notable lesbians, gays, transexuals, and "Queers"
Audre lorde
(February 18th, 1934 – November 17th, 1992)
“When I dare to be powerful- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
- Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a famous poet and essayist who called herself, “a black lesbian mother poet”. She was a well-known writer who focused on writing about the marginalizations she experienced being a woman, a lesbian, and African American. Her poetry and essays focused on the need for others to embrace every part of their identity and to not be afraid of the differences found in society.
She was born in New York City, right before the Depression and both of her parents were immigrants from the West Indies. She grew up in Harlem and learned to read by the age of four. Audre Lorde was born Audrey Lorde, but when she was learning how to write she insisted on dropping the y because she “did not like the tail end of the y hanging down below the line”. She grew up to love poetry for explaining her own emotions and would often recite a poem when someone asked her how she was feeling. Audre began writing her own poetry at the age of twelve to express her own thoughts and feelings.
Audre married Edward Rollins in 1962. They had two children together but later divorced in 1970 because of Audre’s relationship with a woman. In 1968 she worked at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, where she met Frances Clayton. Frances would become her first long term partner.
Lorde’s poetry was published frequenty during the 1960s in a variety of publications. During the sixties she was very active in the civil rights, antiwar, and feminist movements. Her first volume of poetry, The First Citie (1968), and was cited as innovative and a refreshing stance on the civil rights movement because it was not seen as confrontational but more matter of fact poems about her own experiences as an African American. Her second volume, Cables to Rage, was more urgent and confrontational after Lorde’s own personal reactions to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. The second volume was rooted in her anger towards the racism and sexism that prevailed in the United States.
Lorde’s wrote several other volumes of poetry but her next large volume was The Cancer Journals (1980), which chronicle her own battle with breast cancer and her reactions to the mastectomy that she underwent. She, also, cofounded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in the 1980s because of her own strong belief in the power of using words to fight prejudices and cruelty in society.
Audre Lorde died of cancer in 1992. However, her messages about pushing women to take power in a sexist society still inspire today, as well as her emphasis on the change that can caused by using words.
“When I dare to be powerful- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
- Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a famous poet and essayist who called herself, “a black lesbian mother poet”. She was a well-known writer who focused on writing about the marginalizations she experienced being a woman, a lesbian, and African American. Her poetry and essays focused on the need for others to embrace every part of their identity and to not be afraid of the differences found in society.
She was born in New York City, right before the Depression and both of her parents were immigrants from the West Indies. She grew up in Harlem and learned to read by the age of four. Audre Lorde was born Audrey Lorde, but when she was learning how to write she insisted on dropping the y because she “did not like the tail end of the y hanging down below the line”. She grew up to love poetry for explaining her own emotions and would often recite a poem when someone asked her how she was feeling. Audre began writing her own poetry at the age of twelve to express her own thoughts and feelings.
Audre married Edward Rollins in 1962. They had two children together but later divorced in 1970 because of Audre’s relationship with a woman. In 1968 she worked at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, where she met Frances Clayton. Frances would become her first long term partner.
Lorde’s poetry was published frequenty during the 1960s in a variety of publications. During the sixties she was very active in the civil rights, antiwar, and feminist movements. Her first volume of poetry, The First Citie (1968), and was cited as innovative and a refreshing stance on the civil rights movement because it was not seen as confrontational but more matter of fact poems about her own experiences as an African American. Her second volume, Cables to Rage, was more urgent and confrontational after Lorde’s own personal reactions to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. The second volume was rooted in her anger towards the racism and sexism that prevailed in the United States.
Lorde’s wrote several other volumes of poetry but her next large volume was The Cancer Journals (1980), which chronicle her own battle with breast cancer and her reactions to the mastectomy that she underwent. She, also, cofounded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in the 1980s because of her own strong belief in the power of using words to fight prejudices and cruelty in society.
Audre Lorde died of cancer in 1992. However, her messages about pushing women to take power in a sexist society still inspire today, as well as her emphasis on the change that can caused by using words.
Renee richards
(1934 – Present)
Renee Richards was born in 1934 as Richard Raskind in New York City, the child of two doctors. Richard, nicknamed Dick, publicly was a popular athlete and captain of the Yale tennis team. However, privately, Dick struggled with finding ways to give life to his female side. He would shave his legs and began dressing in his sister’s clothes at age nine. By the time Dick reached college, he had named his feminine ego, Renee, which is French for reborn. Dick went a psychologist who recommended he grow a beard to staunch any fantasies about becoming Renee.
