Youth

Parkland Gun Control Activist

b. November 11, 1999

“#InOurLifetime, we will fight for and alongside victims of gun violence, and we will prevail.”

At age 18, Emma González became a prominent gun control advocate after surviving the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida. As a leader of the #NeverAgain Movement, her activism gave rise to nationwide demonstrations and helped trigger a monumental shift in U.S. anti-gun initiatives.

The daughter of a Cuban immigrant, González was raised in Parkland. She identifies as bisexual and served as president of her high school gay-straight alliance. As a senior, González survived the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. The massacre left 17 students and staff members dead and 17 others injured.

Just three days after the carnage, González courageously transformed her anguish into activism. She delivered an impassioned speech at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, calling “B.S.” on politicians and the NRA. “If all our government and president can do is send thoughts and prayers,” she declared, “then it’s time for victims to be the change that we need to see.” The speech was broadcast nationally and went viral on social media.

In the following weeks, González became one of the most visible and outspoken student activists to emerge from the Parkland tragedy. As a leader and founding member of the student gun control advocacy group Never Again MSD—alongside Cameron Kasky, David Hogg and several others—González spoke out for gun reform during multiple high-profile media appearances. She helped organize March for Our Lives, a series of demonstrations that mobilized hundreds of thousands of protestors across the nation and around the world.

As a direct response to the Never Again Movement, the Florida Legislature passed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Florida High School Public Safety Act, which established a new set of gun restrictions.

It marked the first time in 30 years that the state had passed gun control measures. On March 9, 2018, when the governor signed the bill into law, he said, “To the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, you made your voices heard. You didn't let up and you fought until there was change.”

During the summer of 2018, González traveled the country holding rallies for stronger gun control and to encourage young people to vote in the midterm elections. In the 18 months following the Parkland shooting, more than 65 new gun violence prevention measures passed in the United States.

González entered the New College of Florida in the fall of 2018.

Teen Transgender Activist 

b. May 4, 1999

“I’m just Gavin. I have frustrations, stress, hopes, and dreams like millions of other young people in America. And like everyone else, sometimes I have to use the restroom. It’s not political. It’s just life.”  

Gavin Grimm was thrust into the national spotlight in 2014 as a transgender high school student, when he sued for the right to use the boys’ restroom in his Virginia public high school.

Born female, Grimm struggled with his sexual identity from an early age. At 15, he was diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria and began medical treatment. With his high school’s permission, he began using the boys’ restroom in his sophomore year. He told The Washington Post, “It just seemed like the natural progression of things.” 

Grimm used the boys’ restroom without issue for nearly two months. Then, following transphobic complaints from parents and residents, the high school and the Gloucester County School Board voted to ban Grimm from using the bathroom matching his gender identity. 

At a subsequent school board meeting, Grimm endured insults, threats and inflammatory rhetoric. The board voted to segregate him by relegating his bathroom use to the nurse’s restroom or to a makeshift restroom meant only for him.

After learning of Grimm’s plight, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf, contending that the school board’s restriction of his bathroom use was unconstitutional. They argued that the school’s policy violated Title IX laws prohibiting sex discrimination under the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972.

The lower courts dismissed the case. In 2016 the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the lower courts’ decision in Grimm’s favor. The Gloucester County School Board then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. The request was rejected. 

Throughout the appeals and during his graduation from Gloucester High School in June 2017, Grimm remained barred from the boys’ restroom. In 2018 the U.S. District Court declared that the school violated the rights of transgender students by excluding them from the bathroom consistent with their gender identity.

Grimm has received numerous awards. In 2017 TIME magazine honored him on its list of “100 Most Influential People.” Major news outlets, including as The New York Times and The Washington Post, have reported his story.

Grimm is working toward his college degree and advocates for transgender equality.

Actor
Please Note: *Ellen* Page was celebrated during LGBT History Month 2016, as is reflected in this biography. In December 2020, Page came out as trangender on Instagram. Page underwent top surgery and took the name Elliot. He gave his first interview on the subject in March 2021 in TIME, becoming the first transgender person to appear on the magazine's cover.

b: February 21, 1987

“I’m tired of hiding and I’m tired of lying by omission.”

