Page 7 - BEQ Magazine Iss 20 Fall 2021 WebRev09272021

HARVEY MILK BAYARD RUSTIN
Harvey Milk is perhaps best known as one of the first Bayard Rustin may have preferred to let others be the
openly gay elected officials in the United States when he face of the fight for civil rights, workers’ rights and gay
won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in rights, but he was known as “an intellectual engineer behind
1977. His public service is inspiring, as is the fact that it the scenes .” Born and raised a Quaker, Rustin’s approach to
grew out of a desire to empower LGBT business owners . Milk activism hinged on nonviolence and his deep belief in the
and a few other San Francisco business owners founded the concept of one human family, with all members of that family
Castro Village Association, a first in the nation organizing being equal . A gifted organizer and thought leader, Rustin’s
predominantly LGBT businesses, with Milk as president . enduring contributions to the Civil Rights Movement cannot
Today’s LGBT chambers of commerce and business councils be overstated . One of his many roles was as chief advisor to
are the descendants of the CVA . Milk also recognized Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1950s and early 1960s, to
intersectionality as a strength to be leveraged . He pioneered whom he taught Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent
the building of coalitions between diverse groups — women, resistance. He served as the lead organizer of the 1963
Asians, Hispanics, the disabled — to promote economic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and took part in
success and equality . We are building coalitions between numerous social justice campaigns around the world . Rustin
diverse groups by recognizing and affirming the diversity of reminds us that the “invisible” work is just as crucial to our
the Queer and Trans community every day . mission as what the public sees .

EDIE WINDSOR PAULI MURRAY

Edie Windsor is a name that recently Born Anna Pauline Murray in November of 1910 in Baltimore, MD .
entered the echelons of history . Her Murray was a civil rights activist who later became a lawyer, wom-
decades-long fight for LGBTQ+ rights en’s rights activist, Episcopal priest and author . Murray was arrested
culminated in the 2013 landmark in 1944 for sitting in the whites-only section of a Virginia bus with a
victory over the Defense of Marriage friend. They graduated first in their law school class where they were
Act (DOMA), setting the stage for the only woman and was denied a post-graduate work opportunity
marriage equality for all . “Edie Windsor because of their gender. They became the first African American to
is a hero and civil rights icon who receive a degree of Doctor of Juridical Science from Yale University.
pushed our country closer to the Thurgood Marshall called their book States’ Laws on Race and Color
promise of a more perfect union,” said the “bible” of the Civil Rights Movement . Contemporary transgender
then HRC President Chad Griffin. We too scholar-activists support the emerging view of Murray being an early
are pushing forward and ever closer to transgender figure in U.S. history. We draw inspiration from their
a more perfect union . tireless work to challenge inequity and inequality on all fronts .

AUDRE LORDE

Audre Lorde, self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, These are just a few of the people whose lives and work
poet,” was among the first to articulate the intersections shape and inspire us daily at BEQ Pride. We also invoke the
of race, class and gender in canonical essays such as “The names of James Baldwin, Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera
Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House .” She was
also instrumental in breaking the silence around illness, body and many more in solidarity and in tribute to the realization
image and women’s pain, inspiring what is now Breast Cancer of full equality for the Queer and Trans community.
Awareness Month (also in October) . A cancer survivor, her pow-
erful collection of essays titled The Cancer Journals recounted Who would you add to the list? Who inspires you? 
her journey in battling the disease — and the personal
transformation that resulted . Lorde dedicated her life and her
talents to challenging systems of racism, sexism, classism and
homophobia . We aspire to be as bold and fearless as she in
furthering the march toward equality .

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