We are in the 21st and in the year 2021. And I will never be able to comprehend how we still have to prove that queer people are, well… human. But what is even more shocking is that people have been fighting for gay rights for years, even centuries. People are basically fighting for their rights but are being denied and invalidated. There is no question that this needs to stop. But while we are still continuing to fight for queer rights let’s take a look at how it all started, let’s see how it all started; here are some pride activists and icons in history. 

 

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs: The first gay person to publicly speak out for homosexual rights: 

Ulrichs was a civil servant in Germany until he was forced to resign in 1854 because of his homosexuality. Then he became an activist, and published 12 volumes worth of work on  sexuality. Ulrichs is thought to have been the first gay person to publicly speak out for homosexual rights. In 1867, he urged the German government to repeal anti-homosexuality laws, which firmly established himself as the pioneer of the gay rights movement.

 

Harvey Milk: The first openly gay person to be elected for Office:

He was born in 1930 and became a prominent gay rights activist. He found his voice in gay rights activism after moving to San Fransico in 1972. In 1977, he became the first openly gay person elected to public office, winning a seat on the San Francisco City Council Board. He had previously run for the seat twice, unsuccessfully. Sadly, Milk was shot and killed in 1978. He is the subject of the Oscar-winning film Milk. During his short tenure in office he pushed legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodations. In 2009, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger designated May 22, Milk’s birthday, as a day of recognition for the late politician and activist. 

 

Sylvia Rivera: a self-identified drag queen who fought tirelessly for transgender rights:

Sylvia Rivera was a queer, Latina, self-identified drag queen who fought tirelessly for transgender rights, as well as for the rights of gender-nonconforming people. After the Stonewall riots, where she was said to have thrown the first brick, Rivera started S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), a group focused on providing shelter and support to queer, homeless youth, with Marsha P. Johnson. She also fought against the exclusion of transgender people in New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. She was an activist even on her deathbed, meeting with the Empire State Pride Agenda about trans inclusion.

 

Audre Lorde: The lesbian warrior poet:

She described herself as  a ‘black lesbian mother warrior poet’. Lorde was born in 1939 and worked as a librarian for many years before she published her first volume of poetry. Her work covered everything from civil rights (The Black Unicorn) and sexuality, to her own battle with breast cancer (A Burst of Light, for which Lorde received an American Book Award). She inspired Barbara Smith to found Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher by, for, and about women of colour.

 

Josephine Baker: a bisexual entertainer of the Jazz Age:

Baker was a well-known entertainer of the Jazz Age and identified as bisexual. She was one of the most successful African-American performers in French history and used her platform as an entertainer to advocate for desegregation, refusing to perform in segregated venues and even speaking at the 1963 March on Washington. Baker also served as a spy for the French during World War II, passing along secrets she heard while performing for German soldiers.