Dick went to medical school and became an ophthalmologist. He then joined the Navy as a lieutenant and won all of the tennis championships he could. But enlisting meant Dick had to shave off the beard that he had grown out and he began again to struggle with his desire of becoming Renee. Dick ended his stint in the military growing increasingly depressed but was able to find a psychiatrist who had experience treating transgender people.
With the help and encouragement of his psychiatrist Dick was able to finally begin the transformation process he had wanted to. He started receiving injections of progesterone and estrogen to soften his body and give him a more feminine appearance. Dick then lived as Renee for several months in Paris before traveling to Morocco for his sexual reassignment surgery, which was unavailable in the United States at the time. However, at the last moment he designed against the surgery because of the unsanitary environment.
Dick decided to put Renee behind him for a time and met a woman and by his friend’s recommendation that meeting the “right girl” would help Dick to move on from the idea of Renee, he got married. The marriage didn’t last long and afterwards Dick’s psychiatrist recommended that Dick finally take the sexual reassignment surgery. Dick finally had the surgery and moved to California to reopen her ophthalmology clinic as Renee Richards and began playing amateur tennis.
Renee was a phenomenal tennis player but her story and origins were outed in 1976 after she won the La Jolla championship. The United States Tennis Association decided to band Richards from playing tennis professionally on the grounds that she was born a man. Renee chose to fight the ban and demand entry into the U.S. Open. The New York Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that Renee was a female and allowed to participate in female tennis leagues. This case was a landmark win for the rights and recognition that many transgender people are fighting for.
Richards went on to play in the U.S. Open and finished 19th overall, proving that she was not at an unfair advantage because of her past and experience as a male. Nowadays, Richards no longer plays tennis professionally and continues to focus her work in ophthalmology. She currently speaks out against the 2004 Olympic Committee’s ruling that transgender people can only complete after they have had surgery and two years of hormonal therapy.
Renee Richards was born in 1934 as Richard Raskind in New York City, the child of two doctors. Richard, nicknamed Dick, publicly was a popular athlete and captain of the Yale tennis team. However, privately, Dick struggled with finding ways to give life to his female side. He would shave his legs and began dressing in his sister’s clothes at age nine. By the time Dick reached college, he had named his feminine ego, Renee, which is French for reborn. Dick went a psychologist who recommended he grow a beard to staunch any fantasies about becoming Renee.
Dick went to medical school and became an ophthalmologist. He then joined the Navy as a lieutenant and won all of the tennis championships he could. But enlisting meant Dick had to shave off the beard that he had grown out and he began again to struggle with his desire of becoming Renee. Dick ended his stint in the military growing increasingly depressed but was able to find a psychiatrist who had experience treating transgender people.
With the help and encouragement of his psychiatrist Dick was able to finally begin the transformation process he had wanted to. He started receiving injections of progesterone and estrogen to soften his body and give him a more feminine appearance. Dick then lived as Renee for several months in Paris before traveling to Morocco for his sexual reassignment surgery, which was unavailable in the United States at the time. However, at the last moment he designed against the surgery because of the unsanitary environment.
Dick decided to put Renee behind him for a time and met a woman and by his friend’s recommendation that meeting the “right girl” would help Dick to move on from the idea of Renee, he got married. The marriage didn’t last long and afterwards Dick’s psychiatrist recommended that Dick finally take the sexual reassignment surgery. Dick finally had the surgery and moved to California to reopen her ophthalmology clinic as Renee Richards and began playing amateur tennis.
Renee was a phenomenal tennis player but her story and origins were outed in 1976 after she won the La Jolla championship. The United States Tennis Association decided to band Richards from playing tennis professionally on the grounds that she was born a man. Renee chose to fight the ban and demand entry into the U.S. Open. The New York Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that Renee was a female and allowed to participate in female tennis leagues. This case was a landmark win for the rights and recognition that many transgender people are fighting for.
Richards went on to play in the U.S. Open and finished 19th overall, proving that she was not at an unfair advantage because of her past and experience as a male. Nowadays, Richards no longer plays tennis professionally and continues to focus her work in ophthalmology. She currently speaks out against the 2004 Olympic Committee’s ruling that transgender people can only complete after they have had surgery and two years of hormonal therapy.
HArvey milk
(1930 – 1978)
“It takes no compromise to give people their rights...it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.”
– Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk is best known for being the first openly homosexual politician to hold office when he was elected on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1977. Harvey was born in 1930 in Woodmere, New York. He was born into a small middle-class Jewish family that had founded a Jewish synagogue. He knew he was gay when he attended high school.
In college, Harvey began wrote for a popular school newspaper column where he began to write about lessons on diversity that were learned after the end of World War II. He joined the Navy in 1951 and was based in San Diego as a diving instructor. In 1955 he was discharged as a lieutenant junior grade. Harvey then moved back to New York and worked in several civilian careers until he began to become more involved in politics.
In 1972, Harvey moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store on Castro Street. Milk’s sense of humor and vibrant personality made him a popular neighborhood figure. In 1973 he ran for Board of Supervisors. He lost that race but would build up his influence in the community to run again a few years later. Milk created the Castro Village Association, the first organization of LGBTQ businesses in the country. In 1975, Harvey ran for San Francisco supervisor seat and narrowly lost.
Harvey ran for the third and last time in the supervisor seat and with the help of his close friend Mayor George Moscone he was easily able to win the seat. Milk used his new place as a supervisor to speak out on issues of interest to LGBTQ people, women, racial and ethnic minorities and other marginalized communities. He sponsored an anti-discrimination bill to protect gay rights and he was an advocate for safe and strong neighborhoods. Milk brought together several different communities by building coalitions between women, Hispanics, Asians, and the disabled.
Harvey Milk and George Moscone were assassinated in November 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor. The night Milk was killed a crowd of thousands came together and marched to City Hall in a silent candlelight vigil.
Harvey Milk believed that the government should protect, represent, and ensure equality for all citizens. He encouraged gay people to come out, so that more families could come together to support equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Milk became a pioneer for the LGBTQ community and was the first ever openly gay elected official to office. Since his death public opinion has shifted on gay marriage, gays in the military, and there have been hundreds of openly gay LGBTQ officials in America.
“It takes no compromise to give people their rights...it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.”
– Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk is best known for being the first openly homosexual politician to hold office when he was elected on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1977. Harvey was born in 1930 in Woodmere, New York. He was born into a small middle-class Jewish family that had founded a Jewish synagogue. He knew he was gay when he attended high school.
In college, Harvey began wrote for a popular school newspaper column where he began to write about lessons on diversity that were learned after the end of World War II. He joined the Navy in 1951 and was based in San Diego as a diving instructor. In 1955 he was discharged as a lieutenant junior grade. Harvey then moved back to New York and worked in several civilian careers until he began to become more involved in politics.
In 1972, Harvey moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store on Castro Street. Milk’s sense of humor and vibrant personality made him a popular neighborhood figure. In 1973 he ran for Board of Supervisors. He lost that race but would build up his influence in the community to run again a few years later. Milk created the Castro Village Association, the first organization of LGBTQ businesses in the country. In 1975, Harvey ran for San Francisco supervisor seat and narrowly lost.
Harvey ran for the third and last time in the supervisor seat and with the help of his close friend Mayor George Moscone he was easily able to win the seat. Milk used his new place as a supervisor to speak out on issues of interest to LGBTQ people, women, racial and ethnic minorities and other marginalized communities. He sponsored an anti-discrimination bill to protect gay rights and he was an advocate for safe and strong neighborhoods. Milk brought together several different communities by building coalitions between women, Hispanics, Asians, and the disabled.
Harvey Milk and George Moscone were assassinated in November 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor. The night Milk was killed a crowd of thousands came together and marched to City Hall in a silent candlelight vigil.
Harvey Milk believed that the government should protect, represent, and ensure equality for all citizens. He encouraged gay people to come out, so that more families could come together to support equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Milk became a pioneer for the LGBTQ community and was the first ever openly gay elected official to office. Since his death public opinion has shifted on gay marriage, gays in the military, and there have been hundreds of openly gay LGBTQ officials in America.
stephen whittle
(1955 - Present)
“But I won’t stop until I have won equal rights for the trans community. We’ve still a long way to go.”
- Stephen Whittle
Stephen Whittle was born a female on May 29th, 1955 in the United Kingdom. He always felt as if there was something wrong with him and after reading an article about a transsexual man when Stephen was 17, he realized that he felt more comfortable as a man than as a woman. Stephen received sexual reassignment surgery before his 20th birthday and he had to wait three months as a man before he could begin taking hormones. At the time of his transformation he was working as a lab technician and was severely persecuted by his colleagues. He lost all of his friends and his family was shocked by his decision but his mother slowly came to terms with her daughter being Stephen.
