Thread by @introvertgay

(THREAD) Looks like #gaycultureis in need of more awareness of its backgrounds. LGBTQ+ pioneers like Marsha and Sylvia deserve more attention than is often given to them today, especially among young white gay men. So here goes!

Shout out to @t_taylor_inWH for the thread idea 💛

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MARSHA P. JOHNSON
- a LEGEND among legends
- trans woman of color and drag queen
- credited—but often disputed—with starting the Stonewall Riots
- AIDS activist
- not some white boy like movies want you to think

SYLVIA RIVERA
- Latina trans woman and drag queen
- Stonewall rebel
- activist for the marginalized and the homeless, having been homeless herself
- spoke out against dropping drag queens and trans rights in favor of the assimilationist military and marriage rights

STORMÉ DeLARVERIE
- lesbian with black and white parents
- Stonewall rebel
- alleged to have been the woman at Stonewall who fought repeated out of a police wagon
- badass

JOHN RECHY
- gay author
- among the patrons at the Cooper Do-Nuts riot in 1959 and one of those arrested who also escaped custody
- justice served by words or donuts

FELICIA ELIZONDO
- Latina trans woman
- regular patron of Compton's Cafeteria during the Compton's Cafeteria Riot in 1966, which preceded Stonewall
- activist against AIDS, racism, transphobia

REED ERICKSON
- wealthy trans man
- provided funds for early LGBTQ movements starting in the 1960s
- before transitioning, became the first female-appearing engineering graduate of his alma mater
- set legal precedent in Louisiana following his transition

HARRY HAY
- gay activist
- co-founded the Mattachine Society, a 1950s gay activitist group
- co-founded the Radical Faeries in 1970
- probably the gay communist ghost that haunts Kim Davis

DALE JENNINGS
- gay activist
- co-founded the Mattachine Society, a 1950s gay activitist group
- co-founded ONE, Inc, which published One, the first first gay magazine, and which forced the US Postal Service to deliver issues of One via SCOTUS ruling

DEL MARTIN & PHYLLIS LYON
- co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian political organization in the USA
- first out lesbian couple to join the National Organization for Women
- first legal same-sex marriage in San Francisco
- trailblazers

MICHAEL MCCONNELL & JACK BAKER
- gay activists
- fought to get married in the 1970s, only to have SCOTUS rule against them in Baker v Nelson (overruled by Obergefell v Hodges)
- pioneers

HARVEY MILK
- first openly gay men elected to California public office
- sponsored the most stringent local anti-discrimination law for sexual orientation at the time in the US
- "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door"

CLEVE JONES
- gay AIDS activist
- cofounded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
- began the AIDS Memorial Quilt in 1985, which is huge and visible and impactful
- #onhere @clevejones1

LARRY KRAMER
- gay AIDS activist
- co-founded Gay Men's Health Crisis
- co-founded ACT UP
- angry faggot
- don't mess with Larry because he'll win

TROY PERRY
- gay activist
- wanted a church for Christian gays, so he founded the Metropolitan Community Church
- much better LGBTQ+ religious icon than Pope Francis

BRENDA HOWARD
- bisexual activist
- coordinated the first Pride for the first anniversary of Stonewall
- one of the people responsible for calling it "Pride"
- helped found several bisexual organizations
- no Brenda, no extended protesting or celebrations for Pride

STEPHEN DONALDSON
- bisexual activist
- founded the Student Homophile Leage at Columbia University in 1967, the first student gay rights group in the US
- also one of the people responsible for naming Pride

BAYARD RUSTIN
- gay activist of color
- arrested for having sex with white male prostitutes
- testified for a gay rights bill in New York and for other LGBTQ causes
- legally adopted his partner as a workaround for marriage in 1982

JOHN LAWRENCE & TYRON GARNER
- got arrested for having sex
- took sodomy laws all the way to SCOTUS with Lawrence v Texas in 2003, which legalized same-sex sexual activity in the US
- set the stage for many future LGBTQ+ court challenges

G. BAILEY & L. DAVIES
M. BRODOFF & E. WADE
H. GOODRIDGE & J. GOODRIDGE
G. CHALMERS & R. LINNELL
H. NORTON & G. SMITH
M. HORGAN & E. BALMELLI
D. WILSON & R. COMPTON
- plaintiffs in Goodridge v. DPH, legalizing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts
- got married before it was cool

EDIE WINDSOR
- lesbian activist
- lead plantiff in the SCOTUS case United States v Windsor in 2013, which required the US Federal goverment to recognize same-sex marriage
- tamed the IRS, via the Windsor court ruling…Donald Trump could neverr

A. DeBOER & J. ROWSE
J. OBERGEFELL
D. MICHENER
G. YORKSMITH & P. YORKSMITH
K. NOE & K. McCRACKEN
J. VITALE & R. TALMAS
B. HENRY & B. ROGERS
G. BOURKE & M. DeLEON
R. JOHNSON & P. CAMPION
J. MEADE & L. BARLOWE
K. FRANKLIN & T. BOYD
M. BLANCHARD & D. JAMES
(cont.)

(cont.)
T. LOVE & L. YSUNZA
J. ESPEJO & M. MANSELL
K. MILLER & V. DeVILLEZ
I. DeKOE & T. KOSTURA
V. TANCO & S. JESTY
- plantiffs in the 2015 SCOTUS marriage ruling Obergefell v Hodges
- "They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

GAVIN GRIMM
- trans teenage activist
- lead plaintiff in 2017 SCOTUS court case (now remanded to circuit court)
- just wanted to use the bathroom in high school
- #onhere @GavinGrimmVA (hi!)

AUDRE LORDE
- lesbian poet of color
- major leader in the feminist movement of the 1960s, advocating for women of color
- publicly confirmed her sexuality in her poem "To Martha: A New Year"
- argued for including sexuality and sexual orientation in the feminist movement

JAMES BALDWIN
- bisexual author of color
- self-described "disturber of the peace"
- wrote significant novels and essays on racial issues, including two dealing with homosexual and bi characters
- was openly bi and wrote about gay/bi issues decades before the gay rights movement