List of LGBT rights activists

A list of LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance gay rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically.

Australia

*Rodney Croome Fact|date=October 2007

Bulgaria

*Desislava Petrova Fact|date=April 2008

Canada

Germany

*Volker Beck
*Magnus HirschfeldFact|date=October 2007
*Karl Heinrich UlrichsFact|date=October 2007

Ireland

*Tonie WalshFact|date=October 2007

Italy

*Franco GrilliniFact|date=May 2008
*Vladimir LuxuriaFact|date=May 2008

People's Republic of China

*Li Yinhe"《同性恋亚文化》 (Subculture of Homosexuality)",China Today Press,1998.]

Poland

*Szymon NiemiecFact|date=January 2008

Romania

*Florin BuhuceanuFact|date=October 2007
*Romaniţa IordacheFact|date=October 2007

ierra Leone

*Fannyann EddyFact|date=October 2007

Cameroon

*Joel Gustave Nana NgongangFact|date=October 2007

Taiwan

*Josephine Ho [http://sex.ncu.edu.tw/members/ho/index.htm Ho's personal website] ]

United Kingdom

*Jeremy Bentham 19th century jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer.Fact|date=October 2007
*Jackie Forster actress, TV Personality and Lesbian campaigner. [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/623603 PFI Profile - Jackie Forster] ]
*Ian McKellen actor and spokesperson for Stonewall (UK)cite book
title =Who's Who
publisher =A and C Black
date =2006
location =London
id = ISBN 0713671645]
*Robert Mellors 20th century writer and Gay Liberation Front campaigner.
*Peter Tatchell politician, human rights and LGBT rights campaigner.cite book
last =Power
first =Lisa
title =No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970-7
publisher =Cassell
date =1995
pages =340 pages
id =ISBN 0-304-33205-4 ] cite newspaper|title=Gay activists beaten up at Moscow demo|publisher=The Independent|date=2007-05-28|author=Rachel Shields]