Ellen Page is an Academy Award-nominated Canadian actor who has starred in “Juno,” “Inception,” “To Rome With Love” and the X-Men series. She has won nominations from BAFTA, the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild, as well as a Teen Choice Award. 

Page was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of a teacher and a graphic designer. Her first acting role was at the age of 10 in a Canadian television movie called “Pit Pony.” She earned work in Canadian films and television, including a breakout role in the 2005 film “Hard Candy.” 

Page is most famous for  her title role in the offbeat Canadian-American dramedy “Juno” (2007), about an unplanned teen pregnancy. The independent film won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and earned Page a nomination for Best Actress.  

Page caught the attention of mainstream media. She was counted among FHM magazine’s “Sexiest Women in the World” and named to Entertainment Weekly’s future stars list. 

In 2014 Page came out publicly during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s Time to Thrive conference benefiting LGBT youth. The same year she was named to The Advocate’s 40 Under 40 list.

Page has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, producing a docu-series for Viceland called “Gaycation” in which she travels the world to discuss LGBT experiences. She has also called for an end to military dictatorship in Burma and describes herself as a pro-choice feminist, an atheist and a vegan. 

In 2015 she played opposite Julianne Moore in the film “Freeheld,” a true story about a lesbian police officer with terminal cancer who fought the Ocean County (N.J.) Board of Freeholders to allow her pension benefits to be transferred to her domestic partner. The role was the first in which Page played a lesbian onscreen. She has said that the film and her coming out have liberated her.

“I’m on Twitter and I’m gay,” Page said, “and I talk about gay rights … As a gay person living in Los Angeles, I get to do a job that I love that’s given me — let’s just be honest — money. I think it really is easy to forget what a lot of LGBT people face."

Educators

Emery Hetrick
b. 1931  d. 1991

Damien Martin
b. 1933  d. 1987

“Blacks, Jews, and Hispanics are not thrown out of their families or religion at adolescence. ... Gay and lesbian kids are.” – Damien Martin

In 1979 Dr. Emery Hetrick and Dr. Damien Martin founded the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a nonprofit organization in New York, originally named the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth. The doctors created the institute to advocate for at-risk youth aged 13 to 21. The idea came after hearing about a 15-year-old boy who had been beaten and thrown out of an emergency shelter because he was gay.

In 1985 the institute established the Harvey Milk High School in cooperation with the New York City Department of Education. Named for the slain gay San Francisco city councilman, the school provides an alternative public education for LGBT youth. It is the largest school of its kind in the world. Programs include job training, HIV education and internships. Martin said the school was founded “for gay youths, partly because violence inflicted on young homosexuals made it impossible for some to stay in other schools.”

Hetrick and Martin helped establish a network of social service agencies serving New York’s LGBT community. Hetrick, an Ohio native, was a former medical director at the drug company Pfizer and a psychiatric specialist who worked at both Harlem Hospital Center and the Gouverneur Diagnostic and Treatment Center.

Martin, a native Philadelphian, was active in many gay rights organizations, including the Governor’s Task Force on Teen Suicide and the Child Welfare League of America’s Task Force on AIDS. He taught speech pathology at New York University.

Both men, life partners, died of AIDS-related complications.

Activist

b. November 13, 1989

“It’s about vocalizing what the voiceless cannot say and making visible those who are invisible.”

Katherine Miller was the last West Point cadet discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). She is a 2012 Yale graduate. With the repeal of DADT, Miller enlisted in the Army as an officer.

Raised in Ohio in a conservative military family, Miller’s dream was to become an officer in the Army. In 2008, she enrolled at West Point and excelled as a cadet, ranking in the top one percent of her class. She faced hostility from those who believed her to be a lesbian. After two years at the academy, Miller said, “I could not square my integrity with the daily half-truths that came with hiding my sexuality.”

In 2010, Miller came out to her commanders and leaked her letter of resignation to the media, effectively initiating her own discharge. The following day she discussed her decision on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” and became a spokesperson for the repeal of DADT. After her discharge, Miller transferred to Yale University.

Miller served on the founding board of OutServe, then an underground organization of gay active-duty service members. She represented the organization at major media engagements, most notably escorting Lady Gaga to the MTV Video Music Awards to mobilize viewers for the DADT repeal.

