Robert Arrington

pastor, HIV community activist

Charleston, SC

Robert Arrington was born February 1960 in Harlem, New York to. He grew up as one of three siblings with a strict father and a...
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Perry Brass

Gay Liberation Front member, author

Bronx NY

Perry Brass was born in 1947 in Savannah, Georgia. His family was part of a close-knit community of mostly Polish Jews. Perry’s relationship with his...
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Gina Brown

HIV activist, community manager, women's advocate

Chalmette, LA

Gina Brown was born on January 15, 1966 in Pittsburgh, California. Up until age 4, her family lived happily in a middle class neighborhood. When...
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Emma Colquitt-Sayers

Medical care entrepreneur

Grand Prairie, TX

Emma Colquitt-Sayers was born in 1953 in Alabama, and grew up mostly in Hastings, Florida with her grandmother, a share cropper who taught her the...
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JD Doyle

LGBTQ+ MUSIC / CULTURE PRESERVATIONIST

Houston, TX

JD Doyle was born on September 24, 1947 in Salem, Ohio. Growing up, JD discovered a passion for chemistry, and later earned his degree in...
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Tom Dyer

gay newspaper publisher

Winter Park, FL

Tom Dyer was born in Lancaster, Ohio in 1955. When he was 7 or 8, Tom was discovered by his brother and father playing Barbies...
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Luigi Ferrer

bisexual activist, HIV community activist

Miami, FL

Luigi Ferrer was born in 1958 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. During his childhood, he bounced between Puerto Rico and Columbia, South Carolina, then attended the...
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Phyllis Randolph Frye

first openly transgender judge in U.S.

Houston, TX

At her birth in 1948, Phyllis Randolph Frye was named Phillip. Growing up in Texas, Phillip became an Eagle Scout and was the commander of...
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Cassandra Grant

co-founder, salsa soul sisters

Brooklyn, NY

Cassandra Grant was born in 1947 in New York City. Her family lived in the Lincoln Projects in Harlem, a haven for Black World War...
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Kim Grubbs

psychotherapist, ‘de-cluttering’ professional

Lauderdale, MS

Kim Grubbs was born in 1955 in McComb, Mississippi. When he was about nine years old, his dad purchased a pharmacy in Harlandale, a town...
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Pat Hussain

Co-founder, Southerners On New Ground (SONG)

Decatur, GA

Pat Hussain was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1950. She attended segregated schools though high school. In 1963, Pat attended a civil rights sit-in at...
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Jack Myers

gay bar owner, AIDS care provider

Jackson, MS

Jack was born in Pelahatchie, Mississippi in 1944. His father owned a logging and lumber business, and later a small engine repair shop. Jack’s mother...
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Eddie Orozco

Colombian HIV/AIDS advocate

Miami, FL

Eddie Orozco was born in Barranquilla, Colombia in 1965, one of ten siblings, and immigrated to Miami in 1980. While Eddie had been aware of...
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Troy Perry

Founder, Metropolitan Community Church

Los Angeles, CA

Rev. Troy Perry was born in 1940 in Tallahassee, Florida, the first of five sons. His grandfather fought in the Civil War and his father...
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Suzanne Pharr

Co-founder, Southerners on New Ground

Little Rock, AR

Suzanne Pharr was born in 1939, the youngest of eight kids, and raised on a farm near Lawrenceville, Georgia. From day one, she was in...
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Bradley Picklesimer

drag performer, nightclub proprietor

Meally, KY

Bradley Picklesimer was born on March 15, 1958, in Lexington, Kentucky. One of four children, Bradley had a happy early childhood with a father who...
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