Black LGBTQ+ Americans have long made history with numerous contributions to politics, art and sports, among a host of other fields.
As we continue to reflect on the triumphs, pain and suffering so many have gone through to get us where we are today, it is important to recognize and include conversations about lesser known advocates who are fighting-and have fought-for the rights of all people to be themselves and live openly without discrimination.
Unfortunately, an innumerable amount of Black faces and contributions of the movement remain very much written over, and there is still a long way to go before all races and nationalities are covered the same.
So with that in mind, we’d like to take time to honor the work of the following Black trans pioneers who champion for the rights of the community; and who ensure it is not only white LGTBQ+ people who are supported and kept safe.
Kylar Broadus
Having transitioned more than 20 years ago, Kylar Broadus is a driving force in the movement. An award-winning attorney, long-time activist, public speaker, author and professor, he focuses on LGBTQ+ law and transgender rights.
Broadus is also the founder and director of the Trans People of Color Coalition, the only national organization dedicated to the civil rights of transgender people of color, and is the first transgender American to testify before the U.S. Senate in favor of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.
Zahara Green
As the founder and Executive Director of TRANScending Barriers Atlanta, a trans-led non-profit organization, Zahara Green’s mission is to uplift and empower the transgender and gender non-conforming community in Atlanta through advocacy, direct services and leadership building. She is also the board director and treasurer of Black and Pink Inc, a syndicate that supports LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive prisoners.
Kortney Ryan Ziegler
Kortney Ryan Ziegler is an award-winning artist, writer and the first person to hold a PhD of African American Studies from Northwestern University. He is the director of the documentary “Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen” and was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 LGBTQ activists by The Advocate magazine, a leading American publication and digital platform that focuses on news, politics, opinion, arts and entertainment of interest to the LGBTQ+ world.
Patricio “El Cacahuate” Manuel
Patricio Manuel is a professional male boxer who has shaped and cultivated his identity in boxing gyms since 2002. Before transitioning publicly, he was a five-time national amateur boxing champion, having competed in the first-ever U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Women’s Boxing in 2012.
By 2015, he had become the first distinguishable transgender boxer and the most decorated amateur fighter to change gender divisions within USA Boxing, doing so as the first transgender man to beat a cisgender male in the amateur male division. He made history again in 2018 as the first transgender boxer to participate in an American professional boxing match and win.
Sir Lady Java
Sir Lady Java was a transgender trailblazer who challenged police harassment in the late 1960’s. At the time, police intimidation in the LGBTQ+ community was incessant and the Los Angeles police department imposed “Rule No. 9,” a city legislation that fundamentally made it illegal for people to crossdress.
A female impersonator, transgender activist and waitress at the Redd Foxx Club on La Cienega Avenue in Los Angeles, Java joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union and together, they argued the ruling was unconstitutional. Although their challenges failed, her story received national attention.
In her continued efforts to fight for her own and transgender people’s rights to work, she spoke truth to power with public rallies and protests, receiving national coverage from publications like Ebony, Jet and the L.A. Advocate magazines (it later became The Advocate), all defining moments in overturning such laws that opened doors for the trans and drag performers who came after her.
Angelica Ross
As the founding CEO of Trans Tech Social Enterprises, a nonprofit that provides training and employment for transgender people, Angelica Ross is a leading figure in the movement for trans and racial equality. Named “1st Foot Soldier of the Year” in 2015 by Melissa Harris-Perry, Ross is dedicated to creating opportunities that give the trans and nonbinary communities a voice.
Cece McDonald
Transgender artist, activist and revered icon in LGTBQ+ circles, Cece McDonald came to national attention in 2012 after surviving a white supremacist and transphobic attack. She later received a second-degree manslaughter conviction and served 19 months in an all-male prison, simply for defending herself.
As one of the founders of the Black Excellence Collective and Black Excellence Tour she has sought to expose the structural discrimination and violence imposed on trans women of color by fostering conversations around mass incarceration, sexuality and violence.
Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson (1945-1992)
A formidable muscle behind the Stonewall Riots and her encompassing activism that encouraged a new chapter of the LGBTQ+ movement in 1969, Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson established the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970, a group committed to supporting homeless transgender youth in New York City.
On July 6, 1992, Johnson’s body was found in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers. Although the NYPD closed the case as an alleged suicide, those closest to her confimed she was never suicidal.
Victoria Cruz, transgender activist and crime victim advocate for the New York City Anti-Violence Project had Johnson’s case reopened in 2012, prompting the NYPD to update the classification of its findings as “undetermined”, but they have since closed the case.
Often uncredited, Johnson is one of the most venerated icons in LGBTQ+ history today. Her activism and advocacy were core principles in the gay rights movement and have remained persistent in bettering the lives of the LGTBQ+ population, leaving behind a legacy that continues to this day.
