Celebrate Pride Month by taking a look at figures both past and present who are paving the road towards inclusion, acceptance, and equality. Every year we more struggles are won to allow equal rights for all!
2. Billie Jean King is a professional
tennis player. She earned 39 Grand
Slam titles from 1966 to 1975. She
also beat Bobby Riggs in the
famous "Battle of the Sexes"
match. In 1981, King confirmed that
she was a lesbian and became the
first openly gay athlete.
Billie Jean King
3. Bayard Rustin organized
Martin Luther King's March on
Washington and taught Dr.
King about Gandhi's belief in
non-violence and civil
disobedience. He was a public
advocate on behalf of gay
causes, speaking at events as
an activist and supporter of
human rights
Bayard Rustin
4. Harvey Milk was one of the first
openly gay politicians to ever
be elected in California. While
on San Francisco's Board of
Supervisors, Milk made a name
for himself as a prominent,
outspoken LGBTQ activist.
Harvey Milk
5. Marsha P. Johnson
Marsha P. Johnson was a gay
liberation activist and self-
identified drag queen. She was a
founding member of the Gay
Liberation Front and co-founded
the radical activist group Street
Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.
6. Sylvia Rivera is often credited
with throwing the second
Molotov cocktail at the Stonewall
riots in 1969. After taking her
place in history, she joined forces
with her friend Marsha P. Johnson
to create Street Transvestite
Action Revolutionaries.
Sylvia Rivera
7. RuPaul got his start in the '90s in
the music industry, and films In
2009. He started a drag queen
competition show titled "RuPaul's
Drag Race," and it quickly
became a hit among the LGBTQ
community. Throughout the
years, he has becoming a leading
figure in the LGBTQ community.
RuPaul
8. Progress Update #3
Edith Windsor's wife, Thea Spyer,
died in 2009, igniting a court battle
that would change LGBTQ rights
forever. The federal government
did not recognize Windsor and
Spyer's marriage. She waged a war
against the Defense of Marriage
Act in court. The case went all the
way up to the Supreme Court,
which paved the way for the
legalization of same-sex marriage.
Edith Windsor
9. Progress Update #3
Christine Jorgensen, grew up in
the Bronx, New York, and lived a
quiet life. She read about a
doctor who was carrying out
gender therapy in Copenhagen
and became one of the first
people known to have sex
reassignment surgery.
Christine Jorgensen
10. Progress Update #3
William Dorsey Swann was born into
slavery but went on to become an
American gay liberation activist. He
was the first person in the United
States to lead a queer resistance
group and the first known person to
self-identify as a "queen of drag"
William Dorsey Swann
11. Progress Update #3
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an
American comedian, television
host, actress, writer, and producer.
She has hosted her syndicated
television talk show, The Ellen
DeGeneres Show, since 2003.
Ellen DeGeneres
12. Progress Update #3
Sir Elton Hercules John CH CBE
is an English singer, songwriter,
pianist, and composer.
Elton John
