Dante Alencastre

award-winning LGBTQ+ documentary filmmaker

Los Angeles, CA

Dante Alencastre was born in Lima, Peru in 1961. He was raised by his single mother, a nurse, in an apartment alongside his grandfather and...
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Juan-Manuel Alonso

Cuban-American fashion designer and HIV activist

Palm Springs, CA

Juan-Manuel Alonso was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1952. He spent his infancy and early childhood in a country in the midst of revolution. After...
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Noel Alumit

Writer, actor, HIV educator, meditation teacher

Los Angeles, CA

Noel Alumit was born on January 1, 1968 in Baguio City, Philippines. Noel’s family moved to Boston when he was 2 years old when his...
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Don Bachardy

Painter; Christopher Isherwood’s lover

Santa Monica, CA

Don Bachardy was born May 18, 1934 in Los Angeles, CA. Growing up, he worked in a grocery store and spent his free time going...
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Jolino Beserra and David Edward Byrd

Power Artist Couple: Mosaics and Music Posters

Los Angeles, CA

David Edward Byrd was born on August 4, 1941 in Cleveland, Tennessee. His parents split up promptly afterwards, so David grew up spending his school...
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Hector Black

Quaker peace activist, Radical Faerie

Cookeville, TN

Hector Black was born on February 12, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. On the cusp of being sent to the front lines in World War...
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Patrick Bova

public opinion researcher and activist

Chicago, IL

Patrick Bova was born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1938. His grandparents had come to America from Italy in the late 19th century. Patrick had three...
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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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Miguel Criado

Mulitidisciplinary Artist and Queer/Disability Activist

Palm Springs, CA

Miguel Criado was born on February 1, 1965, in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. As an infant, Miguel’s family moved to Ponce during a time of...
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Diane Divelbess

Artist, professor

Langley, WA

Born June 21, 1935, in Phoenix, Arizona, Diane Divelbess has been “an artist all her life.”  She received a BA degree from Scripps College and...
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L. Frank

Tongva, Ajachmem, and Rarámuri artist, indigenous language activist

Santa Rosa, CA

Editor’s Note: L. Frank’s pronoun is pó, calling us to practice Native language to convey two-spirit and Native identity nuances the English language cannot. Frank...
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Chris Freeman and Jon Ginoli

Pansy Division co-founders, gay rock stars

California

Jon Ginoli was born in Peoria, Illinois In December 1959. Twenty months later, Chris Freeman was born in Seattle, Washington. Some 30 years later, Jon...
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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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Ken Gonzales-Day

Social justice-focused conceptual artist

Los Angeles, CA

Ken Gonzales-Day was born on November 11, 1964 in Santa Clara, CA, and grew up moving around cities all over the Bay Area. His white...
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Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

transgender women of color activist

Little Rock, AR

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was born in the 1940s in Chicago, Illinois. Around age 13, she came out to her parents as transgender. After a psychologist,...
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Dean Hamer

‘gay gene’ geneticist, HIV researcher, filmmaker

Haleiwa, HI

Dean Hamer was born in 1951 in Montclair, New Jersey. He graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut and earned a Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School....
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