"Pay it no mind" -Masha P. Johnson (1945-1992).

Masha P. Johnson, assigned male at birth, knew from a young age that she differed from the norms in society. She loved wearing clothes made for women and felt a sense of joy when she got to express her true self. However, the world wasn't always kind to Marsha. Bullies and a traumatic incident forced her to temporarily suppress her authentic identity.

When she turned 17, she made the decision to move to New York City. In the streets of New York, Marsha rediscovered herself and described herself as transvestite, gay person and drag queen. She embraced her true identity and found her place in the vibrant LGBTQIA+ community. However, discrimination and limited rights plagued the LGBTQIA+ community, and Marsha faced many hardships. She turned to sex work to survive.

Everything changed for Marsha when she became involved in the resistance at The Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. Police raided the bar and began arresting the crowd, most of whom were gay men. Masha and her friend Sylvia Rivera felt they had nothing to lose and started a series of protests during the raid. Their bravery marked the beginning of a revolution that would change the course of LGBTQIA+ history.

Marsha's activism continued to evolve as she became a prominent figure in the growing gay rights movement. She spoke out against transphobia, demanding inclusivity for transgender and LGBTQIA+ people of color. Together with Sylvia, Marsha founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). Masha's ambition was simple yet profound—to see gay people liberated, free, and celebrated just like anyone else.

David Bowie, the legendary musician who passed away in 2016, left a lasting impact on the LGBTQIA+ community through his gender-bending and image reinventions. His parade of alter egos in the 1970s defied traditional ideas of gender binaries and inspired many in the queer community. Bowie's characters, such as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, pushed the boundaries of gender norms and showcased his message of constantly remaking oneself.

Bowie's influence on the mainstreaming of cross- and transgender personalities in popular music was significant. He drew from various influences, including kabuki theatre and mime, and demonstrated that creating one's own identity was possible. This message resonated with young people who felt they didn't fit into conventional heterosexual or gender binaries, providing them with icons to look up to.

Bowie's embrace of the queer aesthetic and his collaboration with drag artists and gay performers further cemented his role as an advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. His groundbreaking performances on shows like Saturday Night Live, featuring drag artist Joey Arias and gay cabaret performer Klaus Nomi, challenged societal norms and showcased the underground queer aesthetic.

Following Bowie, female artists like k.d. lang, Madonna, and Lady Gaga have also taken up the mantle of challenging gender norms in the music industry.

The American drag queen, RuPaul, who is also known for his acting, modeling and songwriting, has appeared in a wide variety of television shows, films and musical albums. He has also hosted a long-running talk show on VH1 and a reality TV show called RuPaul's Drag Race.

RuPaul has in a long time supported LGBTQ+ rights and fought for equality throughout his career. In 2018, he was the first drag queen to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has supported various organizations; he has, among other things, been a spokesperson for M.A.C, where he helped to raise money for awareness of the AIDS epidemic.

RuPaul is a respected drag queen, especially for making a good point that it's important to "love yourself in order to love someone else". He managed to embrace and encourage his fans, who are of all ages, races, genders and sexualities, and also shared that self-acceptance is essential for the LGBTQ+ community. Don't miss reading more about his great work!

While drag has been documented back to the 1870s, it was 100 years later, when Divine hit the screen, giving America its first "Drag Superstar."

Growing up fat and queer in the 50's and 60's didn't make for an easy life, but upon meeting John Waters, Divine found their niche and built an identity in film and music, becoming one of the most recognizable icons of queer counterculture.

The fantastic Mexican artist and communist, Frida Kahlo is known for her long-term crises and traumas, where she was unfortunately injured so badly since childhood that she was about to lose hope of being able to have children. However, the many breakups she suffered did not let her give up on her artistic dream. She didn't let her misfortunes and grief curb her creative desire!

She considered herself a fashionable stager of female themes and bodily explorations, refusing to remove her "masculine features" such as monobrows and moustache. She created an artistic and colorful career out of taboo, pain, body fluids and pubic hair. In addition to being brave enough to address taboo topics about being a woman and what that meant back then, she also spoke openly about being bisexual. It made her a queer icon, which today makes her admired and respected by the LGBTQ+ community.

The "Orange Is The New Black"-star, Laverne Cox, is an important voice for the LGBTQ+ rights. She was the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy Award as an actress.

As a child, Laverne Cox was denied playing with Barbie as a child. However, that did not let her give up the hope of normalizing that Barbie dolls are not just for young girls. As an adult, she just managed to be celebrated with the first transgender Barbie doll in Mattel's Tribute collection, which is supposed to be her. The doll represents more than a toy because, as she herself says in an interview, it can "in a time when transgender children are attacked, this can also be a celebration of transgenderism and a free space where they can dream, understand and be reminded that trans is beautiful. There is hope and opportunity for them to be themselves".

Michael Greer is remembered as one of the first openly-gay Hollywood actors, best known for his debut role as proudly flamboyant Malcom in The Gay Deceivers (1969). Greer worked closely with screenwriters to minimize negative portrayals of gay characters in this trailblazing film.
While The Gay Deceivers is still a product of its time, with language and stereotypes to match, it's still marked by history as one of the first major motion pictures to portray queer characters in a positive light, without connections to crime, or an untimely death. 

Director and author John Waters can be described as the grandfather of queer cinema. While best known in cult film circles for his early, delightfully trashy films such as Pink Flamingos (1972), Waters still managed to sneak into the mainstream in 1988 with Hairspray. Hairspray infiltrated the media and culture in ways few pieces of queer media ever have. Waters has played an unparallelled role in pulling queer media out of the dark corners of subculture, and forcing popular media to give it space, by making it irresistible. 

"I don't want my memoirs to be in the gay section near true crime at the back of the bookstore next to the bathrooms. No! I want it up front with the best sellers."

- John Waters