PRIDE MONTH: Influential Black LGBTQ+ people and their contributions

Writer: Madison Hayden

As we continue to celebrate Pride throughout the month of June, it is key to acknowledge LGBTQ African-Americans who have changed the course of history. From dance and literature to activism and comedy, their contributions cannot be questioned.

These black LGBTQ icons, while often invisible or erased from the dominant queer narrative, have been at the heart of our struggle for rights and inclusion.

Below is a list of some of the most influential Black LGBTQ+ people. However, it is important to realize that Black LGBTQ+ contributions have gone way beyond this list.

Activist Bayard Rustin is best known as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington and right-hand man of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Caribbean American writer Audre Lorde was actively involved in the gay culture of Greenwich Village. She was also an activist for civil rights and feminist movements. Her poetry focuses on the female experience, race, and sexuality.

Kye Allums was the first Division I openly transgender athlete in NCAA sports history. Allums played for the George Washington Colonials women's basketball team of George Washington University and was a transgender pioneer. He is now a transgender advocate, public speaker, artist, and mentor to LGBTQ youth.

Richard Bruce Nugent was a writer and painter of the Harlem Renaissance. Despite being a part of a group of many gay Harlem artists, Nugent was among only a few who were publicly out. Nugent’s short story named “Smoke, Lilies, and Jade" is known by many as the first publication by an African American that openly discussed homosexuality.

Keith Boykin was an editor of The Daily Voice and an aide at the White House to President Bill Clinton. Boykin became the highest-ranking openly gay person in the Clinton White House and helped organize the nation's first meeting between LGBTQ leaders and the U.S. President. Since his time in the White House, Boykin has written a number of books on gay issues.

Laverne Cox is a transgender activist and actress, best known for her role on Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black" and her work with GLAAD. She remains one of the the most prominent and outspoken transgender advocates in the entertainment industry.

A long-time fixture in the New York nightlife community, RuPaul rose to prominence with his hit single and music video “Supermodel (Of The World)" in 1993. Credited as the master of transformation, his career is still going strong with the massive success of his reality television show "RuPaul's Drag Race."

Choreographer Alvin Ailey revolutionized modern dance and formed the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in New York in 1958. Ailey was known for his multi-racial company at a time when many talented black dancers were excluded from performances. In 1992, three years after his death, Ailey was inducted into the C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance.

James Baldwin was a writer and social critic, Baldwin is perhaps best known for his 1955 collection of essays, "Notes of a Native Son," and his groundbreaking 1956 novel, "Giovanni's Room," which depicts themes of homosexuality and bisexuality.

Johnson was an outspoken transgender rights activist, and she is reported to be one of the central figures of the historic Stonewall Riots of 1969. Along with fellow trans activist Sylvia Rivera, Johnson helped form Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and the STAR House to help young trans women and drag queens. Johnson is the subject of the new Netflix documentary "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson."

Sources: GLSEN