Miller was the most important lesbian voice in the repeal of DADT. As a tribute to her activism, she was invited to the White House for the signing of the repeal bill in 2011.

Miller was named a Truman Scholar, a Point Foundation Scholar and one of Out magazine’s “Top 100 Influential Men and Women of 2010.”

Miller is a board member at OutServe, which is now the largest LGBT employee resource group in the world, with over 5,500 members.

Entrepreneur

b. November 26, 1983

“Social media is an online extension of the conversations at the dinner table.”

Chris Hughes is an entrepreneur and a cofounder of Facebook. He is the publisher and editor in chief of The New Republic, a leading public policy magazine.

Hughes grew up in North Carolina, the only son of a teacher and a salesman. He attended Phillips Academy on an academic scholarship before enrolling at Harvard University. Hughes, along with college roommates Mark Zuckerburg, Eduardo Saverin and Dustin Moskovitz, founded Facebook. Beginning as a social networking site for Harvard students, Facebook became a global phenomenon connecting more than 900-million users.

In 2007, Hughes left Facebook to work on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. As the coordinator for online organizing, he developed My.BarackObama.com, which enabled supporters to create local events, set personal fund-raising goals and join campaign groups. Hughes mobilized millions of young voters and raised more than $30 million. In 2009, Fast Company dubbed him “The Kid Who Made Obama President.” Hughes’s successful strategy, which utilized social media as an effective campaign tool, revolutionized modern politics.

In 2010, Hughes founded Jumo, a nonprofit social networking organization. It has connected millions of activists to organizations working to improve communities worldwide.

Hughes has served as a member of the United Nations AIDS High Level Commission on HIV Prevention. In 2011, he announced his engagement to Sean Eldridge, senior advisor for Freedom to Marry. Both powerful advocates for marriage equality, they have donated more than $1 million to support same-sex marriage.

In 2012, Hughes purchased The New Republic and legally married Eldridge.

Actor

b. May 27, 1990

“I’ve tried being other people and myself suits me the best.”

Chris Colfer is an actor, singer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing Kurt on “Glee.” He is one of the first openly gay teen actors to portray an out character on primetime television.

Colfer was raised in Clovis, California, and was home schooled during middle school because of severe bullying. He excelled in high school, was president of the Writers’ Club, and edited the school’s literary magazine. He wrote, directed, and starred in a gender-reversed spoof of “Sweeney Todd,” titled “Shirley Todd.” Despite his achievements, Colfer was harassed because he was perceived to be gay.

With only community theater experience, he auditioned for the role of Artie in “Glee.” He did not get the part, but inspired the show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, to create a character for him. “He’s never been formally trained,” said Murphy, “and I just thought he was so talented and gifted and unusual.”

Colfer plays Kurt, a stylish, outspoken member of the glee club who performs songs traditionally sung by women. Similar to Colfer’s real life experiences, Kurt overcomes struggles with his sexual identity and bullying. He falls in love with another male character. The New York Post named the pair “one of the most beloved TV couples of the millennium.”

Through his television character, Colfer hopes to give people strength and “show the little sparks of bravery that are in us all.” He is an inspiring role model both for teens discovering themselves and for adults who have been in his shoes. He recorded a video for the “It Gets Better” campaign, telling teens “there’s a world full of acceptance and love just waiting for you to find it.”

He won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and a Teen Choice Award. Colfer was nominated for two Emmys, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a People’s Choice Award. In 2011, he was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by Time magazine.

Colfer starred in and wrote the screenplay for ”Struck by Lightning” (2012), a coming-of-age comedy that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. “The Land of Stories,” his first novel for children and young adults, was released in 2012.

Hero      

b.  December 1, 1976
d.  October 12, 1998

"Every American child deserves the strongest protections from some of the country’s most horrifying crimes." – Judy Shepard

As a gay college student, Matthew Shepard was the victim of a deadly hate crime. His murder brought national and international attention to the need for GLBT-inclusive hate crimes legislation.

Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming, to Judy and Dennis Shepard. He was the older of two sons. Matthew completed high school at The American School in Switzerland. In 1998, he enrolled at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Soon afterward, he joined the campus gay alliance.