After the transformation Stephen moved to Brighton and enrolled at Sussex University. It was in school where he met his partner of 31 years, Sarah. After graduating from college, Stephen applied to be a teacher but was told that it wasn’t possible to have someone “like him” working in the teaching profession. However, Stephen didn’t give up. He lost two more jobs when his employers discovered his past history and it wasn’t until Stephen went back for his law degree that life started to turn around for him.
In 1992, Stephen cofounded Press For Change, which is a lobbying organization for transgender people. He led cases in court to recognize non-biologically related families as families. Also, he campaigned for trans peoples marriages to be recognized by law. This proposition was taken to the European Court of Human Rights and it contributed to the Gender Recognition Act, which allows transgender people to legally change their gender and came into force in 2005. Stephen was able to finally marry his partner Sarah that year and in 2006 he became the legal father of his four children.
Stephen is currently a professor of equalities law at Manchester Metropolitan University. Every year on the first day of classes he announces to his students that he is transgender and sometimes has to deal with abuse simply by admitting his own past and being honest. However, other people’s prejudices haven’t discouraged Stephen from continuing to lobby for equal right for transgender people in the world.
“But I won’t stop until I have won equal rights for the trans community. We’ve still a long way to go.”
- Stephen Whittle
Stephen Whittle was born a female on May 29th, 1955 in the United Kingdom. He always felt as if there was something wrong with him and after reading an article about a transsexual man when Stephen was 17, he realized that he felt more comfortable as a man than as a woman. Stephen received sexual reassignment surgery before his 20th birthday and he had to wait three months as a man before he could begin taking hormones. At the time of his transformation he was working as a lab technician and was severely persecuted by his colleagues. He lost all of his friends and his family was shocked by his decision but his mother slowly came to terms with her daughter being Stephen.
After the transformation Stephen moved to Brighton and enrolled at Sussex University. It was in school where he met his partner of 31 years, Sarah. After graduating from college, Stephen applied to be a teacher but was told that it wasn’t possible to have someone “like him” working in the teaching profession. However, Stephen didn’t give up. He lost two more jobs when his employers discovered his past history and it wasn’t until Stephen went back for his law degree that life started to turn around for him.
In 1992, Stephen cofounded Press For Change, which is a lobbying organization for transgender people. He led cases in court to recognize non-biologically related families as families. Also, he campaigned for trans peoples marriages to be recognized by law. This proposition was taken to the European Court of Human Rights and it contributed to the Gender Recognition Act, which allows transgender people to legally change their gender and came into force in 2005. Stephen was able to finally marry his partner Sarah that year and in 2006 he became the legal father of his four children.
Stephen is currently a professor of equalities law at Manchester Metropolitan University. Every year on the first day of classes he announces to his students that he is transgender and sometimes has to deal with abuse simply by admitting his own past and being honest. However, other people’s prejudices haven’t discouraged Stephen from continuing to lobby for equal right for transgender people in the world.
lz granderson
(March 11th, 1972 – Present)
LZ Granderson was born and raised in Detroit, MI. He is a one-time Detroit gang member who managed to turn his life around and become a successful sports journalist for CNN and ESPN. Granderson graduated from Western Michigan University. He is a 2009 winner of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for online journalism.
Before writing for ESPN, Granderson wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and was a Columbia University Hechinger Institute Fellow. Granderson was the first journalist to break the story of basketball player Sheryl Swoopes coming out. He has also interviewed many other athletes such as Terrell Owens, Dan Marino, and David Beckham.
Granderson took a chance when he chose to be openly gay in a business that was dominated by jock culture and hyper masculinity. However, due to his openness, Granderson has been able to bring up taboo subjects such as the usage of the N-word, the presence of gays in the locker room, and the truths and lies about reverse racism. His approach is to spare no one from his criticisms, even himself when he writes his columns.
Granderson has been at the forefront of gays in sports discussions for much of his 15 year career as a journalist. He, unlike other sports journalists, doesn’t focus on the game but on the people who are playing the game and who is watching them. He won first place in the opinion writing category for the 2008 Excellence in Journalism awards.
Through the usage of humor and personal anecdotes, Granderson applies his own experiences of rising from poverty, physical abuse, and gangs to become the most visible gay African American man working in sports today. He appears weekly on CNN Newsroom. Also, he has weekly columns on both ESPN.com and CNN.com that tackle a wide range of issues from the LGBTQ struggle for equality to how parents’ today are dressing their children in more provocative clothing.
