Happy Pride Month: Celebrate 10 Black OG Influencers Who Paved The Way [Gallery]

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As Pride Month comes to a close, we want to honor the original LGBTQ+ influencers, who paved a way for the community to thrive today. From poet, novelist and activist James Baldwin to the “Grandfather of Vogue” Willi Ninja, these 10 Black OG influencers made a significant impact on the community. Check out a gallery to honor them inside.

While we love the Saucy Santana’s and Jay Versace’s of the world, we must recognize the gifted talents that came before them. These 10 Black artists and legendary storytellers left an imprint on the LGBTQ+ community at a time when living in your truth and honoring your authentic sexual identity was nearly fatal.

While we celebrate their contributions and acknowledge their sacrifices, we remember their legacies as the new advocates of the LGBTQ+ community continue to do the work. Though we are not completely transformed as a society, we have surely made strides toward significant improvements.

Without the work of Blues musician Gladys Bentley, nonviolent civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, dancer, choreographer and activist Alvin Ailey and so many more, Pride Month might not even be celebrated to the degree in which it is honored today. These trailblazers have forged a path toward freedom and equal opportunity for all.

“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities,” trailblazer Marsha P. Johnson once said.

These Black OG influencers made difficult decisions that ultimately granted today’s LGBTQ+ youth the freedom to be themselves. Let’s thank these icons for paving the way.

Check out a gallery of the original LGBTQ+ influencers below:

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