BHM Writeups - Warwick Pride

Wanda Sykes (1964-)
Writer, Comedian, Actress
•Co-writer of ‘The Chris Rock Show’.
•Actress in ‘Ice Age’, ‘Evan Almighty’, ‘Curb Your
Enthusiasm’.
•The first African-American and the first LGBT
person to be the featured entertainer at the White
House Correspondence Dinner.
•Advocate and star of ‘Think Before You Speak
Campaign’
•Animal Rights Advocate.
Siggy/Tristan
Asexual Activist
•Siggy is gay gray-asexual and a graduate student
and asexual activist in the US.
•He was part of the Asexual Voices panel at
Creating Change 2013, which is the largest
annual LGBT Conference worldwide.
•He blogs about asexuality at The Asexual
Agenda, and at Skeptic’s Play.
Mabel Hampton (1902-1989)
Dancer, Activist
•She helped found the Lesbian Herstory Archives
in Manhattan in 1974.
•Despite small wages, she donated to gay and
lesbian organisations and marched in the first
National Gay and Lesbian March in Washington.
•She also appeared in the LGBT documentaries:
Silent Pioneers and Before Stonewall.
•Hampton was a lesbian, and enjoyed a
relationship with Lillian Foster 1932-1978.
Prince Manvendra Kumar
Singh Gohil (1965-)
Social Activist
•The only openly LGBT person of royal lineage in
modern India.
•Royal family of the former princely state of
Rajpipla in India.
•HIV/AIDS Activist and founder of The Lakshya
Trust.
Nicola Adams (1982-)
Boxer (2012 Olympic gold medallist)
•She is a British boxer and won the Women’s
Boxing Flyweight Gold Medal at the London 2012
Olympic Games. She was the first woman and,
being bisexual, the first openly LGBT person to
win an Olympic boxing gold medal.
•In 2012 she topped the list of The Independent’s
101 most influential LGBT people in Britain.
•In 2013, she was appointed Member of the Order
of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year
Honours for her services to boxing.
George Takei (1937-)
Actor, Author, Campaigner
•Best known for his role at Sulu in Star Trek, he is
an openly gay actor, author and campaigner, born
in Los Angeles to Japanese-American parents.
•He has been a spokesperson for the Human
Rights Campaign “Coming Out Project”.
•His Facebook page has gained a huge following
due to his outspoken and oft times humorous
nature.
•In 2012, George was awarded the LGBT
Humanist Award by the American Humanist
Association.
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (1979-)
Actress, Transgender Rights Activist
•She was the first transgender person to represent
Asia Pacific in the UN.
•She is both a transgender rights activist, Hindi
film actress and dancer!
•She has served/still serves on the boards of
several NGOs which conduct LGBT activist work
•Laxmi frequently stars in many TV shows
including the indian TV show Bigg Boss, and a
documentary series about LGBT Indians.
•She has adopted two children.
Alice Walker (1944-)
Author, Poet, Activist
•Most famous for writing The Color Purple, a
novel focusing on the life of women of
colour in southern USA which won the
National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
•Walker has participated in many
demonstrations and is active in campaigns
for black, women’s and queer liberation, and
animal rights and anti-war campaigns.
•Walker: “I'm not a lesbian, I'm not bisexual,
I'm not straight, I'm curious. If you're really
alive, how can you be in one place the whole
time? That doesn't work for me.”
Nina Bouraoui (1967-)
Feminist Writer
•Bouraoui: “I am undefined. It’s a war against
the world. I become unclassifiable. I am not
typical enough.”
•She has written several novels on the subject
of sexuality, race and gender identity and
the ways in which they interact.
•Her most famous works are Garçon manqué
(‘Tomboy’), and Mes Mauvaises Pensées (‘My
Bad Thoughts’), winning the Prix Renaudot.
•Her works have received much critical
acclaim in France and have been translated
into many different languages.
Bayard Rustin (civil rights activist,
1912-1987, gay socialist Quaker pacifist who
worked as an election monitor and who
testified on behalf of New York State’s Gay
Rights Bill)
James Baldwin (writer, 1924-1987, his
novels fictionalised fundamental questions
about social and psychological pressures
preventing the integration of black and gay
people, as well as the internalised
homophobia within many people’s quest for
acceptance)
Josephine Baker (dancer, singer and activist,
1906-1975, walked with Martin Luther King
in the March on Washington, outspoken on
racism and insisted on only playing in
integrated venues which inspired many to
change their policies on integration)
Alvin Ailey (choreographer & activist,
1931-1989, revolutionised African-American
participation in 20th century concert dance
and led a proudly multi-racial company)
Frank Ocean (R&B singer-songwriter, 1987-,
one of the first African-American artists to
come out in a notoriously homophobic genre)
Staceyann Chin (spoken-word poet and
political activist, 1972-, out lesbian of
Chinese-Jamaican and Afro-Jamaican descent
who had her first child in 2012 via IVF as a
single mother)
George Takei (actor and author, 1937-, part
of first same-sex couple to apply for a
marriage license in West Hollywood, well
known for his social activism and public
service announcements)
Audre Lorde (writer and civil rights activist,
1934-1992, politically active in civil rights,
anti-war, LGBT and feminist movements)
Janet Mock (writer, 1984-, transgender
rights advicate and former staff editor of
People magazine who came out as
transgender in 2011 and now creates
transgender-specific programs and education
for LGBT teens)
Sylvia Rivera (civil rights activist,
1951-2002, bisexual and trans woman who
was a founding member of the Gay Liberation
Front and Street Transgender Action
Revolutionaries, which worked tirelessly to
help street drag quees and trans women)
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil (social
activist, 1965-, only known person of royal
lineage in modern Indian to have publicly
come out, he has recently announced plans to
adopt a child)
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi (actress &
transgender rights activist, 1979-, first
transgender person to represent Asia Pacific
in the UN and involved in much LGBT activist
work)
Giti Thadani (social activist, 1955-,
documented ancient paintings and sculptures
which depicted same-sex love, and founded
the first indian lesbian organisation Sakhi
Collective)
Nicole Murray-Ramirez (human rights
commissioner and LGBT rights activist,
1945-, rode in San Diego’s first Pride Parade
in his drag persona, served as chair of the
board for Equality California and is currently a
San Diego appointed city human rights
commissioner)
Paula Gunn Allen (poet and lesbian activist,
1939-2008, published a major study on the
role of women in American Indian traditions)
Mabel Hampton (dancer and lesbian activist,
1902-1989, marched in the first National Gay
and Lesbian March on Washington, and at 82
spoke before thousands of onlookers in the
Pride Parade of 1984)