1997.

4. Sheila Kuehl -- In 1994, Kuehl became the first openly gay person elected to the California legislature. In her youth Kuehl played the role of Zelda in the TV sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

5. Tennessee Williams -- Tortured playwright who wrote unforgettable works like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire.

6. Alice Walker -- Author and feminist who won a Pulitzer for her groundbreaking book The Color Purple.

7. Greg Louganis -- Olympic diver who took home the gold at the '84 Olympics in Los Angeles and the '88 games in Seoul.

8. Bertrand Delanoë -- This Paris mayor has a reputation for honesty as he backs environmental and LGBT causes in the City of Lights.

9. Margaret Mead -- American cultural anthropologist who remains a legacy in feminist history. Her views helped to advance the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

10. Mark Bingham -- Hero of 9/11; Bingham was one of the brave fliers believed to have overpowered the hijackers on United Flight 93 and saved the U.S. Capitol from being attacked.

11. Cleve Jones -- An intern for Harvey Milk, Jones founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and is best known for the creation of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

12. Jann Wenner -- Editor of the influential Rolling Stone magazine, which has been publishing for over 40 years.

13. Harvey Fierstein -- This gravelly voiced actor wrote and starred in the play and film Torch Song Trilogy. Fierstein also wrote the book to the much-loved musical La Cage aux Folles.

14. Margarethe Cammermeyer -- A colonel in the Washington National Guard who became a gay rights activist after being discharged from the military for being gay.

15. Anthony Romero -- Powerful executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

16. Melissa Etheridge -- Platinum-selling, Grammy- and Oscar-winning musician whose hits include "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window."

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Broverman is The Advocate's associate editor; Day is the magazine's editorial intern.

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: jon winkleman
Date posted: 2008-10-18 8:05 PM
Hometown: NYC

Comment:

Kind of surprised that that Larry Kramer was also left out. He founded the first AIDS organization, Gay Mens Health Crisis. He put out the call and was one of the founders of ACT UP, which was a major turning point in LGBT activism. His play the Normal Heart had an enormous impact on AIDS politics. His book Faggots was a landmark piece of LGBT literature and remains one of the best selling gay novels of all time. Kramer was nominated for an Oscar for his very homoerotic screenplay for Women In Love. Few individuals have created as much change in the course of LGBT history as did Larry Kramer. Perhaps (also missing from this list) Vito Russo was right conformists are celebrated when they are alive and troublemakers whenthey are dead.

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