Sara Baker was the first director of New York’s Bureau of Child Hygiene and a pioneer in public-health.Her public health care saved countless people both during and after her lifetime and she would be the first female graduate from New York University Medical School with a doctorate. Although Baker never publicly came out, her relationship with screenwriter Ida Wylie is well-documented.
Kye Allums is a former college basketball player for the George Washington University who became the first openly transgender NCAA Division I college athlete. He has spoken openly about being a transgender advocate, public speaker, artist, and mentor to LGBT+ young people.
Julie d’Aubigny was a famous 17th century opera singer, duelist, and historical bisexual. Her father was a fencing master who supposedly dressed her as a boy and taught her fencing. She worked her way through France putting on fencing displays with her fencing master boyfriend. She had many high-profile affairs with men and women, including an affair with Madame la Marquise de Florensac, hailed as the most beautiful woman in France at the time.
Iz is a musical theatre performer who made history as the first trans person to play Margot in a professional production of Legally Blonde. They have also featured in other professional productions appearing as Angel in Rent and Ensenmble in Book of Mormon.
Wilfred Owen was an English poet and soldier who fought in the First World War. His poems spoke the truth about the conditions of the trenches and the horrors of gas warfare. He unfortunately lost his life a week before the signing of the Armistice which ended the war.
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was one of the earliest Black blues singers and is known as “The Mother of Blues”. Ma Rainey had a relationship with another blues singer, Bessie Smith. It was believed their relationship was romantic and today Ma Rainey might have used the word bisexual to describe herself.
Sappho was a Greek poet from the island of Lesbos who wrote poems about love and longing between women. The word “lesbian” comes from the name of the island Sappho lived on.
Jackie Shane was an American soul and rhythm and blues singer who is best known for the single “Any Other Way” and being a lead vocalist for the band The Motley Crew. It is believed Jackie Shane was trans although they never publicly spoke openly about their gender identity.
Lili Elbe was a Danish trans woman. She was an artist whose life was brought to the big screen in the movie The Danish Girl.
Oscar Wilde was one of London’s most popular playwrights who is best remembered for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Today, Wilde might describe himself as gay.
