Benjamin Hammond Haggerty is better known by his stage name Macklemore. He is an American rapper and songwriter. Macklemore has been very vocal about his support of the LGBT+ community and equal marriage. His critically acclaimed song ‘Same Love’, which condemns LGBTphobia was released in 2012 to support the campaign for equal marriage in Washington State.
Ana Lynch is better known by her stage name Ana Matronic. She is an American singer and the co-lead vocalist of the Scissor Sisters. Ana’s father was gay and passed away due to AIDS-related illness. Knowing of her father’s sexuality, she wanted to learn more about the LGBT+ community and moved to San Francisco where she performed as a drag queen. Today Ana is a patron of the UK charity Chrysalis, which supports trans people, and an American HIV charity.
Michael B. Jordan is an actor and producer and was the first to adopt an inclusion rider for his production company Outlier. An inclusion rider ensures that marginalised communities such as women, people with disabilities, the BAME community and the LGBT+ community are represented at all levels of his company. He has since supported and encouraged other companies to do the same.
Desmond Tutu is a cleric, theologian, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. He challenges those who use religion and God to spread hatred and encourage discrimination. He said, “Gay people, too, are made in my God’s image. I would never worship a homophobic God.”
Barack Obama is a politician, a solicitor and served as the 44th President of the United States of America. During his time as President, he oversaw 125 changes to regulations and policies to expand LGBT+ rights in the US and he appointed more than 250 LGBT+ people to government jobs. In addition to this he travelled to Florida to meet the families of those killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, he designated the first national monument honouring the LGBT+ rights movement at the site of the Stonewall Inn, and awarded Ellen DeGeneres the Presidential Medal of Freedom citing, “Her courage and candour helped change the hearts and minds of millions of Americans”.
Sally Field is an Oscar-winning actress and director. She is an advocate for LGBT+ rights and has won the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally for Equality Award. She is supported in this by her gay son, Sam, who she spoke about when she accepted the award.
Anne Hathaway is an Oscar-winning actress and a vocal supporter of LGBT+ rights. She has given many speeches about why she is an ally to the community, but this is her most famous:
When my brother came out, we hugged him, said we loved him and that was that. Just for the record, we don’t feel that there is actually anything alternative about our family values. I don’t consider myself just an ally to the LGBT+ community, I consider myself your family. If anyone, ever, tries to hurt you I’m gonna give them hell. There are people who’ve said that I’m being brave for being openly supportive of gay marriage, gay adoption… with all due respect, I humbly dissent. I’m not being brave, I’m being a decent human being. Love is a human experience, not a political statement.
Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host, TV producer, actress, author and philanthropist. In 1997 on her talk show, in response to the LGBTphobic views of an audience member who referenced the Bible and questioned Oprah giving Ellen DeGeneres a platform, she said:
The God I serve doesn’t care whether you’re tall or short, or whether you were born Black or Asian or gay, so that’s just a difference of belief. And I don’t expect to change your belief today… I take full responsibility for me going to hell or heaven… See I believe God created Ellen, I believe God did that. And if Ellen says she’s gay, I believe God created her gay. I believe God did that.
