List of LGBT Rights Activists - United States of America

United States of America

• Jacob Appel, New York City-based lawyer, advocate for reparations for gays and lesbians
• Christopher R. Barron, co-founder of GOProud, a political organization representing gay conservatives.
• Vic Basile, first executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, 1983-1989
• Wayne Besen Founder of Truth Wins Out. Former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.
• Joseph F. Beam (1954–1989), Philadelphia-based journalist, author, and editor
• Andy Bell, lead singer of the English synthpop duo Erasure.
• Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, 1995-2004
• Dustin Lance Black (born 1974), screenwriter, director, film, television producer, and founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
• Chaz Bono (born 1969), transgender son of Sonny Bono and Cher.
• David P. Brill (1955–1979), Boston-based journalist.
• Margarethe Cammermeyer (born 1942), former colonel in the Washington state National Guard whose coming out story was made into the 1995 movie Serving in Silence, starring Glenn Close.
• Ryan Cassata, American transgender activist, public speaker and singer-songwriter,
• Madonna Louise Ciccone known as Madonna (born 1959), entertainer and long-term human and civil rights activist. Has offered outspoken support for the gay rights movement.
• Joanne Conte, transwoman, former Arvada, Colorado City Councilor, currently hosts a radio show on KGNU.
• Stephen Donaldson (1946–1996), early bisexual-identified LGBT rights activist founder of the first American gay students' organization, first person to fight a discharge from the U.S. military for homosexuality, Also an important figure in the modern bisexual rights movement.
• Fran Drescher, (born 1957, Flushing, New York) is an outspoken healthcare advocate and LGBT rights activist.
• Danielle Egnew (born 1969), lesbian musician, actress, producer, and psychic who endorsed and provided campaign materials to Virginia's VoteNO campaign, protecting the legalities of same-sex civil unions in Virginia—also Spiritual leader and founder of The Church of the Open Christ, an inclusive and progressive LGBT ministry.
• Steve Endean, (1948–1993), founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund
• Matt Foreman (born 1953), Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).
• Barney Frank (born 1940), member of the Democratic Party who has served as a member of Congress from Massachusetts since 1981.
• Aaron Fricke (born 1962), who successfully sued the Cumberland, Rhode Island school system in 1980 for the right to bring his boyfriend to the senior prom.
• Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta known as Lady Gaga (born 1986), bisexual singer/songwriter who rose to fame in 2009, she soon became involved in the repeal of DADT, speaking out & marching at rallies, using her star power to urge people to call there senators to vote for the repeal of DADT. She further protested for LGBT rights by releasing "Born This Way" (2011) as not only an anthem for the LGBT community, but anyone of discrimination. The songsters continues to protest for equal rights in artistic and flamboyant ways that only she can.
• Barbara Gittings (1932–2007), founder of the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis who also pushed for the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
• Neil Giuliano (born 1956), openly gay mayor of Tempe, Arizona (1994–2004) and current President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
• Chad Griffin (born 1973), president of the Human Rights Campaign as of June 11, 2012, and founder of American Foundation for Equal Rights, a nonprofit organization that supports the plaintiffs in the California Proposition 8 trial.
• James Gruber (1928—2011), original member of the Mattachine Society.
• David M. Hall, author of Allies at Work: Creating a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusive Work Environment, who speaks to corporate audiences across the country and is the co-founder of Out & Equal Philadelphia.
• Harry Hay (1912–2002), co-founder of the Mattachine Society.
• Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), African American poet
• Daniel Hernandez Jr. (born 1990), member of Tucson’s city commission on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, who was credited with saving the life of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords after the 2011 Tucson shooting.
• Brenda Howard (1946–2005), bisexual-identified LGBT rights activist an instrumental figure in the immediate post-Stonewall era in New York City. Also an important figure in the modern bisexual rights movement.
• Janet Jackson (born 1966), American singer, songwriter, and actress.
• Cheryl Jacques (born 1962), former member of the Massachusetts State Legislature and the president of the Human Rights Campaign from January through November 2004. She resigned from this post less than a month after the passage of 11 state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
• Dale Jennings (1917–2000), co-founder of the Mattachine Society.
• Cleve Jones (born 1954), conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and worked with Harvey Milk; co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
• Frank Kameny (born 1925), participant in many gay rights rallies of the 1960s and 1970s, most notably the push in 1972–1973 for the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).
• Morris Kight (1919–2003), founder of Los Angeles' Gay and Lesbian Front and Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
• Larry Kramer (born 1935), author and playwright who helped form the prominent gay rights organizations Gay Men's Health Crisis and AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP).
• Janice Langbehn (born 1968), campaigner for marriage equality and same-sex hospital visitation after being denied access to her dying partner, Lisa Marie Pond, in 2007.
• Cyndi Lauper (born 1953), founder of the True Colors Fund charity which promotes equality for members of the LGBT community.
• Scott Long (born 1963), Executive Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
• Phyllis Lyon (born 1924), lesbian activist who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis with longtime partner Del Martin.
• Del Martin (1921–2008), lesbian activist who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis with longtime partner Phyllis Lyon.
• Meghan McCain (born 1984) columnist, blogger and daughter of senator John McCain. She has on several occasions expressed support for gay marriage, gay adoption and for repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. She posed for the NOH8 campaign with her mother Cindy McCain.
• Tim McFeeley, former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, 1989-1995
• Harvey Milk (1930–1978), openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California who was assassinated (along with mayor George Moscone) in 1978 by Dan White.
• David Nelson (born 1962), founder of Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats, and Stonewall Shooting Sports of Utah.
• Gavin Newsom (born 1967), heterosexual mayor of San Francisco, California who directed his office to issue wedding licenses to same-sex couples in February 2004. This process was halted the next month by the California Supreme Court.
• Troy Perry (1940–), founder of UFMCC, an international Protestant Christian denomination. The Fellowship has a specific outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families and communities.
• Hernan Ponce (born 1982), current President of LACCD Gay Rights Movement, President for all Gay Rights groups in Los Angeles Community College District.
• Craig Rodwell (1940–1993), gay rights activist; founder of first gay & lesbian oriented bookshop in the United States; proposed and organized Annual Reminder; proposed and organized New York's Gay Pride march, then called Christopher Street Liberation day; was a founding member and organizer of Gay People In Christian Science.
• Bayard Rustin (1912–1987), openly gay civil rights activist, principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr.; gay rights activist in later life
• Ryan Sallans (born 1979), out transman and public speaker - travels around the country educating high school and college students on LGBT issues.
• José Sarria (born 1922 or 1923), first openly gay candidate for political office in the United States, founder of the Imperial Court System.
• Tully Satre (born 1989), blogger who gained fame in March 2006 for challenging then-Senator
• Dan Savage (born 1964), columnist of Savage Love and author. Founder of the It Gets Better project.
• Josh Seefried, United States Air Force first lieutenant and co-director of OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military.
• Michelangelo Signorile (born 1960), gay American writer and a US and Canadian national talk radio host.
• Ruth Simpson (1926–2008), founder of the first lesbian community center. Former President of Daughters of Bilitis New York. Author of From the Closet to the Courts.
• Joe Solmonese (born 1965), former political fundraiser and past president of the Human Rights Campaign.
• A. Latham Staples (born 1977), founder and current president of the Empowering Spirits Foundation.
• Urvashi Vaid, (born 1958, New Delhi, India) is an American activist who has worked for over 25 years promoting civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.
• Phill Wilson, (born 1956, Chicago, IL), co-founder of the National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership Forum and founder of The Black AIDS Institute