Celebrate Pride Month with these trailblazing LGBTQ figures
By Leah Asmelash
This year’s Pride Month comes at an arduous time for many people, as restrictions on drag performances, transgender health care and other LGBTQ rights take center stage in many states.
Still, the month is a time for celebration and, of course, pride. To commemorate the month, CNN is highlighting five major LGBTQ elders – some who have passed on, and some who haven’t – highlighting their achievements.
From a drag king who fought discrimination on the streets of New York to a famous mathematician who stood up to adversity despite legal limitations, here are five LGBTQ figures to know.
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was instrumental in the civil rights movement, leading and organizing many protests. But Rustin wasn’t only a leader in the movement – he was also someone who helped push Martin Luther King Jr. toward nonviolent ideas and tactics.
Rustin studied in India for seven weeks to learn Gandhian philosophies in 1948, and he passed those teachings down to King. Following the success of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956, Rustin became a close confidant of the iconic reverend and later organized the March on Washington in 1963.
