Pride today largely consists of celebrations, rainbow-clad community members, and corporations capitalizing on the opportunity to seem inclusive. The major strides in advancing LGBTQ rights combined with the nearly nonexistent inclusion of our history in school curriculums can allow us to perceive the past through rose-colored lenses. It is easy to forget the myriad of struggles the LGBTQ community faced to get to where we are today, and even easier to forget that we did not do it alone. When reflecting on activism in the past and present, it is incredibly important to recognize how intersectionality connected communities and catalyzed change. Here are five examples of disabled LGBTQ activists who utilized their disabilities, sexualities, and other identities to progress multiple movements.
Jazzie Collins
After enduring years of mistreatment as a Black and HIV+ transgender woman in her birthplace of Memphis, Tennessee, Jazzie Collins found a home in San Francisco, California. Collins first became an advocate in 2002, organizing her fellow tenants at the Plaza Hotel to resist its planned demolishment and fight to maintain affordable housing in the city. This experience lit a fire in Collins that blazed through San Francisco.
In addition to advocating for tenant’s rights, Collins was instrumental in advancing other causes. She ran a food pantry, organized the annual San Francisco Trans March, helped found Queers for Economic Equality Now (QUEEN), and advocated for an increased minimum wage and guaranteed health care to all employees. She also served on multiple task forces and organizations that positively impacted the lives of San Franciscans; these include the LGBT Aging Policy Task Force, the LGBT Senior Disabled Housing Task Force, and Senior and Disability Action. Her legacy lives on through Jazzie’s Place, an organization created in Collins’ honor that made history as the first shelter for LGBTQ adults in the United States.
Connie Panzarino
Connie Panzarino was a disabled lesbian activist living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Her passion sparked positive change for both the disability community and the LGBTQ community. Panzarino originally worked as a caseworker for her county’s Department of Social Services, but she had to quit her job; her salary was insufficient to cover medical costs, but her employment status barred her from receiving disability benefits. She persistently called her local, state, and national governments to try and convince them to reconsider the current legislation and allow disabled people the opportunity to reach their potential. When that failed, she used the little money she had to travel to Washington D.C. to lobby for change. Her dedication to various disability-related issues proved to be fruitful, as she helped lobby the successful passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1963.
Panzarino was also open about being a lesbian, an identity that informed much of her activism. In 1994, she wrote her venerated autobiography, The Me in the Mirror, which discussed how her sexuality and disability influenced her life and how rampant ableism in the LGBTQ community needs to be addressed. Panzarino’s advocacy mobilized lesbian and bisexual women with and without disabilities to spearhead movements of their own, a legacy that lives on today.
Kenny Fries
Kenny Fries wields his words as his weapon of activism, contributing invaluable literary work to the disability community. His writing spans across genres, but all of his works are informed by his experiences as a gay, Jewish man born with a physical disability. One of his most notable endeavors as the editor of Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out, was the first multi-genre body of work that exclusively featured disabled writers telling their stories. Other works, like Body, Remember: A Memoir, Anesthesia: Poems, and The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin’s Theory breakdown stereotypes of disability, sexuality, and religion to provide a meaningful perspective of the lives of disabled LGBTQ people. Fries also developed The Fries Test, which evaluates the portrayal of disabled characters in books, television, and film.
Shane Ortega
Shane Ortega is an Indigenous, two-spirit, disabled veteran who made history as the first soldier to openly transition while on active duty in the United States military. He entered the military to follow in his family’s footsteps and escape systemic racism that proliferated the American South; the military offered educational opportunities that were not readily available for people who looked like him. Ortega excelled in the military before and after taking the step of openly taking testosterone under the guidance of his Army physician, despite continuing to be categorized as female by the military.
Ortega utilizes his platform to educate the public about and advocate for the LGBTQ community. He served as a board member of the Military Freedom Coalition for seven years, working alongside the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to lobby for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and cofounded SPART*A, an organization of active-duty and veteran transgender soldiers who advocate for and support transgender people in and out of the military. Ortega currently travels the country to speak on LGBTQ and Indigenous issues.
Barbara Jordan
Barbara Jordan paved the way for women of color to participate in politics in the United States. Jordan grew up as a Black woman in Texas in the heat of the civil rights movement. Despite rising racial tensions in the country, and especially in the south, she completed her law degree and passed both the Massachusetts and Texas bar exams. From there, she made history wherever she went; Jordan was the first Black woman to be elected to the Texas state Senate and the first Black woman from the South to become a congresswoman.
While in government, Jordan was a champion of equality and fairness. She pushed for labor reform, helping to create Texas’ first law guaranteeing a minimum wage. In the House of Representatives, Jordan delivered one of the most memorable speeches of the 1974 Watergate hearings and was the first Black woman to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. She is also responsible for extending the 1965 Voting Rights Act to include and protect Latinx voters.
Jordan lived with Multiple Sclerosis and used a wheelchair later in life to retain mobility. However, her activism continued to inspire reform efforts throughout the United States. Although she kept much of her personal life private, Jordan was a lesbian and made political history with her partner, Nancy Earl, by her side. Her legacy lives on through the Jordan-Rustin Coalition, a nonprofit working to secure equal rights for the LGBTQ community.
