Religion
-
Teacher, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) organizer
Portland, ME
Betsy Parsons was born in 1954 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents soon moved to Streator, a small Illinois corn town, where her father practiced medicine...
READ MORE -
Trans health advocate; creator of TRANScestors anthologies
Yuba City, CA
Jude Patton was born in St. Louis, Missouri, assigned female at birth, and adopted at seven months old. Perhaps because his parents had experienced difficulty...
READ MORE -
2015 Texas & U.S. Teacher of the Year
Amarillo, TX
Shanna Peeples was born on April 16, 1965 in Borger, Texas. After her parents’ divorce, she moved in with her deeply religious grandparents. In high...
READ MORE -
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...
READ MORE -
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...
READ MORE -
pastor, HIV survivor, “Eyes of Tammy Faye” interviewee
Los Angeles, CA
Steve Pieters was born on August 2nd, 1952 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He grew up on the campus of Phillips Academy, Andover, where his father worked...
READ MORE -
university dean and lgbtq students advocate
Centerville, TN
K.C. Potter was born in 1939 at Fallsburg, Kentucky. In high school, K.C. wrote sport stories for the local newspaper, and participated in speech tournaments...
READ MORE -
PHILANTHROPIST, MILITARY MUSEUM FOUNDER, LGBTQ+ ADVOCATE
Chicago, IL
Born on August 13, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois. Col. (IL) Jennifer Natalya Pritzker is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the United States Army, as well...
READ MORE -
Lebanese-American therapist, former lesbian separatist
Saugerties, NY
Cheryl Qamar was born on October 17, 1950 in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up on the east side of Wichita–the only Arab family on that...
READ MORE -
rural men’s circle founder
Centerville, MN
Don Quaintance was born in 1941 on a farm in Cherokee, Iowa. He was the oldest of eight children in a working-class family that moved...
READ MORE -
FEMINIST POET, WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER, PEACE ACTIVIST
Albuquerque, NM
Margaret Randall was born on December 6th, 1936, in New York City. Growing up, she had occasional crushes on women but gave little thought to...
READ MORE -
activist, organizer, reconciler
Des Moines, IA
For more than 30 years, Donna Red Wing was a national leader in the fight for human rights, civil rights and LGBTQ equality. The Christian...
READ MORE -
LESBIAN ACTIVIST, AUTHOR, ARTIST, NATURALIST
Elkins, AR
Born in New York City on Oct 17, 1931, Diana Smith (later Diana Rivers) grew up near Morristown, New Jersey, within an artistic and literary...
READ MORE -
former Catholic seminarian; sustainable agriculture activist
Lacona, IA
A fifth-generation Iowa farmer, Matt Russell was born in 1970 and raised in the rural community of Anita, Iowa. Of the 28 students in Matt’s...
READ MORE -
Drag performer, community activist, fundraiser, and author
San Francisco, CA
Donna Sachet was born Kirk Reeves in 1954, in South Carolina. Kirk’s young life was marked by a violent, alcoholic father, and a mother afraid...
READ MORE