LZ Granderson was born and raised in Detroit, MI. He is a one-time Detroit gang member who managed to turn his life around and become a successful sports journalist for CNN and ESPN. Granderson graduated from Western Michigan University. He is a 2009 winner of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation award for online journalism.
Before writing for ESPN, Granderson wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and was a Columbia University Hechinger Institute Fellow. Granderson was the first journalist to break the story of basketball player Sheryl Swoopes coming out. He has also interviewed many other athletes such as Terrell Owens, Dan Marino, and David Beckham.
Granderson took a chance when he chose to be openly gay in a business that was dominated by jock culture and hyper masculinity. However, due to his openness, Granderson has been able to bring up taboo subjects such as the usage of the N-word, the presence of gays in the locker room, and the truths and lies about reverse racism. His approach is to spare no one from his criticisms, even himself when he writes his columns.
Granderson has been at the forefront of gays in sports discussions for much of his 15 year career as a journalist. He, unlike other sports journalists, doesn’t focus on the game but on the people who are playing the game and who is watching them. He won first place in the opinion writing category for the 2008 Excellence in Journalism awards.
Through the usage of humor and personal anecdotes, Granderson applies his own experiences of rising from poverty, physical abuse, and gangs to become the most visible gay African American man working in sports today. He appears weekly on CNN Newsroom. Also, he has weekly columns on both ESPN.com and CNN.com that tackle a wide range of issues from the LGBTQ struggle for equality to how parents’ today are dressing their children in more provocative clothing.
jane lynch
(July 14th, 1960 – Present)
“I didn’t want to be gay. I wanted to be….I wanted an easy life. And you know what? I am gay and I still have an easy life.”
- Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch is a famous television and movie actress, who is most well known for her role as Sue Sylvester on the show Glee. She was born in Illinois and received in M.F.A. in theater from Cornell. She toured with Chicago-based Second City Comedy troupe before becoming receiving movie roles. Her trademark character is a straight-shooting personality with a dry sense of humor.
Lynch knew she was gay before she attended college at Illinois State University, but she did not come out to her family until she was 32. She felt that if she had told her family at 18, the year 1978, she would have been cast out of her family. During that time very few people were openly gay and Lynch believed being homosexual “was a disease”. However, once she did come out to her family they showed her acceptance and moved on from the issue.
In 2011, Lynch published her memoir Happy Accidents, where she wrote about her struggles coming to terms with her sexuality. She had to learn to accept her own homosexuality before she was able to attempt long term relationships and overcome a drinking problem that began in high school. She got sober at 30 years old and she has been sober ever since.
Lynch married her wife Lara Embry in 2010 and is the stepmother to Embry’s two daughters. Lynch has finally achieved Hollywood success with her work on Glee and was named one of the “Eight Actors who Turn Television Into Art” in 2008 by New York Times. She continues to speak out and fight for the rights of Gay Marriage and uses her influence in television to also be an advocate for LGBTQ youth who are struggling with their own sexuality.
“I didn’t want to be gay. I wanted to be….I wanted an easy life. And you know what? I am gay and I still have an easy life.”
- Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch is a famous television and movie actress, who is most well known for her role as Sue Sylvester on the show Glee. She was born in Illinois and received in M.F.A. in theater from Cornell. She toured with Chicago-based Second City Comedy troupe before becoming receiving movie roles. Her trademark character is a straight-shooting personality with a dry sense of humor.
Lynch knew she was gay before she attended college at Illinois State University, but she did not come out to her family until she was 32. She felt that if she had told her family at 18, the year 1978, she would have been cast out of her family. During that time very few people were openly gay and Lynch believed being homosexual “was a disease”. However, once she did come out to her family they showed her acceptance and moved on from the issue.
In 2011, Lynch published her memoir Happy Accidents, where she wrote about her struggles coming to terms with her sexuality. She had to learn to accept her own homosexuality before she was able to attempt long term relationships and overcome a drinking problem that began in high school. She got sober at 30 years old and she has been sober ever since.
Lynch married her wife Lara Embry in 2010 and is the stepmother to Embry’s two daughters. Lynch has finally achieved Hollywood success with her work on Glee and was named one of the “Eight Actors who Turn Television Into Art” in 2008 by New York Times. She continues to speak out and fight for the rights of Gay Marriage and uses her influence in television to also be an advocate for LGBTQ youth who are struggling with their own sexuality.