On October 6, 1998, two men—Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson—lured Shepard from a downtown Laramie bar. After Shepard acknowledged that he was gay, McKinney and Henderson beat and tortured him, then tied him to a tree in a remote, rural area and left him for dead. Eighteen hours later, a biker, who thought he saw a scarecrow, found Shepard barely breathing.

Shepard was rushed to the hospital, but never regained consciousness. He died on October 12. Both of Shepard’s killers were convicted of felony murder and are serving two consecutive life sentences.

Despite the outcome of the trial, the men who took Shepard’s life were not charged with a hate crime. Wyoming has no hate crimes law, which protects victims of crimes motivated by bias against a protected class. Shepard’s high-profile murder case sparked protests, vigils and calls for federal hate crimes legislation for GLBT victims of violence.

Shortly after their son's death, Judy and Dennis Shepard founded The Matthew Shepard Foundation to honor his memory and to "replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance." Judy Shepard became a GLBT activist and the most recognized voice in the fight for a federal hate crimes bill.

In 2009, more than a decade after Shepard’s murder, The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA) was signed into law. HCPA added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes, giving the United States Department of Justice the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violent crimes against GLBT victims.

Dozens of songs have been written and recorded to honor Matthew Shepard's legacy.  Several films, television movies and plays about him have been produced, including "The Laramie Project" (2002) and "The Matthew Shepard Story" (2002).

Youth Activist

b. October 14, 1975

"Kids are becoming a lot stronger, and with my case I hope they realize that they’re not alone."

Jamie Nabozny was the first student to successfully sue a school district for its failure to protect a student from anti-gay harassment. His 1995 lawsuit helped pioneer the Safe Schools Movement for GLBT students.

Nabozny was emotionally bullied and physically abused as a high school student in Ashland, Wisconsin, after he revealed his sexual orientation. Classmates urinated on him, simulated raping him and beat him to the point that he needed surgery. Although he and his parents reported the bullying repeatedly, Nabozny was told that, because he was openly gay, he should expect such behavior.

"I was numb most of the time, and I had to be numb to make it through," Nabozny said. He left the school, moved to Minnesota with his family, and passed the GED exam.

His lawsuit against the school was initially dismissed, but the Nabozny family appealed. The appellate court, basing its ruling on the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, allowed the lawsuit to go forward. A jury then found the school liable for Nabozny’s injuries; the school district eventually agreed to a nearly $1 million settlement.

Nabozny’s story is featured in a documentary film and teaching kit produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center. "Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case that Made History," and its accompanying materials have been distributed to schools nationwide.

Nabozny has submitted written testimony to Congress and has lobbied lawmakers about school safety for GLBT youth. He was honored for his pioneering efforts by Equality Forum, which recognized him with its 1997 National Role Model Award.

Nabozny lives in Minneapolis. He travels the country speaking to diverse audiences about his experience and the importance of safe schools.

Olympic Diver 

b. March 2, 1988

"Being ‘out' for me means being just as I am with nothing to be ashamed about and no reasons to hide."

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham is one of the few openly gay Olympic athletes. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Mitcham won a gold medal after executing the highest-scoring dive in Olympic history.

Mitcham grew up in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He competed as a trampoline gymnast before being discovered by a diving coach. By the time he was 14, he was a national junior champion in diving. A few years later, he won medals in the World Junior Diving Championships.

In 2006, after battling anxiety and depression, Mitcham decided to retire from diving. The following year, he returned to diving and began training for the Olympics.

In Beijing, Mitcham won an Olympic gold medal in the 10-meter platform dive. It was the first time in over 80 years that an Australian male diver struck Olympic gold. After his triumph, he leaped into the stands to hug and kiss his partner, Lachlan Fletcher.

Mitcham was the first out Australian to compete in the Olympics. There were only 11 openly gay athletes out of a total of over 11,000 competitors in Beijing.

Mitcham was chosen 2008 Sports Performer of the Year by the Australian public. The same year, Australia GQ named him Sportsman of the Year. After accepting the GQ award, Mitcham joked, "Oh, my God, I’m a homo and I just won the sports award!"

Mitcham was a guest of honor at the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne. He is studying at Sydney University and training for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

"I look at the last 20 years as a long, winding path of lessons and some hardship," Mitcham said in 2008. “I hope I do have more lessons to learn. I look forward to that."