17. Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus was a German physician and sexologist. In 1921, he founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and the World League for Sexual Reform. The committee is thought to be one of the first to advocate for gay and transgender rights. In 1933, his institute in Berlin was stormed by fascists and they burnt all of his books, leading to the world’s most important repository of research material on sexuality being lost.
18. Jiří Langer
Jiří was a writer and teacher during the 1900s. A Hasidic Jew, within his work he would explore the topics of homosexuality and Hasidic practices. During his short lifetime, he still had a large impact on both his own community and the larger Jewish community. He was able to find harmony in both his sexuality and religion, never feeling that he needed to sacrifice one for the other.
19. The Squatters of Railton Road
This entry is not so much an individual but a group of individuals – during the 1970s, the area around Railton Road was host to many activist groups as well as a large number of squatters. It was a community created by those who needed it most and, although it still came with its own dangers and unknowns, it was largely considered a safe place for LGBTQIA+ individuals.
20. Eva Gore-Booth
Eva was an Irish poet, theologian, dramatist, social worker and suffragist who campaigned to improve pay and conditions for women workers in the 1800s. Eva’s sexuality has been a topic of debate among academics; some believe she was in a relationship with a woman named Esther Roper, but others believe they were simply just “roommates”.
21. Evelyn Irons
Evelyn was a Scottish, lesbian journalist. Incredibly underestimated throughout her career, she eventually made a name for herself when she chose to report directly from the battlefields in World War I. She became the first woman to receive the Croix De Guerre with Silver Star.
22. SpongeBob SquarePants
Okay, so everyone knows who Spongebob is, but did you know he is possibly an asexual icon? I say possibly because in 2002, show creator Stephen Hillenburg said that he considered SpongeBob “to be almost asexual”. The word “almost” leaves some speculation but hey, sexuality is a spectrum after all, and not something that always needs defining.
23. Anna Freud
Anna is one of the founders of child psychology and daughter of Sigmund Freud. When her father released a paper on her, diagnosing her with “hysteria” due to her lesbian relationships, she fought back and released her own study, fighting back against the negative beliefs around homosexuality that were circulating at the time.
24. Nayyab Ali
Nayyab is a Pakistani human rights defender, transgender activist and social scientist. In 2018, she was one of the first transgender people to run for election in Pakistan alongside 12 other transgender candidates. She had advocated for LGBTQIA+ rights from an early age and helped set up the Khawaja Sira Community Centre in Okara which offers a literacy and numeracy program to the transgender community.
Charly volunteers as an ambassador for Just Like Us, the LGBTQIA+ young people’s charity. LGBTQIA+ and aged 18 to 25? Sign up here!