LESLIE FEINBERG was an American butch lesbian, LGBTQ+ rights activist, and the author of Stone Butch Blues, frequently considered an essential work for the LGBTQ+ community and labor organizers. She died on November 15, 2014.
GUY HOCQUENGHEM was a French writer, philosopher, and gay liberation theorist. Hocquenghem's 1972 book "Homosexual Desire" is today considered the founding text of queer theory. Hocquenghem also wrote works including "The Wrath of the Lamb," an experiment in millenarian and apocalyptic narrative; "The Atomic Heart," written in response to his deteriorating health and espousing a philosophy of dandyism, gnosticism, and Epicureanism; and Eve, a narrative combining the story of Genesis with a description of changes to his body from AIDS-related symptoms. He died from AIDS-related complications on August 28, 1988.
DAAYIEE ABDULLAH was an American Imam, scholar, and activist. Daayiee Abdullah was, after the murder of Saint Muhsin Hendricks and until his own death on August 3, 2025, one of only five openly gay Imams in the world and the first openly gay Imam in America. In 1979, he was a coordinator for the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. In 2011, Abdullah created an LGBTQ-friendly mosque in Washington D.C, called Masjid Nur Al-Isslaah ("Mosque for Enlightenment and Reformation"), and, in 2015, he founded the Mecca Institute, a self-described "inclusive and progressive" Islamic seminary.
ABU NUWAS was a gay classical Arabic poet, a Muslim mystic, and the foremost representative of the muhdath poetry that developed during the Abbasid Caliphate. His lyric poetry, which is mostly homoerotic, ridiculed heterosexual propriety and the condemnation of homosexuality. He earned the favour of the Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid, who allegedly had a homosexual relationship with Jaʿfar the Barmakid, and his successor, Al-Amin, who fell madly in love with a male slave named Kauthar. Abu Nuwas died in 814 in Baghdad. He (like Harun) also features as a character in a number of stories in One Thousand and One Nights. In 2007, the Abu Nawas Association, which aims to decriminalise homosexuality in Algeria, was founded.
DAVID McREYNOLDS was a prominent American peace activist. Called a hero of the anti-war movement, David McReynolds was a staff member with the War Resisters League for 40 years and was twice a candidate for President of the United States, running on the Socialist Party USA ticket in 1980 and 2000. He was America's first openly gay presidential candidate and, in 1958, one of the first gay candidates to run for Congress. McReynolds died on August 17, 2018.
JOSÉ PÉREZ OCAÑA was a Spanish gay performing artist, painter, and LGBTQ+ rights activist. A central figure in Barcelona's counterculture during the Spanish transition to democracy and standing out as an icon of opposition to Francoism and its social conventions, his artistic endeavors are considered pioneering sexual and gender disobedience practices. He died on September 18, 1983.
AMELIO ROBLES ÁVILA was colonel during the Mexican Revolution who lived openly as queer and a transgender man from the age of 24 until his death at age 95 on December 9, 1984. He insisted on being treated as a man, sticking his gun in the face of individuals who misgendered him until they acknowledged him as such. In 1970, he became the first person assigned female at birth to be recognized as a male veteran by the Mexican government.
MARIE EQUI was an American lesbian, anti-war activist, and medical doctor who devoted herself to treating working-class and poor patients and regularly provided birth control and abortions at a time when both were illegal. She became a political activist and advocated for women's suffrage, an eight-hour workday, and the right to free speech. She died on July 13, 1952. In August 2019, Equi was inducted into the Rainbow Honor Walk in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood which notes LGBTQ+ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields."
JUNIPER BLESSING (September 22, 2006 - May 10th, 2026) was a talented 19-year-old transgender woman, artist, and atmospheric science student whose life was cut tragically short. Born in Princeton, New Jersey, and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she graduated from the New Mexico School for the Arts as a gifted vocalist with a magnificent five-octave range before attending the University of Washington in Seattle. Remembered by her loved ones as a uniquely compassionate, brilliant, and fiercely loyal individual who was "pure love." On the evening of May 10th 2026 she was stabbed to death more than 40 times in the basement laundry room of her student housing building. While police determined there was no evidence of a hate crime, and believe the murderer, who turned himself in three days later, to have schizophrenia and mental psychosis, the extreme violence of her death suggests that hatred was involved. Her sudden and violent death sparked profound grief and community memorials across the country.
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT (14 September 1769 - 6 May 1859 ) was a visionary Prussian polymath, naturalist, and explorer whose monumental work laid the foundations for modern geography, ecology, and meteorology. Traveling extensively through the Americas and Central Asia, he pioneered a holistic view of nature as a single, interconnected global force ... an insight that profoundly shaped the development of environmental science. Humboldt was also a deeply empathetic humanitarian who fiercely condemned colonialism and slavery wherever he traveled. While his public life was defined by scientific triumph, his private letters and lifelong, deeply affectionate partnerships with men, including the soldier Reinhard von Haeften, reveal that he was gay, living out his intense emotional and romantic attachments entirely within a close-knit circle of male companions.
PETER GEORGE DOYLE (June 3, 1843 - April 19, 1907 ) was an Irish-born American transit worker best remembered as the longtime romantic companion, muse, and lover of poet Walt Whitman. Born in Limerick, Ireland, Doyle emigrated to the United States as a child and later served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, during which he was wounded at Antietam and briefly imprisoned. In 1865, while working as a 21-year-old streetcar conductor in Washington, D.C., he met the 45-year-old Whitman on a stormy winter night, sparking an immediate, profound intimacy that spanned nearly thirty years. Doyle’s working-class background and youthful energy deeply inspired Whitman’s poetry, positioning him as the primary muse for the homoerotic "Calamus" poems in Leaves of Grass. He faithfully nursed Whitman after the poet suffered a debilitating stroke in 1873, and though Whitman's subsequent relocation to New Jersey restricted their daily contact, the two maintained an impassioned correspondence until Whitman's death in 1892. Doyle spent his later years working for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and his preservation of Whitman's affection-filled letters ... later published as Calamus in 1897 ... provided invaluable, historic insight into the true emotional and sexual nature of America's foundational poet.
ERISHKEGAL GIANNA (GIA) BATHORY-VON ECSED (Born: December 30, 1980 - Died: December 22, 2023) was a civil rights, LGBTQ rights and Pagan rights activist who championed Gay, lesbian and trans rights for 30+ years and was one of the founding forces behind the Human Rights Campaign, the Kentucky Fairness Alliance and who spent her life supporting local LGBTQ communities until her death in 2023. She was the founder and Archpriestess of the Temple of Great Mother, America's first and only traditional pagan Temple. Trained in the Pythian Oracular tradition, as well as various forms of occult practices, she moved through the circles of the Ordo Templi Orientis, the Ordo Hermetica and was a devoted Maenad of Dionysus who reinstated the seasonal Bacchanalias, staged the Wild Hunts and Dionesuke celebrations in America, through her tireless campaigning to undo hundreds of years of misinformation and propaganda around the worship of Dionysus. She was a fierce defender of the Dionysian path, dedicating her life to the study, practice and worship of the God of transformation, liberation and ecstasy. She engaged in the walk of Elusis, entered the Mysteries of both Demeter and Persephone, as well as spending her life in the Mysteries of Dionysus. Her legacy is carried on by her Sister Christine and her Brother Cesare. She was much loved and adored by those closest to her. Her spirit now rests in the lap of the God she so beloved in life. We hope in her death she will receive the peace, love and comfort she was so often not afforded in life. Thank you for your consideration in placing her among those who devoted their lives to Antinuous-Dionysus-Bacchus. We truly feel this is a fitting final role for her.
T.E. LAWRENCE (August 16, 1888 - May 19, 1935), widely known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat, and writer. During his pre-WWI archaeological work in Carchemish, Lawrence formed an intense, close bond with an adolescent Arab water boy named Dahoum, to whom he dedicated his autobiographical book "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," which includes vivid, emotionally charged, and homoerotic passages about male bonding in the desert, contributing to long-standing speculation about his inner life.
DOLLY PARTON (January 19, 1946 - August 25, 2026) was an iconic American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman known as the "Queen of Country." was a longtime, vocal ally and icon for the LGBTQ+ community, consistently championing acceptance, kindness, and equal rights throughout her career.
WILLEM ARONDEUS (22 August 1894 – 1 July 1943) a Dutch gay non-Jewish artist and writer who led a group in bombing the Amsterdam Public Records Office in order to hinder the Nazi round-up of Jews, was executed with 12 others by firing squad. "Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards," were his final words.
FRIEDRICH ALFRED KRUPP (July 17, 1787 - October 8, 1826) was the wealthiest industrialist in Germany. He died at his castle outside Essen. The official cause was a cerebral hemorrhage. The cause everyone in Berlin understood was something else. For four years, Krupp had spent his winters at the Hotel Quisisana on the Italian island of Capri, where he hosted long elaborate parties for local Italian fishermen and boys at a private grotto on the cliff below the hotel. Italian socialist newspapers had begun naming him that fall. His wife Margarethe had already gone to the Kaiser in October, asking him to intervene. The Kaiser had her committed to an asylum instead. Then on November 15, the German Social Democratic paper Vorwärts ran the full story. Krupp was the sole heir to the largest armaments fortune in Europe. He was dead within a week. Rumors began immediately and have never gone away. Kaiser Wilhelm II attended the funeral personally and denounced "the lying press."
AGENOR DE MIRANDA ARAÚJO NETO, known as Cazuza (April 4, 1958 - July 7, 1990) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and poet whose rebellious spirit and emotional honesty made him one of the defining voices of Brazilian rock. Through songs such as Exagerado and O Tempo Não Para, he challenged social conventions and expressed a fierce commitment to personal freedom. His openness about his sexuality and his decision to speak publicly as a major celebrity living with HIV helped confront prejudice during the AIDS crisis. He died at 32, leaving a lasting legacy of artistic freedom and LGBTQIA+ visibility.
RENATO MANFREDINI JÚNIOR, known as Renato Russo (March 27, 1960 - October 11, 1996) was lead singer and principal songwriter of Legião Urbana, one of Brazil’s most influential rock bands. An openly gay artist, he gave voice to love, loneliness, identity, and social alienation, reaching millions of listeners across generations. Songs such as Meninos e Meninas offered an important point of recognition for young LGBTQIA+ people growing up in a society where homosexuality remained heavily stigmatized. He died at 36, leaving a musical legacy that continues to affirm the dignity of those who live and love outside conventional expectations.
CÁSSIA REJANE ELLER, known as Cássia Eller (December 10, 1962 - December 29, 2001) was a celebrated Brazilian singer whose powerful voice and unconventional stage presence made her one of the country’s most distinctive musical artists. She lived openly with her female partner, Maria Eugênia Vieira Martins, and their family became a landmark in public discussions about same-sex parenting and legal recognition of LGBTQIA+ families. After Cássia’s death, Maria Eugênia’s fight to retain custody of Cássia’s son brought national attention to the rights of same-sex partners and families. Cássia remains an enduring symbol of authenticity, lesbian visibility, and the right to love and build a family openly.
