This post is my last post for this quarter in continuation to the blog posts that highlight on talking about gender talks. The earlier two posts are titled Can love be genderless?  & Love is love- An interview to bring before you a real life case.

We are all different , yet similar. We are all similar , yet different. I think if we all understood these two statements then mankind would have been on a very different tangent today ! But we being we, the most advanced species of the planet who create hassles for their own self , who have it all in them , yet they dig their own graves , who have all it takes to be developed, yet suffer from serious biases & predicaments & hence always create wars amongst our own selves make life in simple terms, difficult .

But there are some who went beyond all the obstacles and made a mark in their fields. Let us know few of such personalities below.

AUDRE LORDE

Lorde described herself as a “black feminist lesbian poet warrior mother.” She had a way with words and used that talent to speak out against racism, sexism, and homophobia. Lorde died of liver cancer in 1991, but in in 2001 Publishing Triangle instituted the Audre Lorde Award to honor lesbian poetry.

BAYARD RUSTIN

Rustin never hid his homosexuality while fighting alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement. His unapologetic openness pushed him to work mostly behind the scenes of the movement. He later urged New York City mayor Ed Koch to work on a gay rights bill before his death in 1987. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by President Obama in 2013.

CHRISTINE JORGENSEN

After undergoing sex reassignment surgery in Denmark, the Bronx native returned to the United States in 1953 and became an overnight celebrity. She used her platform to advocate for the trans community while making public appearances discussing her life story.

Vikram Seth

Author of the best selling book , ” A suitable Boy”, Vikram Seth is the face of a leading literary giant and is one of the most influencial writers of India.

Son of Prem Seth and Leila Seth, who was the first woman Chief Justice of a High Court in India, Seth studied at some of the best schools in the country before going to England for higher studies.

One of the openly gay personalities in India, the 61-year-old Padma Shri recipient has penned down a heartfelt poem expressing his anguish over the recent verdict of criminalizing gay sex titled ‘Through love’s great power’.

Laxmi Narayan Tripathi

A transgender rights activist, Hindi film actress and a Bharatanatyam dancer based in Mumbai, Laxmi recognizes herself as a part of the hijra community. In 2002, Laxmi went on to become one of the founding members of the Dai Welfare Society, an organisation that works for the transgender community and represented Asia Pacific in the UN in 2008, where she spoke of the plight of sexual minorities in the society. She is an eminent Bharatnatyam dancer & holds a post-graduate degree in the same. She majored in arts in Mithibai College in Mumbai.

The list can go and on . As these personalities never let anything come their way and created their own skies and shone so bright that even after they ceased to exist physically , we will always revisit them and get inspired. They all belonged to the LGBTQ community but proved that they are as normal as all human beings & they had the spark in them to become the stars who create their own skies & glow with glory for a long long time.

PS: The facts are collected from diffrent websites on the internet including the pictures.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter, Gender Talks.