Pride Spotlight

Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BCE)

6/30/2026

The life of Alexander the Great (he/him) offers one of antiquity’s clearest glimpses into same‑sex love at the highest levels of power. Alexander’s lifelong bond with Hephaestion—his closest companion, general, and the person he trusted above all others—was shaped during their youth, when they forged an enduring intellectual and emotional partnership. His overwhelming grief at Hephaestion’s death in 324 BCE remains one of history’s most vivid expressions of LGBTQIA+ love. We know Alexander’s life in remarkable detail thanks to ancient historians such as Plutarch and Arrian, whose accounts draw on earlier eyewitness sources now lost. Their writings preserve both his achievements and his contradictions. A Macedonian king of Greek ethnicity, Alexander’s legacy is undeniably complex. His empire was built through brutal conquest, the destruction of cities, and the deaths of countless civilians and soldiers. Yet he also founded more than twenty cities, encouraged cultural exchange across three continents, spread Greek learning, and helped spark the Hellenistic age—one of the most intellectually vibrant eras in world history. We intentionally include Alexander as one of our tributes not to celebrate empire, but to recognize that LGBTQIA+ people have always existed—powerful, flawed, complex, and deeply human.

Rebecca Cox Jackson (1795 - 1871)

6/29/2026

The life of Rebecca Cox Jackson is trailblazing and unique. Born to a free family, Jackson defied the racial and gender restrictions at a time when Black women were expected to remain silent. At 35, while trapped in an unhappy marriage to a Philadelphia carpenter, she experienced a life‑changing night of prayer during a violent storm. Soon after, Jackson left the marriage and became an itinerant preacher with a reputation for her sermons, healing and prophetic words. In the decade that followed her itinerant work, Jackson met Rebecca Perot through her Philadelphia prayer circle. The two formed a profound spiritual and emotional partnership that today is widely recognized as part of early LGBTQIA+ history. They eventually entered Shaker life together, founding the only known Black Shaker community in the country. Jackson later wrote Gifts of Power, a rare spiritual autobiography by a 19th‑century Black woman, in which she spoke of her 35‑year covenantal union to Perot. It now stands as one of the earliest documented same‑sex, marriage‑like partnerships in American history— and the earliest known Black example.

George Segal (1924 - 2000)

6/28/2026

On this 57th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, we honor George Segal, the heterosexual American sculptor who created a powerful public tribute to LGBTQIA+ history. In the late 1950s, Segal emerged as a leading figure of the Pop Art movement, known for his technique of casting life‑size figures using medical plaster bandages. He brought this human‑centered vision to Gay Liberation, the first permanent public artwork to honor queer lives. Created in 1979 and installed in NYC’s Greenwich Village in 1992, the sculpture portrays two same‑sex couples in gentle, unguarded, and courageous poses. When the Stonewall National Monument was established in 2016, Segal’s work became its memorable centerpiece. Today, Segal’s figures stand as witnesses to the 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn and to the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement that rose in its aftermath. Segal’s sculpture affirms the emotional truth of four ordinary people and the humanity we all share in our ongoing quest for connection.

Eric Marcus (1958 - )

6/27/2026

Eric Marcus is a journalist and oral historian who amplifies LGBTQIA+ voices in the quest for acceptance and understanding. A Vassar College alum with a Columbia University master’s in journalism, he has long studied the stories that shape queer history. His landmark Making Gay History draws on intimate, first‑person interviews begun in the 1980s, illuminating activists such as Frank Kameny, Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera and tracing their courage in less -accepting times. Marcus’s broader work spans LGBTQIA+ identity, mental health, and memoir, with bylines in The New York Times, Newsweek, and USA Today. From Stonewall’s heroes to AIDS‑crisis organizers, he has preserved LGBTQIA+ history for future generations. He hosts the Making Gay History podcast and co‑produces Those Who Were There, preserving Holocaust survivor testimonies. His extensive oral‑history archive lives at the New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division. Married to Duncan Osborne, a veteran LGBTQIA+ journalist, he is a longtime resident of New York City.

Julie Chen (1970 - ) & Susu Wong (1963 - )

6/26/2026

Life-partners for more than 30 years, Julie Chen and Susu Wong are powerful models of purpose‑driven leadership. Chen, an engineer and researcher, has been the dynamic Chancellor of UMass Lowell since 2022. Among her many accomplishments there, she has championed first‑generation students, expanded research opportunities, and created paid internships for every undergraduate. Her service on National Science Foundation advisory groups and federal panels has helped shape national priorities in science and innovation. Chen’s wife, Susu Wong, is the Founder and CEO of Tomo360, an online marketing agency that supports mission‑driven small businesses and organizations. She is also the co‑founder of Women Accelerators, a nonprofit that advances women with mentorship and professional development programming. Her volunteerism includes work as the Chair of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce and board member of OUTbio, the nation’s largest LGBTQIA+ network for biotech and life sciences professionals. Together, Chen and Wong created the LGBTQ+ Fund at the Greater Lowell Community Foundation that provides grants to nonprofits supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.

