Catherine Opie (born 1961) is an American artist specializing in issues within documentary photography. Throughout her work she has investigated aspects of community, making portraits of many groups including the LGBT community; surfers; and most recently high school football players. She’s also...

David Sedaris (b. December 26, 1956) is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, bestselling author, and radio contributor. Sedaris was first publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay “SantaLand Diaries”. He published his first collection...

Annise Danette Parker (b. May 17, 1956) is an American politician and the mayor of Houston since January 2, 2010. She served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1997 to 2003 and city controller from 2004 to 2009. Parker is Houston’s second female mayor, and the first openly gay...

Today’s “Know Your History” actually comes from an amazing story I found recently on The New Civil Rights Movement’s blog. Since I’ve already ranted and raved about how amazing this site is, I won’t repeat myself, but I will encourage you to read the story in full....

In 1972, Jeanne Manford was watching a news report on a gay rights protest taking place in New York City when she witnessed her son being tossed down an escalator with NYPD standing nearby, doing nothing. Later, Manford marched with her gay son, Morty, in New York City’s Christopher Street Liberation...

Margaret Costanza (November 28, 1932 – March 23, 2010), widely known as “Midge”, was an American Presidential advisor, social and political activist. A life-long champion of gay and women’s rights, she was known for her wit, outspoken manner and commitment to her convictions. Costanza...

Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford on February 18, 1931) is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of...

Alvin Ailey, Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance. His company...

Audre Geraldine Lorde (February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist. Lorde’s poetry was published very regularly during the 1960s — in Langston Hughes’s 1962 New Negro Poets, USA; in several foreign anthologies; and in black literary magazines....

Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American civil rights activist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier, and the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He counseled Martin Luther King, Jr. on the...