24 Black LGBTQ+ Activists Who Changed The World

Like much of history, stories about the LGBTQ+ movement have been largely whitewashed. It was Black and Latinx people, many of them transgender women, who started the fight with police at the Stonewall Inn in 1969 — a riot that's often credited as the turning point in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. So why was a fictional white, gay man at the heart of the 2015 movie that depicted the riot?

Black LGBTQ+ people have hardly been given their due in the stories of the LGBTQ+ community's past and present, and it's time to change that. So, in honor of Black History Month, we've collected a list of prominent Black LGBTQ+ activists throughout history. These 24 people have worked tirelessly to make their communities safer and more empowered. They deserve our recognition and praise. So, let's raise a glass to the Black LGBTQ+ activists on this list — as well as those whose names we don't know because their stories were never told.