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Erik Tanner/Alexandra Isabella/Romina Olson
Meet some of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
Emmy-winning RBG co-creator and co-director Julie Cohen’s documentary Every Body made waves at the Tribeca Film Festival this year for showcasing the lives of an often-overlooked part of the LGBTQIA+ community: intersex folks.
Every Body shines a light on the misconceptions about intersex people and how they are treated by society. It also helps intersex folks see that, despite being underrepresented in media (and society at large), there is a global community. The film follows three amazing subjects who are helping make a difference in the world: River Gallo, an actor, filmmaker, writer, and activist; Alicia Roth Weigel, a writer, activist, and human rights commissioner for the city of Austin; and Sean Saifa Wall, an activist, researcher, and the former president of interACT, an advocacy organization that works with and for intersex youth.
“LGBTQ+ equality should not be an afterthought, especially as we are witnessing the rise of authoritarianism, which is threatening freedoms for many of us,” Wall says of their message for equality. “When we fight for the dignity of queer, trans, and intersex communities, we are actually fighting for all of us to live with dignity and respect.”
“Love is always the answer and real love often looks like healing oneself,” Gallo says. “I think certain people fear the paradigm shift that queer, trans, and intersex people represent and which causes them to desperately cling to traditional patriarchal values. However, the key to equality is for all people to cultivate a sense of radical compassion, recognizing our collective oneness and the humanity and community we can find in that oneness.”
“It’s LGBTQIA+ equality,” Weigel reminds us. “The ‘I’ stands for intersex, not invisible!” @xoxy_alicia @rivergallo @saifaemerges
Meet one of the artists, disruptors, educators, groundbreakers, innovators, and storytellers who all helped make the world a better place for LGBTQ+ people.
Over the last 65 years, LGBTQ+ advocate, journalist, and archivist Randy Wicker has achieved many firsts. In 1962 he organized a radio broadcast that caused the Federal Communications Commission to rule that homosexuality was a legitimate topic for on-air discussion. In 1964 Wicker organized the first public demonstration for gay civil rights in the United States, which took place in front of the U.S. Army Induction Center in New York City. Also in 1964, he was the first out gay person to participate in a live television show when he answered calls on The Les Crane Show.
“I’ve always been a truth-telling journalist willing to confront power and champion unpopular causes,” says Wicker. “That is what motivated me to join the New York Mattachine Society in 1958 and be the first self-identified homosexual to speak out on radio in 1962.”
Now 85 years old, Wicker shows no signs of slowing down. This year Wicker launched a petition to remove the statue of Gen. Phil Sheridan from Stonewall National Park — because of Sheridan’s massacre of Indigenous people. He also served as a grand marshal at this year’s NYC Pride March.
Recently, he donated his archives to the National LGBTQ+ Archives. “My archives are titled ‘The Randy Wicker & Marsha P. Johnson’ archives since Marsha P. Johnson lived with me for over a decade and was the house mother of my extended gay family,” says Wicker. “Twenty-five years of my Christmas letters contain many stories about her.”
Though much progress has been made thanks to Wicker’s work, he is adamant that the fight continues, especially in other parts of the world. He notes that “genocidal hatred and religious intolerance” run rampant in many societies. “We must help LGBTQ+ people overseas improve their circumstances!” @randolfewicker
