Kimball Allen, author of Secrets of a Gay Mormon Felon and Be Happy Be Mormon[179] Jacob Appel, New York City-based lawyer, advocate for reparations for gays and lesbians[180] Gilbert Baker (1951 - 2017), designer of the rainbow flag[181] Christopher R. Barron, co-founder of GOProud, a political organization representing gay conservatives[182] Vic Basile, first executive director of the Human Rights Campaign[183] Andy Bell, lead singer of duo Erasure[184] Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign[185] Elizabeth Birch, former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign[186] Dustin Lance Black, founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights[187] Chaz Bono, transgender son of Sonny Bono and Cher[188] Jennifer Finney Boylan (1958 - ), transgender author, professor, and trans rights activist, former co-chair of GLAAD's National Board of Directors. David P. Brill (1955–1979), Boston-based journalist[189] Blake Brockington (1996-2014), African American transgender rights activist.[190] Judith Butler, philosopher and gender theorist[191] Margarethe Cammermeyer, former colonel in the Washington National Guard whose coming out story was made into the 1995 movie Serving in Silence[192][193] Ryan Cassata, American transgender activist, public speaker and singer-songwriter[194] June Chan, Asian American lesbian activist[195] RuPaul Andre Charles, known as RuPaul, American drag queen and gay activist known for the TV show RuPaul's Drag Race Madonna Louise Ciccone, known as Madonna (born 1958), entertainer and long-term human and civil rights activist; has offered outspoken support for the gay rights movement[196] Joanne Conte, trans woman, former Arvada, Colorado City Councilor, currently hosts a radio show on KGNU[197] Lynn Conway, trans woman computer scientist and electrical engineer[198] Ruby Corado, Salvadoran activist and founder of Casa Ruby[199] James Dale, known for landmark US Supreme Court case Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000) that challenged the Boy Scouts of America policy of excluding gay youth and adults[200] Alphonso David (born 1970), the first person of color to serve as president for the Human Rights Campaign, as of August 2019, served as a staff attorney for Lambda Legal where he worked on New York State's first same-sex marriage case, Hernandez v. Robles[201] also the Former Deputy Secretary and Counsel for Civil Rights for New York State under Andrew Cuomo Kenbarbie (Ken Davis) (born 1989), American television personality, radio show host,internet celebrity, LGBT activist Ellen DeGeneres (26 January 1958, Metairie, Louisiana), American comedian, television host, actress, writer, producer, and LGBT activist Stephen Donaldson (1946–1996), early bisexual LGBT rights activist founder of the first American gay students' organization,[202] first person to fight a discharge from the U.S. military for homosexuality,[188][203][204] also an important figure in the modern bisexual rights movement Julie Dorf (born 1965, Milwaukee, Wisconsin), international LGBT human rights advocate and founder of OutRight Action International[205] Fran Drescher, (born 1957, Flushing, New York) is an outspoken healthcare advocate and LGBT rights activist.[206] John Duran, LGBT and AIDS activist, served as Mayor and Council member of West Hollywood, California; founding board member of ANGLE (Access Now for Gay and Lesbian Equality); served as President of the Board of Directors of Equality California (EQCA); past board member of the ACLU, Lambda Legal Defense, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Danielle Egnew (born 1969), lesbian musician, actress, producer, and psychic who endorsed and provided campaign materials to Virginia's VoteNO campaign, protecting the legalities of same-sex civil unions in Virginia—also Spiritual leader and founder of The Church of the Open Christ, an inclusive and progressive LGBT ministry[citation needed] Steve Endean, (1948–1993), founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund[207][208] Arden Eversmeyer (born 1931), Founder of Lesbians Over Age Fifty (LOAF) and the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP)[209] Matt Foreman (born 1953), Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)[188] Barney Frank (born 1940), member of the Democratic Party who served as a member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013[210][211] Aaron Fricke (born 1962), sued the Cumberland, Rhode Island school system in 1980 and won a landmark First Amendment case granting him the legal right to attend prom with another boy,[188] an experience he chronicled in the gay coming-of-age memoir Reflections of a Rock Lobster Lady Gaga, bisexual singer/songwriter who campaigned for the DADT repeal; released pro-gay anthem "Born This Way" (2011)[212] Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), Beat poet and political activist.[213] Barbara Gittings (1932–2007), founder of the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis who also pushed for the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).[188] Neil Giuliano (born 1956), openly gay mayor of Tempe, Arizona (1994–2004) and current President of GLAAD Chad Griffin (born 1973), Former president of the Human Rights Campaign as of June 11, 2012[update], and founder of American Foundation for Equal Rights, a nonprofit organization that supports the plaintiffs in the California Proposition 8 trial[214][215][216][217] James Gruber (1928—2011), original member of the Mattachine Society[218] Hardy Haberman, author, filmmaker, prominent member of the Leather/Fetish/BDSM community, and activist involved in founding of first LGBT group in Dallas, TX[219] David M. Hall, author of Allies at Work: Creating a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusive Work Environment, speaks to corporate audiences across the country, co-founder of Out & Equal Philadelphia.[220] Harry Hay (1912–2002), co-founder of the Mattachine Society[188] John Heilman, Councilmember of West Hollywood from 1984–present. Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), African American poet[221][222] Daniel Hernandez Jr. (born 1990), member of Tucson's city commission on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, who was credited with saving the life of U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords after the 2011 Tucson shooting[223] Brenda Howard (1946–2005), bisexual LGBT rights activist, an instrumental figure in the immediate post-Stonewall era in New York City,[46][188] also an important figure in the modern bisexual rights movement John Paul Hudson (1929-2002), activist, journalist, actor, and author; helped organize NYC's first gay pride parade following the Stonewall riots, serving as the parade's first grand marshal[224] Sally Huffer (born 1965), board member of multiple LGBT non profit organizations[225] Richard Isay (1934-2012) psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, author and gay activist; responsible for ending discrimination against gay people by the American Psychoanalytic Association; wrote "Being Homosexual: Gay Men and their Development", widely considered a groundbreaking work Janet Jackson (born 1966), American singer, songwriter, and actress Cheryl Jacques (born 1962), former member of the Massachusetts State Legislature and the president of the Human Rights Campaign from January through November 2004.