List of LGBT rights activists

A list of notable LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance LGBT rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically.

Albania

 * Elton Ilirjani, the first CEO of a major company in Albania who came out of the closet as gay in 2016. He is the founder of the Dignity Global non-government organization for LGBT rights in the workplace, founded in 2019. He is also known as an LGBT activist and model, making history as the first genderless model to walk Seoul Fashion Week in 2023.
 * Xheni Karaj, founder of Aleanca LGBT organization and recipient of the Civil Rights Defenders of the Year Award 2022
 * Kristi Pinderi, LGBT activist and journalist; founder of Pro-LGBT

Angola

 * Carlos Fernandes, LGBT activist and a founder/director of the Iris Angola Association.

Argentina

 * Mariana Alarcón, human rights activist who worked for labor rights for transgender women
 * Claudia Pía Baudracco, led the movement to repeal laws criminalizing transgender identities; co-founder of the Argentine Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans Federation
 * Lohana Berkins, founder of the Association for the Fight for Travesti and Transsexual Identity
 * Lara María Bertolini, human rights activist advocating for the rights of travesti, transgender, and non-binary people
 * Claudia Castrosín Verdú, she and her partner were the first lesbian couple to form a civil union in Latin America; vice president of FALGBT
 * María Rachid, politician and LGBT rights activist, partner of Claudia Castrosín Verdú
 * Diana Sacayán, board member of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and a leader of the Antidiscrimination Liberation Movement

Armenia

 * Lilit Martirosyan, trans right activist, founder of the Right Side NGO

Australia

 * Ron Austin
 * Peter Bonsall-Boone
 * Bob Brown
 * Lyle Chan, member of ACT UP
 * Rodney Croome
 * Peter De Waal
 * Alex Greenwich
 * Grace Hyland
 * Craig Johnston (politician)
 * Michael Kirby (judge), Justice of the High Court of Australia
 * Julie McCrossin
 * Sally Rugg
 * Magda Szubanski
 * Derek Williams (LGBT rights activist), co-founder of GaLTaS

Austria

 * Helmut Graupner, lawyer and LGBT activist
 * Gery Keszler, organizer of the Life Ball
 * Alex Jürgen
 * Ulrike Lunacek
 * Hermann von Teschenberg, barrister, translator, and LGBT rights activist

Bangladesh

 * Xulhaz Mannan

Barbados

 * Ro-Ann Mohammed, co-founder of the organization Barbados - Gays, Lesbians and All-Sexuals against Discrimination (B-GLAD)
 * Donnya Piggott, tech entrepreneur, human rights advocate, co-founder of the organization Barbados - Gays, Lesbians and All-Sexuals against Discrimination (B-GLAD)

Belgium

 * Sonja Eggerickx, teacher, women and LGBT rights advocate
 * Eliane Morissens, teacher and LGBT activist for labor rights

Belize

 * Derricia Castillo-Salazar
 * Caleb Orozco

Botswana

 * Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile, performance artist, musician, writer and LGBT activist
 * Monica Tabengwa, lawyer and researcher on LGBT rights issues in sub-Saharan Africa
 * Caine Youngman, involved in court cases to legalize same-sex relationships

Brazil

 * Luiz Mott
 * Jean Wyllys
 * Toni Reis
 * João Silvério Trevisan
 * Míriam Martinho

Bulgaria

 * Desislava Petrova, LGBT activist, former president of Gemini
 * Monika Pisankaneva, lecturer and activist; founder of Gemini

Cameroon

 * Bandy Kiki, blogger and LGBT activist
 * Joel Gustave Nana Ngongang
 * Alice Nkom, first woman lawyer in Cameroon and LGBT rights activist

Canada

 * Barry D. Adam
 * Enza Anderson
 * Florence Ashley
 * Alec Butler
 * Michelle Douglas
 * Jim Egan
 * Brent Hawkes
 * Alan Herbert
 * George Hislop
 * K.d. Lang
 * Irshad Manji
 * Christin Milloy
 * Arsham Parsi
 * Gordon Price
 * Svend Robinson
 * Bill Siksay
 * Clara Sorrenti
 * Jenna Talackova
 * Mark Tewksbury

