List Of LGBT People From New York City

New York City is home to one of the largest LGBT populations in the world and the most prominent. Brian Silverman, the author of ''Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day,'' writes that the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rises, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide ''Queer in the World'' states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs".

In 2022, LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, “Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer”; and comedian Jerrod Carmichael joked, "That's actually why I live here...if you say you're gay in New York, you can ride the bus for free and they just give you free pizza; if you say you're gay in New York, you get to host ''Saturday Night Live''. This is the gayest thing you can possibly do. We're basically in an Andy Warhol fever dream right now." In 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a billboard campaign to woo Floridians
to a significantly more supportive environment for LGBTQ+ residents in New York. LGBT Americans in New York City constitute the largest self-identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities by a significant margin in the United States.

Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan was the site of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, and then the founding of several foundational organizations in the emerging gay liberation movement. These events are widely considered to be crucial to the founding of the modern gay rights movement in the United States, as well as having worldwide impact. As of 2005, New York City was home to an estimated 272,493 self-identifying gay and bisexual individuals. The New York metropolitan area had an estimated 568,903 self-identifying LGBT residents. Meanwhile, New York City is also home to the largest transgender population in the United States, estimated at 50,000 in 2018, concentrated in Manhattan and Queens. The following represents a partial list of notable LGBT New Yorkers:

List of LGBT New Yorkers

Architecture

* Charles Renfro – architect, partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, faculty member at School of Visual Arts

Academia and research

* Andrew Dolkart – co-founder, NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project; professor, historic preservation, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP)
* Kevin Nadal – professor of psychology and researcher at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Aviation and military

* Robina Asti – navy pilot who ran reconnaissance missions out of Midway Island in World War II. Born in Queens and a longtime Manhattan resident, Asti transitioned post-war, and remained a pilot her whole life. She became the Guinness world record holder for oldest active flight instructor in 2020 when she was 99.

Dance

* Bill T. Jones – dancer and choreographer
* Shen Wei – choreographer, artist, and director

Entrepreneurship and technology

* Eva Kotchever – founder of Eve's Hangout in Greenwich Village, deported to Europe and assassinated at Auschwitz
* Bradford Shellhammer – entrepreneur and designer, founding editor of '' Queerty''
* Joel Spolsky – software engineer

Fashion

Design

* Thom Browne – fashion designer
* Drew Elliott – creative director and consultant
* Prabal Gurung – fashion designer
* Marc Jacobs – fashion designer
* Calvin Klein – fashion designer
* Michael Kors – fashion designer
* Derek Lam – fashion designer
* Humberto Leon – fashion designer
* Phillip Lim – fashion designer
* Isaac Mizrahi – fashion designer
* Todd Oldham – fashion designer
* Zac Posen – fashion designer
* Christian Siriano – fashion designer
* Alexander Wang – fashion designer
* Jason Wu – fashion designer

Modeling

* J. Alexander – model and fashion designer
* Leyna Bloom – fashion model and transgender activist
* Cara Delevingne – supermodel and actress
* Peche Di – transgender model, who started the first transgender modeling agency in the U.S., in New York City
* Dilone – model
* Rain Dove – model and activist
* Shay Neary – transgender model, the first transgender plus-size model featured in a major fashion campaign
* Yasmine Petty – transgender model
* Aaron Philip – transgender model
* Teddy Quinlivan – transgender model
* Miriam Rivera – late transgender model and the first openly trans reality television star
* Geena Rocero – supermodel and transgender activist
* Abby Stein – transgender model and rabbi

Film and television

* Desiree Akhavan – director, writer, and actor
* Brian Balthazar – co-executive producer, '' The View''
* Sandra Bernhard – actress, singer, and author
* Matt Bomer – actor and director
* Joel Kim Booster – actor, comedian, producer, and writer
* Jerrod Carmichael – actor, comedian, filmmaker
* Candis Cayne – transgender actress
* Margaret Cho – multi-hyphenate entertainer and social activist
* Bill Condon – director, screenwriter, and producer
* Laverne Cox – transgender actress
* Lee Daniels – director, screenwriter, and producer
* Casey Donovan – late gay pornography actor
* Billy Eichner – actor, comedian, and writer
* Fredrik Eklund – real estate broker, co-star of ''Million Dollar Listing New York''
* Rodney Evans – director and screenwriter
* Frankie Grande – television personality, co-host of ''Style Code Live''
* Tim Gunn – fashion consultant, television personality and actor
* Dominique Jackson – transgender actress and model
* Punkie Johnson – actress, comedian, writer, ''Saturday Night Live''
* Jari Jones – transgender filmmaker and producer
* Michael Patrick King – director, writer, and producer
* Carson Kressley – television personality, former host of '' Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''
* John Krokidas – director, writer, and producer
* Jennie Livingston – documentary filmmaker
* Chella Man – artist, actor, and transgender model
* Rob Marshall – director, choreographer and producer
* Kate McKinnon – comedian, actor
* John Cameron Mitchell – director, writer, and actor
* Janet Mock – TV host, writer, and transgender rights activist
* Indya Moore – transgender actor and model
* Lauren Morelli – screenwriter
* Cynthia Nixon – actress
* Stacie Passon – director, screenwriter, and producer
* Kal Penn – actor
* Patrik-Ian Polk – director, screenwriter, and producer
* Zachary Quinto – actor and producer
* Dee Rees – director, screenwriter, and producer
* Erik Rhodes (James Elliott Naughtin) – late gay pornography actor, amateur bodybuilder
* Yoruba Richen – documentary filmmaker
* Michaela Jaé Rodriguez – transgender actress
* Harmony Santana – transgender actress
* Greta Schiller – documentary filmmaker
* John Waters – director, actor, and writer
* Rutina Wesley – actress
* Samira Wiley – actress and model
* Bowen Yang – writer and actor, ''Saturday Night Live''

Law

* Paul Feinman – first openly gay judge confirmed to the New York State Court of Appeals, in June 2017

Literature

* Hilton Als – writer and theater critic.
* Ellis Avery – late author
* James Baldwin – late novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.
* James Beard – late culinary author and chef
* Bruce Benderson – author
* Jennifer Finney Boylan – trans author and journalist
* Augusten Burroughs – author, memoirist
* Regie Cabico – poet and spoken-word artist
* Michael Cunningham – author
* Samuel R. Delany – late author
* Nicole Dennis-Benn – author
* Thomas M. Disch – late author
* Mark Doty – poet and memoirist
* Martin Duberman – biographer and historian
* Cyrus Grace Dunham – author
* David Ebershoff – author and editor
* Allen Ginsberg – late poet, philosopher, and writer
* Paul Lisicky – author and memoirist
* Jaime Manrique – poet, essayist, and translator
* Eric Marcus – author
* Darnell L. Moore – author
* Lesléa Newman – author and editor
* Frank O'Hara – late New York School (art) poet
* Rakesh Satyal

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases