Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin, an openly gay African-American colleague of Rev. Martin Luther King, organized the National Demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. That demonstration helped define the African-American civil rights movement.

In the 1940's, Rustin organized nonviolent groups, which later became known as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Inspired by the "nonviolent direct action" methods of Ghandi, he contested the bigotry of segregated American institutions. In 1947, Rustin organized the "Journey of Reconciliation" to protest local ordinances banning African-Americans on public transit in the South. The "Journey of Reconciliation" became the model for the Freedom Rides of the 1960's.

Rustin worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. to lay the groundwork for the African-American civil rights movement. He was responsible for civil rights demonstrations at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in the 1960s.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, Rustin spoke out on anti-gay prejudice. He addressed gay and lesbian groups and testified on behalf of New York City's gay rights bill.