Hero

Revolutionary War General

b. September 17, 1730
d. November 28, 1794

“You say to your soldier, 'Do this' and he does it. But I am obliged to say to the American, 'This is why you ought to do this' and then he does it.”

Baron Friedrich von Steuben was a German-born American general and a hero of the Revolutionary War. Historians believe he was openly gay—a rarity at the time, especially for a military officer.

Born in Magdeburg, Germany, the son of an engineer lieutenant in the Prussian Army, von Steuben joined the military at age 17. He served as the personal aide to Frederick the Great, a gay monarch, in the Seven Years War (1756 – 1763), a world conflict that arose from the French and Indian War in North America.

In 1763, when von Steuben was an army captain, the military abruptly discharged him. Some scholars believe he was dismissed due to his homosexuality. He then worked for the German courts. In 1771 the Prince of Hollenzollern-Hechingen named him a baron.

Struggling financially in 1775, von Steuben tried unsuccessfully to join the French, Austrian and other foreign armies. When he learned that Benjamin Franklin was in France, he traveled there to offer his service to the American army fighting the British. He impressed Franklin with his knowledge of military order and discipline.

Von Steuben was eventually assigned to George Washington’s winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight military encampments for the main body of the Continental Army.

With the help of translators, von Steuben taught the troops crucial military structure and tactics. Borrowing from his own strict Prussian Army training, he shaped the ragtag recruits and militiamen into organized, efficient fighters and boosted morale under the difficult conditions at Valley Forge. George Washington was so impressed, he extended von Steuben’s training to his entire command. He appointed von Steuben the first inspector general of the Army.

From January to October 1781, von Steuben served as a divisional commander under Washington in Yorktown, Virginia. The Yorktown campaign resulted in a decisive Franco-American victory and the start of peace negotiations. Many historians regard von Steuben as second only to Washington himself.

Although gay sex was a crime in the 1700s, same-sex romantic liaisons were tolerated. Von Steuben formed serious relationships with William North and Benjamin Walker. When the Revolutionary War ended, the U.S. granted von Steuben citizenship. He moved to New York, where he legally adopted both men, a practice commonplace among homosexuals, centuries before gay marriage.

When von Steuben died, North and Walker inherited his estate. The baron’s secretary, John Mulligan, with whom he was also believed to have had a relationship, inherited his library.

Von Steuben’s burial place became the Steuben Memorial, a state historic site in Steuben, New York.

Marriage Equality Hero

July 7, 1966

“We have to stand up and say we’ve had enough.”

Jim Obergefell is the plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. 

A Cincinnati resident, Obergefell married John Arthur in Maryland in 2013. Arthur was terminally ill with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and Obergefell filed a lawsuit to force their home state of Ohio to recognize him as the surviving spouse on Arthur’s death certificate. The couple alleged that the state’s governor, John Kasich, was discriminating against same-sex couples who were legally married out of state. 

In 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, thus requiring all 50 states and U.S. territories to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“Today’s ruling from the Supreme Court affirms what millions across the country already know to be true in our hearts,” Obergefell said upon learning the verdict, “that our love is equal.” President Barack Obama called the decision a “victory for America.”

Obergefell is an unanticipated activist. Born and raised in Sandusky, Ohio, he is the youngest of five children in a Catholic family. He came out as gay in his mid 20s and met Arthur in 1992. They lived together for 22 years before Arthur succumbed in 2014.

When Arthur was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, Obergefell became his primary caregiver. The couple flew to Maryland to legally marry just before Arthur died. They had already filed a federal lawsuit to allow Obergefell to be named Arthur's surviving spouse. When the court ruled in favor of Obergefell, Ohio appealed the ruling and won. Obergefell took his fight to the Supreme Court.

Obergefell has become a marriage equality hero, traveling nationally and internationally. With Pulitzer Prize winner Debbie Cenziper, he is the co-author of "Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality."

Olympic Soccer Player

b. July 5, 1985, Redding, California

“Your personal life is less about people having to know about your sexuality than standing up for what’s right and fighting for equality.”

In 2012 professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe came out publicly two weeks before she was to play for the women’s soccer team in the London Olympics. “I feel like sports in general are still homophobic in the sense that not a lot of people are out,” she said. “I feel everyone is really craving [for] people to come out. People want—they need—to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good ol’ U.S. of A.”

Being closeted made Rapinoe feel inauthentic. It was her desire to do the right thing, to “stand up for what’s right and to fight for equality.” She said that when she came out she became a better player. In the Olympic Games, she scored three goals and logged four assists, helping her team win the gold medal.

“I’d like to help create more tolerance and acceptance across the board,” Rapinoe asserted. That means more people talking about it, more people coming out and, at the end of the day, making less of a massive deal about being gay. I’d like to see homosexuality become something that’s just normal to everyone.”

Actor and Director

b. April 21, 1963, El Paso, Texas

“Rock and roll and theatre and drag are all the same thing. They’re ways to remind yourself that you’re not alone.”

