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If you're in need of a Halloween costume and looking to pay homage to some of the legendary people who laid the path for LGBTQ+ culture, here are 8 people you should consider!
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Alan Turing was a brilliant mathemetician often credited for founding artificial intelligence and computer science. He played a major role in World War II and helped break several German codes.
Unfortunately, he confessed to having homosexual relations in the '50s, causing him to be arrested and chemically castrated. Ultimately, he died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning.
The look:
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James Baldwin published the groundbreaking novel Giovanni's Room in 1956, which is often considered a classic in LGBTQ+ literature. He often wrote books and essays with LGBTQ+ and African-American characters, shining a light on minorities in a time when they were most ostracized. He was a social critic known for his eloquent writings dealing with racial and social issues in the United States.
The look:
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Christine Jorgensen -- born as George -- was one of the first people to publicly come out as transgender. She jumped at a chance to meet with a doctor performing gender reassignment surgery in Copenhagen and became an overnight celebrity in the US as the media became obsessed with her physical transformation.
The look:
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Billie Holiday, or Lady Day, was a jazz singer famous for songs about straight breakups. Lyrically she rarely toyed with queer material. However, she was bisexual and dated a number of women.
The most famous lover she took was actress Tallulah Bankhead. She usually wore neutral colors, which helped create her eternally elegant persona. She accessorized with pearl necklaces, bold chandelier earrings, the occasional turban, and flashes of dark lipstick.
The look:
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Harvey Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States in 1977, when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was assassinated the following year. He was a pioneer for LGBT rights and would be ecstatic to see how far we’ve advanced toward equality today.
The look:
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Frida Kahlo was a renowned Mexican painter. She was also openly bisexual. Her work was noted for nationalist and feminist themes along with vivid colors.
Her paintings have commanded higher prices than those of any other female artist. She was not only queer, fierce, and a genius, but she made the unibrow sexy.
The look:
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Virginia Woolf met fellow writer Vita Sackville-West in the early 1920s, and the women had a love affair that lasted for several years. Vita was in an open marriage, and her husband at the time was also bisexual.
One of Woolf’s most famous novels, Orlando, spans 500 years and traces the life and loves of Orlando, a cis man who transforms into a female overnight and experiences the joys and sorrows of living as both genders.
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We may think we know all there is to know about the famed Renaissance painter and genius responsible for the Mona Lisa, but many don’t realize that Leonardo da Vinci was gay.
When he was 24-years-old, he was arrested on charges of sodomy. The charges were dropped, but Leonardo may have feared for his life. In 15th-century Florence, sodomy was a crime punishable by death.
The look:
