This is a small celebration of seven activists whose lives changed what was possible for LGBTQIA+ people. From Keith Haring’s murals to Audre Lorde’s poetry, from Marsha P. Johnson at Stonewall to Simon Nkoli’s anti-apartheid work, these are people worth knowing about, and worth sharing with allies.
Christine Jorgensen (1929–1989)
Christine was the first person in the United States to become widely known for undergoing gender-affirming surgery. Fresh out of school she served in the US Army during World War II. After returning home and transitioning, she became a celebrity, known for her directness and polished wit, and used her platform to advocate for transgender people. If you want to celebrate Christine this Pride, put on “I Enjoy Being a Girl”, a song she performed and made famous in her cabaret act.
Annie Lennox (1954–present)
Annie is a Scottish singer, songwriter, philanthropist, and long-time HIV/AIDS activist. She was part of The Tourists and then the iconic 80s synth-pop duo Eurythmics. You’ll recognise her as the dreamy, androgynous lead in the video for “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. She founded the SING Campaign in 2007, raising money and awareness for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Audre Lorde (1934–1992)
Audre called herself “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. In her work she addressed racism, sexism, classism, capitalism, and homophobia. She was born in New York to Caribbean immigrants, and wrote her first poem in eighth grade. An excerpt from “Now”:
Woman power is Black power is Human power is always feeling my heart beats as my eyes open as my hands move as my mouth speaks.
Lorde’s writing remains foundational reading on the experience of holding multiple marginalised identities at once. Her essay “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” is still quoted in queer and feminist organising today.
Keith Haring (1958–1990)
Keith Haring was an American pop artist and AIDS activist. His patterns and motifs have been recreated and pastiched endlessly, but the political force behind them is often forgotten. When he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, he set up the Keith Haring Foundation, which funded AIDS organisations and children’s programmes. He spent his last years speaking out about the epidemic, using his platform to make AIDS visible at a time when most public figures wouldn’t say the word.
Simon Nkoli (1957–1998)
Simon Tseko Nkoli was an anti-apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS activist in South Africa. He campaigned alongside the ANC and helped ensure that protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was included in South Africa’s post-apartheid Bill of Rights, the first such constitutional protection in the world. South Africa decriminalised same-sex relationships in 1998, the year Nkoli died; same-sex marriage became legal in 2006. The South Africa he helped build is one of the most legally progressive on the continent, even as the work of social change continues.
Marsha P. Johnson (1945–1992)
Marsha P. Johnson was a Black trans drag artist from New Jersey whose activism in the 1960s and 70s had a huge impact on the gay liberation movement. On the night of 28 June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York. The patrons resisted; Marsha was a key figure in those nights, leading protests and refusing to back down against police violence. The Stonewall uprising sparked Pride movements around the world. Marsha went on to co-found Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera, one of the earliest organisations supporting homeless trans youth.
Ifti Nasim (1946–2011)
Ifti Nasim was a gay Pakistani-American poet. Having moved to the United States to escape persecution for his sexual orientation, he became known in Chicago for founding Sangat, an organisation supporting LGBT South Asian youth, and internationally for publishing Narman (1994), a poetry collection that was the first open expression of homosexual themes in the Urdu language.
Where to next
- Read more on culture for queer history, commentary, and writing on the broader life Kalda’s community is part of.
- Read more on gender for content on trans, non-binary, and gender exploration, alongside more on activists who shaped trans visibility.
- For deeper reading, Stonewall’s history page covers UK and international LGBT+ rights timelines.
Originally published 1 May 2023; revised for the new Kalda site, May 2026.