With a host of LGBT parades, fundraisers and parties planned throughout June, Pride Month is officially in full effect.
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But the gay community hasn’t always been widely celebrated. There were a host of pioneers of color who helped spearhead the LGBT civil rights movement including Baynard Rustin.
Born in 1912 in Pennsylvania, the leader was exposed to the civil rights movement at an early age thanks to his mother’s involvement with the NAACP.
By the time he made it to college, he was fighting Jim Crow laws and discrimination cases on campus. After school, he became a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr, taking a major role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington.
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It wasn’t until the 1980s that Rustin became more active as a gay activist. He worked behind the scenes for many leaders, but in 1986, he openly testified on behalf of the New York State’s Gay Rights Bill. There, he gave his infamous speech: “The Gays are the New N***ers.”
In 1987, Rustin died from a perforated appendix. Since his death, schools, libraries, justice centers and LGBT organizations across the country have been named after him.
And in 2013, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Obama presented it to Walter Naegle, his partner of 10 years at the time of his death.