United States of America

*Chastity Bono (born 1969), daughter of Sonny Bono and Cher.cite book |author=Katz, Jonathan |title=Gay American history: lesbians and gay men in the U. S. A.: a documentary |publisher=Harper & Row |location=San Francisco |year=1985 |pages= |isbn=0-06-091211-1 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=]
*Joseph F. Beam (1954–1989), Philadelphia-based journalist and author
*David P. Brill (1955–1979), Boston-based journalist.Fact|date=October 2007
*Margarethe Cammermeyer (born 1942), former colonel in the Washington state National Guard whose coming out story was made into the 1995 movie "Serving in Silence", starring Glenn Close.Fact|date=October 2007
*Stephen Donaldson (1946-1996), founder of the first American gay students' organizationcite book
author=David Eisenbach
authorlink=David Eisenbach
title=Gay Power: An American Revolution
publisher=Carroll & Graf
location=New York, NY
year = 2006
pages= 51-79,260-262
isbn=0-7867-1633-9] , first person to fight a discharge from the U.S. military for homosexualitycite book | last = Shilts | first = Randy | authorlink = Randy Shilts | title = Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military | publisher = St. Martin's Press | date = May 1993 | location = New York | pages = 173, 294 | isbn = 031209261X] , early bisexual activistCitation | last = Donaldson | first = Stephen | year = 1995 | contribution = The Bisexual Movement's Beginnings in the 70s: A Personal Retrospective | pages = 31-45 | editor-last = Tucker | editor-first = Naomi | title = Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, & Visions | place = New York | publisher = Harrington Park Press | isbn = 1560238690]
*Danielle Egnew (born 1969), lesbian musician, actress, producer, and psychic who endorsed and provided campaign materials to Virginia's VoteNO campaign, protecting the legalities of same-sex civil unions in Virginia -- also Spiritual leader and founder of The Church of the Open Christ, an inclusive and progressive LGBT ministry.Fact|date=October 2007
*Steve Endean, (1948–1993), founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund
*Matt Foreman (born 1953), Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).
*Barney Frank (born 1940), member of the Democratic Party who has served as a member of Congress from Massachusetts since 1981.Fact|date=October 2007
*Aaron Fricke (born 1962), who successfully sued the Cumberland, Rhode Island school system in 1980 for the right to bring his boyfriend to the senior prom.
*Barbara Gittings (1932–2007), founder of the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis who also pushed for the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
*Harry Hay (1912–2002), founder of the Mattachine Society, the first gay rights group in the United States.
*Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), African American poet
*Brenda Howard (1946–2005), an instrumental figure in the immediate post-Stonewall era in New York City.
*Cheryl Jacques (born 1962), former member of the Massachusetts State Legislature and the president of the Human Rights Campaign from January through November 2004. She resigned from this post less than a month after the passage of 11 state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.Fact|date=October 2007
*William Dale Jennings (1917–2000), cofounder of the Mattachine Society.Fact|date=July 2008
*Cleve Jones (born 1954), conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and worked with Harvey Milk; co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
*Frank Kameny (born 1925), participant in many gay rights rallies of the 1960s and 1970s, most notably the push in 1972-1973 for the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
*Morris Kight (1919–2003), founder of Los Angeles' Gay and Lesbian Front and Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
*Larry Kramer (born 1935), author and playwright who helped form the prominent gay rights organizations Gay Men's Health Crisis and AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP).
*Scott Long (born 1963), Executive Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.}
*Phyllis Lyon (born 1924), lesbian activist who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis with longtime partner Del Martin.Fact|date=October 2007
*Del Martin (1921-2008), lesbian activist who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis with longtime partner Phyllis Lyon.Fact|date=October 2007
*Harvey Milk (1930–1978), openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California who was assassinated (along with mayor George Moscone) in 1978.
*Gavin Newsom (born 1967), heterosexual mayor of San Francisco, California who directed his office to issue wedding licenses to same-sex couples in February 2004. This process was halted the next month by the California Supreme Court.Fact|date=October 2007
*Jean O'Leary (1948–2005), former Roman Catholic nun who helped found National Coming Out Day in 1987.Fact|date=October 2007
* [http://www.RainbowLaw.com/about_us.htm Elisia & Carrie Ross-Stone] (a.k.a. The Rainbow Grannies) (born 1954 & 1955 respectively), Founders of [http://www.RainbowLaw.com Rainbow Law] , the first online LGBTQ free legal document preparation service. The Grannies twice rode their bicycles across the US (in 2003 and 2004) to advocate for marriage equality and are featured in the documentary, " [http://www.lesbiangrandmothersfrommars.com Lesbian Grandmothers from Mars] ."Fact|date=October 2007
*Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), openly gay civil rights activist, principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr.; gay rights activist in later lifeFact|date=August 2008
*Tully Satre (born 1989), blogger who gained fame in March 2006 for challenging then-Senator George Allen at a political meeting in Culpeper, Virginia.Fact|date=October 2007
*Dan Savage (born 1964), columnist of Savage Love and author. Editor of the Seattle weekly, The Stranger.
*Ruth Simpson (1926-2008), founder of the first lesbian community center. Former President of Daughters of Bilitis New York. Author of "From the Closet to the Courts".
*Joe Solmonese (born 1965), former political fundraiser and current (as of March 2007) president of the Human Rights Campaign.Fact|date=October 2007
*Urvashi Vaid, (b. 1958, New Delhi, India) is an American activist who has worked for over 25 years promoting civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons. [ [http://www.gillfoundation.org/board/board_show.htm?profileType=board&doc_id=329236 Gill Foundation: Board and Staff: Urvashi Vaid ] ] [ [http://www.nypn.org/htm/resources/urvashi-vaid.html New York Progressive Network ] ]
*Phill Wilson, (b. 1956, Chicago, IL), founder of the National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership Forum and of the Black AIDS Institute

ee also

*List of gay-rights organizations

Footnotes