John Cameron Mitchell is best known for writing, directing and starring in the cult classic film “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

While the story of Hedwig is not autobiographical, the sexually ambiguous character—the lead singer in a fictional rock band—does share some traits with her creator. Like Hedwig, who is from East Germany and spent her youth craving the freedom of the West, Mitchell used to visit his military father in Berlin and became haunted by the Berlin wall. Hedwig, like Mitchell, is a performer with an insatiable passion for the stage. Both are perennial outsiders making their own way—idealists who transcend labels. Hedwig confounds male and female identities and Mitchell is an out gay man who believes gays are on the verge of selling out as they assimilate into society. Hedwig and Mitchell teach us to distrust appearances because true character comes from the inside out.

In 2008 Mitchell established a New York nightclub called Mattachine. It was located at Julius, the nation’s oldest known gay bar. Mattachine was an homage to activists who convened at Julius in 1966 to hold a “sip-in” protest of the State Liquor Authority’s regulation prohibiting bartenders from serving homosexuals.

In 1998 Mitchell’s rock musical, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” debuted Off-Broadway and won an Obie Award. Mitchell played the lead role for seven shows a week. In 2001 he directed and starred in the film version, for which he earned the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor. The film garnered a cult following. In 2014 a revival of “Hedwig” opened on Broadway with Neil Patrick Harris cast in the leading role. Mitchell also wrote, directed and produced the film “Shortbus” and directed “Rabbit Hole,” starring Nicole Kidman.

Journalist

b. March 6, 1967, New York, New York

“Gay issues are about the same fundamental issues as other civil liberties questions—the rights of the individual.”

Glenn Greenwald was born in New York and raised in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, where his grandfather was a city councilman. Greenwald’s youthful ambition was politics. He became the first teenager on the county parks and recreation board.

Greenwald studied law at New York University. His debate skills helped secure him a job at a prominent law firm that represented rich and powerful clients. Dissatisfied with the work, he came out as a gay man and began his own law firm. Greenwald believed that as social outcasts, gay people tend to be more willing to challenge authority.

In 2005 Greenwald launched a blog, Unclaimed Territory. He focused on unbridled government surveillance versus first-amendment rights. In 2006 he published “How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok,” which became a New York Times best seller. Greenwald gained notoriety for providing the international media with classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents illegally obtained by Edward Snowden. The disclosure exposed controversial U.S. government surveillance activities.

When the United States soldier formerly known as Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning) was arrested for stealing secret government documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and disseminating them to WikiLeaks, Greenwald came to Manning’s defense. Greenwald characterized Manning’s intentions as “politically insightful, astute and thoughtful.”

Greenwald published an article praising President Obama for his support of same-sex marriage. For Greenwald the matter was personal. In 2005 he left the United States to pursue a relationship with a Brazilian man, David Miranda. Of Obama’s endorsement Greenwald stated, “It is a powerful message to gay youth that their sexual orientation is neither a flaw nor an abnormality.”

Olympic Figure Skater

b. September 7, 1969, San Jose, California

“HIV-AIDS is not a death sentence. You can go out there and do what you want.”

In 1996 Rudy Galindo became the first United States skating champion to come out as openly gay.

Galindo is famous for his grace on the ice. A singles and doubles skating phenomenon, he won the World Junior Championship in 1987 and the U.S. National Championship in 1997. With doubles partner Kristi Yamaguchi, he won the World Junior Championship in 1988 and the U.S. National Championship in 1989 and 1990. In 1996 he won the bronze medal at the World Championships.

In 1997 Galindo published his autobiography, which recounted his childhood of poverty, the death of his older brother and a coach from AIDS, the death of his domineering father, and his mother’s mental illness.

In 2000 Galindo came out as HIV-positive. In 2001 he was awarded the Ryan White Award for Service to Prevent HIV/AIDS.

Stonewall Activist

b. December 24, 1920, New Orleans, Louisiana

d. May 24, 2014, Brooklyn, New York

“It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience—it wasn’t no damn riot.”

Stormé DeLarverie was a Stonewall veteran and the sole female performer for the Jewel Box Review, a traveling drag show that toured the country from 1939 into the 1960s. At that time, cross-dressing was considered a criminal offense in most municipalities. The review included 24 drag queens and Stormé (pronounced “Stormy”), the only drag king.

When DeLarverie wasn’t traveling with the troupe, she lived at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan and worked security at Henrietta Hudson, a well-known lesbian bar in the West Village. Constantly vigilant, DeLarverie thought of the bar patrons as her “babies” and patrolled the streets as their defender.

At the Stonewall Riot on June 27, 1969, DeLarverie threw the first punch. As the story goes, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village frequented by gay men, lesbians, and drag kings and queens. The police raids were habitual. That night DeLarverie saw three officers ganging up on one young man and sprang to the victim’s defense. One of the policemen shouted, “Move, Faggot!” mistaking DeLarverie for a man. The officer shoved DeLarverie, who retaliated with a punch to the face. The officer dropped to the ground, bleeding; thus began the Stonewall Riot.

