As a young Gay man there is one thing that deeply troubled me through out my academic career. Often in classes we learned about civil rights heroes of previous movements around the world. We learned about such very important names like Martin Luther King, Jr., Elizabeth Stanton, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Betty Friedan, and so on. These leaders and human rights activists serve as a beacon of hope not just for their communities, but for all of us. In particular, these men and women of strength and amazing courage helped to set examples we all would like to emulate for the great things they achieved. As you can note, however, young LGBT people like myself for the most part did not have the privelage to read about important LGBT people in our history nor the immense contributions they made to their societies. Our history as a people and what people within our community have achieved is important to know as a source of empowerment, knowledge, and hope that despite everything still going on that we can be successful on our own terms. Thus, young LGBT people today are still largely robbed of our history and reference points with which to have a better understanding of what and how we have contributed to this world. Follow me below the fold for further elaboration.
In high school I remember flipping through the pages of my textbook looking for a section about my people. Surely with the progress we had made as a society on LGBT rights and issues there would have to be some documentation of our own civil rights leaders. As I flipped through the pages of the textbook I became increasingly sad and frustrasted with the truth of what I found: namely that nothing on LGBT civil rights nor main people through out history was elaborated in the text. One of the main emotions I felt as a result of this experience was sadness. My main question during this time became: Why is it that our leaders who could serve as role models of empowerment for young LGBT people like myself are not included? Ironically, at this point, I was still woefully ignorant about our history and the people who helped to shape it by who they were. It made me feel lost, alone, and disconnected in a profound manner because my other classmates had heroes to look up to while I seemingly did not.
At this point in high school I was also closeted as well which made me feel depressed even more so because I was not being true to myself as a Gay person. When the first year of College arrived I remember being intimidated by all of the other intelligent individuals there who seemed to have so much of an enriched knowledge of their own history. Finally, I gained the courage to be who I truly was and I came out to both friends as well as my family. Surprisingly the reaction was not bad at all, and it gave me the strength I needed as an Undergraduate College student to four years later graduate at the top of my class with a 3.9 GPA. My Freshman year of College, in particular, was a transformative year for me beyond just coming out and being my most genuine self. It was also the year that I began researching more about historical figures as well as people in the here and now to have a reference point that had been denied to me up until that point in my academic career.
The Library at my College was vast with its diverse selection of books for the inquiring mind to absorb new ideas as well as the old from the past. Between the internet searches and spending hours flipping through multiple books in the library I started to gain new knowledge about my community which is the LGBT community. Every LGBT person no matter what point you are should stop and take awhile to read through and comprehend our contributions to humanity across this globe. After reading through all of this material I did not feel as alone, disconnected, or lost anymore because through history I found inspiring and brilliant people from all fields who were LGBT. No matter how many rights our government may deprive us of we must never deprive ourselves of the knowledge of our people and what they have achieved. It is to our individual and collective advantage to allow history to come out to us much as we must always come out to the world.
One such example of a person who contributed great things to this world was an African American man by the name of Bayard Rustin. The vast majority of Americans recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. as the primary leader of the African American civil rights movement through the 1960's. MLK, Jr. had a powerful and intelligent friend in Bayard Rustin who was also integral to the African American civil rights movement. Despite the persistent mistreatment he dealt with from society both as a Black man and a Gay man he always kept going forward no matter what was said and done to him. Here is some information about this civil rights hero and the wonderful achievements he attained for the African American community along with the other brave women and men:
A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement, and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.
You can read more about his life and achievements here.
Another example of a person to know and be proud of is a Jewish man named Harvey Milk. A larger number of people most likely recognize his name due to Sean Penn's brilliant portrayal of him in the recent film "Milk". However, before or after the movie, like Rustin this is a name you should know. Milk's personal strength in the state of California helped our civil rights movement immensely from defeating an odious statewide anti-Gay proposition called the Briggs initiative to raising social awareness of our rights and issues in the Bay Area and beyond. Harvey Milk always had a message of hope and it is a message to internalize because that is what we must internalize to continue our struggle for full equality today. Here is some further historical and personal information about him:
Milk served 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. Milk's rise to political power was as symbolic as it was real. His election signified and was made possible by a shift in San Francisco politics. The assassinations and the ensuing events were the results of continuing ideological conflicts in the city.
You can learn more about his life and achievements here.
Another example of strength of conviction with meaningful achievement in changing our social arena is a Lesbian by the name of Billie Jean King. She is best known to the world as having a powerhouse tennis career that lasted over many years. However, at the time she was playing tennis in the 70's and 80's, sexism against women was still quite prevalent in the noted disparity of the winnings women received for a grand slam title versus that of men. Thus, her activism and outspoken nature helped to elevate all women in professional sports by demanding the social and financial equality then that too many women take for granted today. Since then she has shifted her focus to LGBT civil rights today. Here is some further information on her life and achievements:
Empowered women and educated men when she defeated Bobby Riggs in one of the greatest moments in sports history – the Battle of the Sexes in 1973. This match is remembered for its effect on society and its contribution to the women’s movement.
In August 2009 King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The award was presented to King by President Obama on Aug. 12, 2009 in ceremonies at The White House.
You can find more information about her life and achievements: here.
There are a significant amount of LGBT people through out history that have made our world a better place for their contributions. The above three men and women are just the surface of a wealthy in depth and diverse group of people who happen to be LGBT. Perhaps you will also recognize some of these names: Leonard Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Madonna, Freddy Mercury, Alexander the Great, Alan Turing, Andy Warhol, Virginia Woolf, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, Leonard Bernstein, Jodie Foster, Audre Lorde, and Socrates among so many others. If you do not know these people then please look them up and see what they have contributed to our society as LGBT people. My point is that LGBT people are diverse and have contributed a vast array of creativity and achievements through the course of this worlds history we can and should be proud of as a community. Our history is a book that must be read.
We must never take our history nor the people who have been trailblazers in all fields for granted. Looking back on when I used to feel so alone when I was younger I realize that was foolish because the knowledge of the past is out there to be learned. As our nation continues to make progress on LGBT issues and civil rights hopefully more of our history will be included in the textbooks of tomorrow so that no young LGBT person will feel alone or disconnected. Despite what our government does or the manner in which our history is left out from textbooks we must take the initiative to learn this history for our well-being. It is empowering to be reminded how many LGBT people of all backgrounds have made a positive difference through history and still today like Billie Jean King. It is time for this knowledge to come out of history's closet so that we can remind ourselves where we were and where we need to go.