Arnold Dahl-Wooley

6/25/2026

Arnold Dahl‑Wooley (he/him) an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, is a nationally respected public speaker, culture bearer, and advocate for Two‑Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people. For more than 20 years, he has traveled across the country presenting on Indigenous history, identity, and inclusion to communities far beyond his home state of Minnesota. Dahl‑Wooley teaches that “Two‑Spirit” is an English term created in 1990 by Indigenous leaders to describe people who embody both masculine and feminine spirits, or who hold gender roles outside Western male/female boundaries. Historically, Two‑Spirit people served as healers, mediators, artists, and knowledge keepers. National surveys show that Indigenous LGBTQIA+ youth report the highest suicide‑attempt rates in the country — with nearly half having attempted in the past year. (In contrast, about one in five LGBTQIA+ youth overall report a suicide attempt.) This is a crisis Dahl‑Wooley confronts through his work. His presentations reflect his commitment to visibility, healing, and community connection, and Two Spirit Advocacy, the organization that he and his husband created is a prime resource for anyone wishing to learn more and to help save young lives.

Hilary Knight (1989 - )

6/24/2026

Five‑time Olympian Hilary Knight (she/her) is one of the most accomplished athletes in women’s hockey. A ten‑time World Champion and all‑time leader in goals, assists, and points for the International Ice Hockey Federation, she has become a defining figure in global sports. Knight publicly came out a queer in 2022, explaining that the term felt true to her identity. Living openly, she said, allowed her to show up with greater honesty and ease and by the time she reached the 2026 Milano–Cortina Games, she had become a powerful symbol of authenticity on the world stage. Knight has been a critical voice in the U.S. Women’s National Team’s equal‑pay fight, helping secure better compensation and visibility for women athletes. She also played a major role in building the Professional Women’s Hockey League, advancing equity and sustainability in women’s sports. During the 2026 Games, Knight posted a video of her proposal to four‑time Olympian and U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe — a “full‑circle” moment for the couple as they closed out their final Olympics together.

John Kander (1937 - )

6/23/2026

For more than sixty years, composer John Kander (he/him) has powered some of the most iconic stories and sounds in American entertainment from Broadway stages to Hollywood films to the American Songbook. With a collaborative catalogue spanning more than twenty shows and over 530 songs (most famously with lyricist Fred Ebb), he has never shied away from the world’s hardest truths. Kander’s musicals carry deep social and LGBTQIA+ resonance — from Cabaret, which portrays pre–World War II Berlin and the peril its residents faced as Hitler rose to power, to Chicago, set in 1924, where justice, celebrity, and “all that jazz” collide in a world that turns crime into entertainment. Kiss of the Spider Woman tells of a gay man’s struggle for dignity after he is imprisoned for his sexuality, while The Scottsboro Boys confronts the state‑sanctioned racism inflicted on nine Black teenagers in 1931 Alabama. Kander’s artistry may also be uplifting in the iconic anthem, New York, New York that reminds us “making it there” means “you can make it anywhere.” He has been married to dancer/choreographer Albert Stephenson since 2010.

Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

6/22/2026

Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (she/her) has emerged as a transformative scientific voice—one that welcomes complexity and insists that the natural world has always been far more fluid than we were taught to believe. A queer, neurodivergent scientist, author, and educator, Kaishian blends scientific rigor with lyrical storytelling, revealing the diversity of fungi, slugs, eels, and other species that defy rigid categories. When she describes herself as neurodivergent, she means that her way of thinking and sensing the world differs from the so‑called “normal,” allowing her to notice overlooked patterns in nature and question the oversimplified “either/or” labels imposed on both people and ecosystems. Raised in the Hudson Valley, Kaishian found early refuge in swamps and other overlooked wild places, where she felt seen long before she had language for her LGBTQIA+ identity. Her book, Forest Euphoria, deepens the exploration of how Western science built its ideas about sex and bodies on narrow assumptions that shaped the questions biologists asked and the categories they created, describing fungi with dozens of mating types and reminding us that gender in nature is far more expansive than the simple male–female model suggests.

Neil Patrick Harris (1973 - ) and David Burtka (1975 - )

6/21/2026

On Father’s Day weekend, Neil Patrick Harris (he/him)and David Burtka (he/him) stand as one of the most enduring examples of LGBTQIA+ fatherhood today. Married since 2014 and parents to 15 year-old twins Harper and Gideon, they have spent more than a decade showing the world what a loving, committed LGBTQIA+ family looks like. As fathers, Harris and Burtka model a parenting style rooted in presence, gratitude, and delight. Harris has spoken often about how proud he is of their twins and how deeply their family life grounds him. Harris’s long career has spanned television, film, and Broadway, from Doogie Howser, M.D.to How I Met Your Mother to Cabaret and Cabaret. Burtka’s career is equally multifaceted as a Broadway actor and trained professional chef with a best-selling cookbook and culinary television programs to his credit. Together, Harris and Burtka embody a highly visible LGBTQIA+ parenthood—one that offers inspiration and affirmation to the more than five million children being raised by LGBTQIA+ parents across America.

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