DeLarverie preferred the word “rebellion” when it came to describing the events at the Stonewall. She felt the term “riot” connoted chaos and criminality.

In 2003 filmmaker Sam Bassett produced a documentary about DeLarverie. When she died at the age of 93, hundreds of admirers attended her West Village funeral service.

AIDS Activist

b. April 11, 1955, Rising Sun, Indiana

d. December 27, 1993, Los Angeles, CA

“The party that was the ’70s is over.”

Michael Callen was a pioneering AIDS activist. In 1982, when Callen was diagnosed with Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID), little was known about the “gay cancer.” Those with the disease knew their days were numbered and that the disease stigmatized them. Callen did not hesitate to come out openly as a gay man with the fatal disease and to take action.

He was convinced that GRID was sexually transmitted. In 1983 Callen co-wrote one of the first guides on safe-sex practices, “How to Have Sex in an Epidemic.” He appeared on television talk shows and wrote for newspapers and magazines. He became the face of AIDS, as the disease was renamed.

While Callen never advocated for the closure of bathhouses, he did believe that gay men were suffering from their own promiscuity. In 1982 he coauthored an article in the New York Native in which he declared “war on promiscuity” and argued that gay men needed to rethink their attitudes toward sex and relationships.

Callen also gained recognition as a songwriter and singer. His music reflects the frustration of living with a chronic disease but also celebrates love as a powerful force for healing. His lyrics promote loving companionship and long-term partnerships for gay men.

Callen toured internationally with the gay a capella group The Flirtations. His solo album, “Purple Heart” (1988), won wide acclaim and features the hit song “Love Don’t Need a Reason,” which he performed at the 1993 March on Washington for LGBT Rights.

In 1985 Callen helped found the People With AIDS Coalition. In doing so he coined the term PWA’s (People With AIDS) to foster a self-empowered movement. He served on many boards and provided testimony for government bodies including the President’s Commission on AIDS. Callen died of AIDS-related complications.

Women’s and LGBT Activist

b. August 15, 1926, Lynbrook, New York

“For 50 years, my passion has been equal rights for women, lesbians and gay men, and it continues.”

Ivy Bottini is a pioneering lesbian feminist. In 1966 she was inspired by Betty Friedan’s book “The Feminine Mystique.” She met Friedan and together they established the first chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Bottini served on the national board of NOW for three years and was president of the New York chapter for two years.

Friedan was vocal in her concerns about out lesbians in NOW. Because lesbians were being asked to closet themselves, Bottini left. She moved to the West Coast where she became the women’s program director for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. Bottini met local activist Morris Kight and they formed the Coalition for Human Rights to oppose the Briggs Initiative. The initiative threatened termination of lesbian and gay teachers in California. In 1978 Briggs was defeated. It was the first defeat in the nation of a homophobic state referendum.

Bottini continued as a radical force for LGBT activism through the 1980s. She cofounded the Los Angeles Lesbian/Gay Police Advisory Board and formed AIDS Network LA, the first organization in the city created to combat AIDS. In 1986 she successfully worked to defeat Proposition 64, which designated homosexuals as a public menace who should be quarantined.

In 1993 Bottini founded the nonprofit organization Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing, Inc. The organization’s first low-income LGBT senior housing project, Triangle Square, is located in the heart of Hollywood.

Historian

b. December 3, 1946, Springfield, Massachusetts

d. December 11, 2006, San Francisco, California

“The massive mobilization for World War II relaxed the social constraints of peacetime that had kept gay men and women unaware of … each other.”

Allan Bérubé is best known for his 1990 book, “Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two.” He posits that servicemen and women during the war found the freedom to explore sexuality in a relatively judgment-free environment. When these soldiers returned home, many settled into a domestic heterosexual lifestyle that launched the baby boom. But a few, knowing they were not as “deviant” as they had been led to believe, decided to stand up against homosexual persecution.

Though Bérubé dropped out of college, he maintained a lifelong passion for scholarship. In 1976 Jonathan Ned Katz’s “Gay American History” inspired Bérubé to conduct his own research. He helped to form the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project. In 1979 he created a slideshow titled “Lesbian Masquerade” about 19th-century women who had passed as men. The presentation became popular and was shown repeatedly in the San Francisco Bay area.

Due to his local celebrity, Bérubé received from an acquaintance the letters of Harold Clark. These letters detailed Clark’s friendships with other gay men during World War II. Bérubé created a second slideshow lecture, which he toured with across the country. His work inspired veterans to contribute their stories to the project. Thus began the 10-year journey that culminated in the publication of “Coming Out Under Fire.”

In 1990 “Coming Out Under Fire” received the Lambda Literary Award for outstanding Gay Men’s Nonfiction and influenced the U.S. Senate’s 1993 hearings on the exclusion of lesbians and gay men from the military. A documentary adaptation of the book won a Peabody Award.