June is Pride Month. Billy Preston was an in-demand session musician. He contributed to songs by Ray Charles, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones and, famously, the Beatles. Billy was often referred to as “the Fifth Beatle” and was the only musician ever credited on a Beatles recording. In the 70s, Billy enjoyed …
June is Pride Month. Hannah Noke’s early life is sketchy. She was born before the Commonwealth of Virginia began issuing official birth certificates. She used her mother’s name — Johnson — as a child, but registered for the draft under her birth name. It is unlikely that she saw any military service. Hannah was employed …
June is Pride Month. With a medical degree, an internship and a psychiatric residency, John E. Fryer was well equipped to face the obstacle the future held. He was critical of the Menninger Foundation, the entity at which he completed his psychiatric residency. He was very vocal regarding its homophobic policies. He faced the same …
Redd Foxx was a guest on a 1965 episode of The Tonight Show. Johnny Carson asked the renowned comedian: “Who is currently the funniest comedian?” Foxx — without hesitation — answered, “Flip Wilson.” At the time, Flip Wilson was a regular at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. The budding comic — who had honed his skills …
June is Pride Month. Lee Brewster was born in a log cabin in southwestern Virginia. He worked as a file clerk for the FBI until he was fired for being a homosexual. Unfettered, he took his meager savings and headed for Manhattan, where he joined the Mattachine Society, a fledgling gay rights organization. Lee organized …
Dorothea Gray Puente grew up in an orphanage after her abusive, suicidal, alcoholic father abandoned the family and her abusive alcoholic mother died in a motorcycle accident. While at the orphanage, Dorothea claimed abuse of herself and her siblings — numbering either 6 or 17. The actual amount is unclear because Dorothea was a pathological …
