This marked one of the first calls from a head of state to make LGBTQ rights the standard worldwide. However, she emphasized that until these rights are status quo all over the world, we cannot consider ourselves truly free. In this speech, she was thankful that her native country was making strides towards acceptance and equal rights for LGBTQ people. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a former Icelandic Prime Minister and the first openly gay head of state, uttered these words during a speech at a 2014 Pride festival. “It is absolutely imperative that every human being’s freedom and human rights are respected, all over the world.”– Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Despite being arrested numerous times, Ulrichs stated in the above quotation that he was proud of the work that he did for the LGBTQ community. During his lifetime, Ulrichs wrote numerous essays discussing homosexuality and asserting that non-heterosexual orientations are natural and biological. Born in Germany in 1825, his coming out was a historic and brave moment. Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is known as one of the first gay men to publicly announce his sexual identity. “I am proud, that I found the courage to deal the initial blow to the hydra of public contempt.” – Karl Heinrich Ulrichs You may also like: Top 10 LGBTQ+ online courses on Health, Diversity and Inclusionģ. So, instead of waiting for someone else to validate LGBT women of color, she took it upon herself to bring the struggles, needs, and beauty of these women to light. It is her intention to use her art to highlight the beauty and individuality of black LGBTQ women: a group that she believes has been terribly underrepresented in all forms of art. Despite her fame as an artist, Muholi identifies herself as an activist first. She works primarily in photography and video. Zanele Muholi is a South African activist and artist.
“If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself.” – Zanele Muholi With this quote, Baldwin assured them that it didn’t matter because love is love. These words resonated with millions of people who felt like their emotions were invalid because of the gender of the object of their love.
Nothing should stand in their way if they have love in their hearts. He proclaims that sex and gender don’t matter all that matters is that two people love each other. In his iconic novel Giovanni’s Room, gay author James Baldwin makes a powerful statement about love. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?” – James Baldwin