Over the Rainbow

This month “The Advocate” Magazine celebrated their 40th year anniversary by showcasing 40 of the LGBTQ community’s most influential individuals.

“When we asked you to sift through a list of 100 notable politicians, artists, activists, and thinkers to choose 40 of your favorite gay heroes, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Our criteria: A hero had to be entirely out. And more than just being supremely talented or superbly competent, he or she had to have contributed significantly to our LGBT lives. Yet, even with the limits, picking just 40 hardly seemed possible. Bravo, Advocate readers. Here are your best and brightest.” – The Advocate September 2007

At first glance the list seems extremely comprehensive. There are contemporary heroes as well as those who laid the foundation for their success. The rainbow parade of artists, poets, politicians, soldiers, and renaissance men and women that have positively impacted the community literally brim at the pages. It inspires, it gives hope, however it also raises questions.

Out of the 40 heroes that “The Advocate” recognized only 16 were women and a staggering 3 were people of color. It has been a long struggle for the LGBTQ community to break out of the young, white, male stereotype and according to this list they have a long way to go. Of course one cannot re-write history, those who made the list have certainly gone above and beyond the call of societal duty to secure fair visibility and treatment of the LGBTQ community.

However it seems strange that the rainbow coalition seems to be missing a few colors. The only people of color are Audrey Lorde, Pedro Zamora, and Bayard Rustin. These individuals have brought issues of the LGBTQ community of color to light and influenced the further acceptance of both communities. But assuredly there are several others that have done their part to pave the way. Individuals such as Andrew Jolivette, Parinya “Nong Toom” Charoenphol, or Laura Aguilar seem to have gone unnoticed along with a whole host of others that deserve the same amount of recognition.

So the questions must be asked: Who were the other 60 people that “The Advocate” provided? Who were picking the 40 that made the list?

Kudos to “The Advocate” for recognizing these influential figures. The fact that Ellen DeGeneres was their number one pick speaks volumes about how much the social norms have changed for the better. However hopefully next time they’ll delve a little deeper and educate their readers at the same time.