Chile

 * Luis Larraín
 * Pedro Lemebel
 * Jaime Parada
 * Pablo Salvador

China, People's Republic of

 * Li Tingting, LGBT rights and feminist activist
 * Li Yinhe
 * Cui Zi'en
 * Xian, LGBT rights activist and founder of Beijing-based lesbian organization Tongyu

Colombia

 * Virgilio Barco Isakson (b. 1965)
 * Armando Benedetti Villaneda (b. 1962)
 * Blanca Inés Durán Hernández
 * Angélica Lozano Correa
 * Tatiana de la Tierra
 * Juliana Delgado Lopera

Costa Rica

 * Victor Madrigal-Borloz

Croatia

 * Merlinka
 * Mima Simić, LGBT activist and Croatia's first openly out LGBTIQ+ political candidate

Cuba

 * Ada Bello, LGBT rights activist and medical researcher
 * Mariela Castro, director of the National Commission for Comprehensive Attention to Transsexual People

Denmark

 * Axel Axgil
 * Lili Elbe (b. 1882)

Ecuador

 * Orlando Montoya, Colombian who led Ecuador's decriminalization of homosexuality
 * Diane Rodríguez
 * Carina Vance Mafla

Egypt

 * Maher Sabry
 * Omar Sharif Jr.
 * Sarah Hegazi
 * Shrouk El-Attar

El Salvador

 * Ruby Corado

Estonia

 * Lisette Kampus
 * Peeter Rebane

Finland

 * Sakris Kupila
 * Sofi Oksanen

France

 * Camille Cabral
 * Pierre Guénin
 * Fabrice Houdart
 * Christiane Taubira
 * Lilian Thuram, former French soccer player
 * Rama Yade, former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights of France

Germany

 * Adolf Brand
 * Manfred Bruns
 * Volker Beck
 * Benedict Friedlaender
 * Magnus Hirschfeld
 * Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

Greece

 * Jason-Antigone Dane, LGBT activist, first person to ask for official recognition as a non-binary person
 * Marina Galanou, trans activist, publisher, writer, and columnist
 * Zak Kostopoulos, Greek-American LGBT, AIDS, refugee, sex-worker activist
 * Menelas Siafakas, filmmaker and LGBT activist
 * Panos H. Koutras, filmmaker and LGBT activist

Guatemala

 * Aldo Dávila, politician and first openly gay man and first HIV-positive member of Congress
 * Sandra Morán, first out LGBT person ever elected to Congress; LGBT and human rights activist

Honduras

 * Erick Martínez Ávila, journalist and LGBT and AIDS activist
 * Claudia Spellmant, LGBT and transgender activist
 * Walter Tróchez, political activist and LGBT rights leader

Hungary

 * Gergely Homonnay, journalist and LGBT activist
 * Ildikó Juhász
 * Karl Maria Kertbeny, journalist and human rights activist who coined the terms "homosexual" and "heterosexual"

Iceland

 * Owl Fisher, youngest trans person to medically transition in Iceland and LGBT activist
 * Hörður Torfason

India

 * Akkai Padmashali
 * Anand Grover
 * Anjali Gopalan
 * Ashok Row Kavi
 * Gopi Shankar Madurai
 * Harish Iyer
 * Laxmi Narayan Tripathi
 * Manvendra Singh Gohil
 * Menaka Guruswamy
 * Rose Venkatesan
 * Sridhar Rangayan

Indonesia

 * Dede Oetomo

Iran

 * Alireza Shojaian
 * Arsham Parsi
 * Elham Malekpoor
 * Shadi Amin

Iraq

 * Amir Ashour
 * Zhiar Ali

Ireland

 * Mary Dorcey
 * Lydia Foy
 * David Norris
 * Tonie Walsh
 * Katherine Zappone

Israel

 * Imri Kalmann, former co-chairperson of the Israeli LGBT Association
 * Yair Qedar, founder of Israel's first LGBT newspaper
 * Apollo Braun, the first man who waved the pride flag inside of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

Italy

 * Franco Grillini
 * Vladimir Luxuria
 * Imma Battaglia

Jamaica

 * Maurice Tomlinson, LGBT and HIV/AIDS activist who challenged the homophobic Sodomy Law
 * Brian Williamson, co-founded the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays

Japan

 * Taiga Ishikawa
 * Wataru Ishizaka
 * Maki Muraki (born 1974), head of Nijiro Diversity in Osaka
 * Kanako Otsuji, first openly lesbian politician in Japan

Kenya

 * Denis Nzioka
 * Edwin Chiloba (deceased)

Kyrgyzstan

 * Dastan Kasmamytov

Latvia

 * Kristīne Garina, LGBT activist and co-founder of Mozaīka

Lebanon

 * Georges Azzi
 * Hamed Sinno
 * Sandra Melhem

Lithuania

 * Romas Zabarauskas
 * Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė

Malta

 * Ruth Baldacchino


 * Gabi Calleja
 * Mina Tolu

Mexico

 * Ociel Baena, activist and Mexico's first non-binary magistrate
 * Nancy Cardenas, playwright, director, and LGBT+ activist
 * Gloria Angélica Careaga Pérez, social psychologist and activist
 * Agnés Torres Hernández, psychologist and transgender activist
 * Claudia Hinojosa, LGBT and human rights activist, academic
 * Patria Jiménez, the first openly gay member of any Latin American legislature
 * Bamby Salcedo, Mexican-American transgender activist

Morocco

 * Ibtissam Lachgar, psychologist and human rights and LGBT activist

Myanmar

 * John Lwin, model agency founder, LGBT rights activist
 * Shin Thant, one of the leading LGBTQ+ rights activists in Myanmar

Nepal

 * Sunil Babu Pant, first openly gay Nepali politician, former head of Blue Diamond Society
 * Bhumika Shrestha

Netherlands

 * Willem Arondeus
 * Vera Bergkamp, former chairman of the world's oldest LGBT organization
 * John Blankenstein
 * Boris Dittrich
 * Coos Huijsen, first openly gay parliamentarian
 * Henk Krol
 * Betty Paërl
 * Marjan Sax

New Zealand

 * Georgina Beyer, first openly transgender mayor in NZ.
 * Suran Dickson
 * Kevin Hague
 * Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
 * Derek Williams (LGBT rights activist), co-founder of GaLTaS.

Nigeria

 * Richard Akuson, lawyer and founder of Nigeria's first LGBT magazine
 * Bisi Alimi, British-Nigerian LGBT and HIV/AIDS activist
 * Aderonke Apata, LGBT activist and barrister
 * Matthew Blaise, activist involved in End SARS

Norway

 * Kim Friele


 * Christian Møllerop, leader of the Oslo and Akershus LLH

Pakistan

 * Faisal Alam
 * Nayyab Ali


 * Almas Bobby


 * Sara Gill


 * Nadeem Kashish
 * Aradhiya Khan


 * Bindiya Rana
 * Nisha Rao

Palestine

 * Khader Abu-Seif


 * Rauda Morcos
 * Bashar Murad


 * Ghadir Shafie
 * Ahmed Shihab-Eldin

Panama

 * Gilberto Gerald, gay rights and HIV/AIDS activist, co-founder of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays

Peru

 * Belissa Andía Pérez


 * Luisa Revilla
 * Giovanny Romero Infante

Philippines

 * Tonette Lopez
 * Boy Abunda

Poland

 * Robert Biedroń
 * Anna Grodzka
 * Krzysztof Garwatowski
 * Krystian Legierski
 * Paweł Leszkowicz
 * Szymon Niemiec

Portugal

 * Miguel Vale de Almeida


 * António Serzedelo

Qatar

 * Naser Mohamed

Romania

 * Lucian Dunăreanu


 * Péter Eckstein-Kovács

Russia

 * Nikolai Alekseev
 * Ali Feruz
 * Igor Kochetkov, head of the LGBT Network
 * Yekaterina Samutsevich
 * Evgeny Shtorn
 * Mikhail Tumasov
 * Yulia Tsvetkova

Serbia

 * Dejan Nebrigić
 * Jelena Karleuša

Sierra Leone

 * FannyAnn Eddy

Singapore

 * Alex Au
 * Paddy Chew, first person in Singapore to come out as HIV-positive
 * Jean Chong

Slovakia

 * Zuzana Čaputová


 * Imrich Matyáš


 * Romana Schlesinger
 * Michal Šimečka

Somalia

 * Amal Aden
 * Farah Abdullahi Abdi
 * Sumaya Dalmar

South Africa

 * Abdurrazack "Zackie" Achmat
 * Dawn Cavanagh
 * Busi Khewsa
 * Simon Nkoli, LGBT activist, founder of the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand
 * Noxolo Nogwaza
 * Funeka Soldaat, leader of Free Gender Organisation in Khayelitsha, Western Cape
 * Midi Achmat, LGBT activist, co-founder of Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Association of Bisexuals, Gays, and Lesbians (ABIGALE) and the National Coalition of Lesbian and Gay Equality (NCLGE)

South Korean

 * Jeong Yol


 * Kim-Jho Gwangsoo
 * Kwak Yi-kyong


 * Lee Gye-deok
 * Lim Tae-hoon


 * Yun Hyon-seok

Spain

 * Oriol Pamies
 * Ángeles Álvarez
 * Carla Antonelli

Sri Lanka

 * Sherman de Rose
 * Rosanna Flamer-Caldera

St. Lucia

 * Kenita Placide

Sudan

 * Ahmed Umar

Sweden

 * Anna Mohr

Switzerland

 * Röbi Rapp
 * Anna Rosenwasser


 * Anna Vock

Syria

 * Abdulrahman Akkad

Taiwan

 * Josephine Ho
 * Chi Chia-wei

Thailand

 * Matcha Phorn-in


 * Vitit Muntarbhorn

Trinidad and Tobago

 * Jason Jones
 * Jowelle de Souza

Tunisia

 * Mounir Baatour

Turkey

 * Barış Sulu
 * Demet Demir
 * Hande Kader (deceased)
 * Mehmet Tarhan
 * Yasemin Öz

Uganda

 * David Kato
 * Kasha Nabagesera
 * Pepe Julian Onziema

Ukraine

 * Bogdan Globa
 * Vitalina Koval

United Kingdom

 * Jeremy Bentham, 19th-century jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer.
 * Bette Bourne, actor, performer, founder of the Gay theatrical troupe Bloolips, and one of the first modern-day UK LGBTQ+ activists and campaigners.
 * Michael C. Burgess, courier and co-treasurer of OutRage!
 * Christine Burns, trans rights campaigner, formerly a vice president of PfC, awarded MBE for work with PfC and on the GRB
 * Tanya Compas, queer Black rights activist based in London
 * A.E. Dyson, literary critic and founder of the Homosexual Law Reform Society
 * Jackie Forster, actress, TV personality and lesbian campaigner
 * Moud Goba, LGBTIQ+ human rights activist.
 * Ray Gosling, writer, broadcaster and gay rights activist in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality.
 * Antony Grey, Secretary of the Homosexual Law Reform Society; the public face of the Albany Trust
 * Liam Hackett, founder of anti-bullying website and charity Ditch the Label
 * Derek Jarman, film director
 * Paris Lees, trans rights campaigner, part of Trans Media Watch
 * Denis Lemon, Editor of Gay News, involved in blasphemy prosecution brought by Mary Whitehouse
 * Andrew Moffat, LGBT education advocate, author and founder the No Outsiders programme
 * Ian McKellen, actor and spokesperson for Stonewall (UK)
 * Robert Mellors, 20th-century writer and Gay Liberation Front campaigner
 * Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, British political activist and co-founder of UK Black Pride
 * Paul Patrick, anti-homophobia activist and educator
 * Saima Razzaq, LGBT inclusive education activist and Birmingham Pride Head of Diversity and Inclusion
 * Michael Schofield, sociologist and early gay rights campaigner
 * Michael Steed, Liberal politician, academic and gay rights activist in the Campaign for Homosexual Equality
 * Ben Summerskill, former chief executive of Stonewall
 * Peter Tatchell, politician, human rights and LGBT rights campaigner
 * Stephen Whittle, trans rights campaigner and former vice president of PfC and president of HBIGDA, Law Professor at MMU, awarded OBE for work with PfC and on the GRB
 * Derek Williams (LGBT rights activist), co-founder of GaLTaS.

United States

 * Kimball Allen, author of Secrets of a Gay Mormon Felon and Be Happy Be Mormon
 * Jacob Appel, New York City-based lawyer, advocate for reparations for gays and lesbians
 * Gilbert Baker (1951–2017), designer of the rainbow flag
 * Christopher R. Barron, co-founder of GOProud, a political organization representing gay conservatives
 * Paul Barwick
 * Vic Basile, first executive director of the Human Rights Campaign
 * Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign
 * Elizabeth Birch, former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign
 * Dustin Lance Black, founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights
 * Chaz Bono, transgender son of Sonny Bono and Cher
 * 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
 * Blake Brockington (1996–2014), African American transgender rights activist.
 * Judith Butler, philosopher and gender theorist
 * Margarethe Cammermeyer, former colonel in the Washington National Guard whose coming out story was made into the 1995 movie Serving in Silence
 * Gloria Casarez (1971–2014), Latina lesbian civil rights leader and LGBT activist in Philadelphia. Philadelphia's first director of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) affairs.
 * Ryan Cassata, American transgender activist, public speaker and singer-songwriter
 * June Chan, Asian American lesbian activist
 * 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
 * Joanne Conte, trans woman, former Arvada, Colorado City Councilor, currently hosts a radio show on KGNU
 * Lynn Conway, trans woman computer scientist and electrical engineer
 * Ruby Corado, Salvadoran activist and founder of Casa Ruby
 * 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
 * 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 also the Former Deputy Secretary and Counsel for Civil Rights for New York State under Andrew Cuomo
 * 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, first person to fight a discharge from the U.S. military for homosexuality, 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
 * Fran Drescher, (born 1957, Flushing, New York) is an outspoken healthcare advocate and LGBT rights activist.
 * John Duran
 * Steve Endean, (1948–1993), founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund
 * Arden Eversmeyer (born 1931), Founder of Lesbians Over Age Fifty (LOAF) and the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP)
 * Matt Foreman (born 1953), executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
 * Barney Frank (born 1940), member of the Democratic Party who served as a member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013
 * 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, 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)
 * Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), Beat poet and political activist.
 * 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).
 * Neil Giuliano
 * Alexander John Goodrum (1960–2002) was an African-American transgender civil rights activist
 * Chad Griffin (born 1973), Former president of the Human Rights Campaign, and founder of American Foundation for Equal Rights, a nonprofit organization that supports the plaintiffs in the California Proposition 8 trial
 * James Gruber (1928–2011), original member of the Mattachine Society
 * Hardy Haberman, author, filmmaker, prominent member of the Leather/Fetish/BDSM community, and activist involved in founding of first LGBT group in Dallas, TX
 * 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.
 * Harry Hay (1912–2002), co-founder of the Mattachine Society
 * John Heilman
 * Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), African American poet
 * 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
 * Brenda Howard (1946–2005), bisexual LGBT rights activist, an instrumental figure in the immediate post-Stonewall era in New York City, 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
 * Sally Huffer (born 1965), board member of multiple LGBT non profit organizations
 * Richard Isay (1934–2012)
 * Cheryl Jacques (born 1962), former member of the Massachusetts State Legislature and the president of the Human Rights Campaign from January through November 2004. She resigned from this post less than a month after the passage of 11 state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
 * Helen G. James
 * Dale Jennings (1917–2000), co-founder of the Mattachine Society
 * Marsha P. Johnson (1945–1992)
 * Cleve Jones (born 1954), conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and worked with Harvey Milk; co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation
 * Christine Jorgensen (1926–1989), first person to become widely known for having sex reassignment surgery in the United States
 * Frank Kameny (1925–2011), participant in many gay rights rallies of the 1960s and 1970s, most notably the push in 1972–1973 for the American Psychological Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
 * Norm Kent
 * Morris Kight (1919–2003), founder of Los Angeles' Gay and Lesbian Front and Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center
 * Lisa Kove (born 1958), executive director of the Department of Defense Federal Globe and President of Empowering Spirits Foundation
 * Larry Kramer (1935–2020), author and playwright who helped form the prominent gay rights organizations Gay Men's Health Crisis and AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP)
 * Janice Langbehn (born 1968), campaigner for same-sex marriage and same-sex hospital visitation after being denied access to her dying partner, Lisa Marie Pond, in 2007
 * Cyndi Lauper (born 1953), founder of the True Colors Fund charity which promotes equality for members of the LGBT community
 * Malcolm L. Lazin
 * Audre Lorde
 * Courtney Love (born 1964), a musician and singer, has advocated for LGBT rights and acceptance since the beginning of her career in the early 1990s
 * Scott Long (born 1963), executive director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.
 * Phyllis Lyon (1924–2020), lesbian activist who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis with longtime partner Del Martin
 * Del Martin (1921–2008), lesbian activist who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis with longtime partner Phyllis Lyon
 * Tim McFeeley
 * Harvey Milk (1930–1978), openly gay city supervisor of San Francisco, California who was assassinated (along with mayor George Moscone) in 1978 by Dan White
 * David Nelson (born 1962), founder of Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats, and Stonewall Shooting Sports of Utah.
 * Gavin Newsom (born 1967), heterosexual mayor of San Francisco, California, who directed his office to issue wedding licenses to same-sex couples in February 2004, although this process was halted the next month by the California Supreme Court
 * Jack Nichols (1937–2005), journalist, writer, activist and co-founder of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., with Frank Kameny
 * Barbara Noda, advocates for LGBT rights in the San Francisco Bay Area
 * Tyler Oakley
 * Romaine Patterson (1978–), lesbian talk show host and founder of Angel Action
 * Troy Perry
 * Charles Pitts
 * Sylvia Rivera
 * Brandan Robertson
 * Geena Rocero
 * Craig Rodwell
 * Abby Rubenfeld
 * Vito Russo
 * Bayard Rustin (1912–1987), openly gay civil rights activist, principal organizer and co-leader of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.; gay rights activist in later life
 * Ryan Sallans (born 1979), out trans man and public speaker – travels around US educating high school and college students on LGBT issues
 * José Sarria (born 1922 or 1923), first openly gay candidate for political office in the United States, founder of the Imperial Court System
 * Tully Satre
 * Dan Savage
 * Richard L. Schlegel (1927–2006), Pennsylvania activist whose wrongful termination suit is considered an early landmark case for gay rights.
 * Josh Seefried, United States Air Force first lieutenant and co-director of OutServe, the association of actively serving LGBT military.
 * Drew Shafer (1936–1989), gay activist from Kansas City, Missouri, known for bringing the homophile movement to KC, and publishing The Phoenix: Midwest Homophile Voice.
 * Michelangelo Signorile
 * Charles Silverstein (1935–2023), gay psychologist who was the founder of the Journal of Homosexuality and key in testifying against the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder. 
 * Ruth Simpson (1926–2008), founder of the first lesbian community center, former President of Daughters of Bilitis New York, author of From the Closet to the Courts
 * Joe Solmonese (born 1965), former political fundraiser and past president of the Human Rights Campaign
 * A. Latham Staples (born 1977), founder and Chairman of the Empowering Spirits Foundation, current President & CEO of EXUSMED, Inc.
 * Abby Stein (born 1991) is an American advocate for transgender people of Orthodox Jewish background
 * Lou Sullivan
 * Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network
 * Urvashi Vaid (1958–2022) is an Indian-American activist who has worked for over 25 years promoting civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.
 * Phill Wilson (born 1956, Chicago, Illinois), co-founder of the National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership Forum and founder of The Black AIDS Institute.
 * Evan Wolfson
 * William E. Woods (1949–2008), a gay rights activist in Hawaii who in 1991 set in motion the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States.
 * Chely Wright
 * Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943–2000), author and civil rights, anti-war, gay liberation, and HIV/AIDS activist.

Uruguay

 * Delfina Martínez
 * Marcela Pini

Venezuela

 * Tamara Adrián, lawyer, LGBT and trans activist who became Venezuela's first openly trans elected official
 * Daniel Arzola, writer, artist, and activist
 * Quiteria Franco


 * Feliciano Reyna

Vietnam

 * Lương Thế Huy

Zambia

 * Kapya Kaoma
 * John Abdallah Wambere