Bayard Rustin

#BayardRustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987): Born in Pennsylvania and raised by his maternal grandparents (he believed his biological mother was actually an older sister), Rustin grew up surrounded by figures of the early Civil Rights Movement such as #WEBDuBois. This fostered within him a deep sense of duty to his community, and he dedicated his life to civil rights and discrimination, bringing to attention Japanese internment during World War II, proposing a march on Washington to protest racial segregation in the armed forces and discrimination throughout the country in 1941, and being imprisoned from 1944-1946 for refusing to serve in the armed forces (as he was a pacifist). Upon release from prison, he studied non-violent civil disobedience in India from the leaders of the Indian independence movement, and went on to meet with leaders of independence movements in Ghana and Nigeria. In 1953, he was arrested in California for sexual activity with another man in a parked car and pled guilty to “sex perversion” (homosexual activity was illegal then) and served 60 days in jail for his “crime.” When released from prison, he went on to work with #MartinLutherKingJr in using Gandhi’s non-violent tactics for what became the #MontgomeryBusBoycott. In 1963, Rustin organized the #MarchOnWashingtonForJobsAndFreedom, which featured Dr. King’s now famous #IHaveADream speech. He then worked on leading a boycott to protest de facto segregation in the #NYCPublicSchools, which the NYC Board of Education was not very responsive to. His homosexuality was always well known within figures of the Civil Rights Movement, as was his former membership in the Communist Party. For this, his involvement in the movement was eventually (and unfortunately) thrust into the shadows. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he campaigned openly for gay rights and the labor movement. He died in 1987 and was survived by his partner of 10 years, Walter Naegle, who furthers the memory of Bayard Rustin through the #BayardRustinFund. In 2013, President Obama awarded Rustin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously, which was given to Walter Naegle, and in 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom posthumously pardoned Rustin of his 1953 “offense,” while also announcing a fast-track to pardon all those who had been arrested and/or imprisoned for laws made when homosexuality was illegal. #PrideMonth #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIAPride #Pride🌈 #LegendsOfPride #YouCannotEraseUs