Bayard Rustin
A key strategist of the 1963 March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was a gay Black civil rights leader (and West Chester, PA local) whose deep commitment to nonviolence and labor rights shaped the civil rights movement. He was a close advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. and a lifelong member of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation and the A. Philip Randolph Institute, where he organized Black trade unionists. Despite being sidelined for his sexuality, Rustin’s behind-the-scenes leadership helped bridge the labor and civil rights movements. He later became an advocate for LGBTQ rights, linking his fights for racial and economic justice to the broader struggle for equality.
Nancy Wohlforth
Nancy Wohlforth broke barriers as the first openly lesbian member elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council. A longtime labor organizer with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), she co-founded Pride at Work, the AFL-CIO constituency group representing LGBTQ workers. Wohlforth has been a tireless advocate for inclusive union policies and domestic partner benefits. Her work has helped institutionalize LGBTQ rights within organized labor.
Cleve Jones
Originally a protégé of Harvey Milk, Cleve Jones fused LGBTQ activism with labor organizing throughout his career. He co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and later helped create the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, one of the largest community art projects in history. While working with UNITE HERE, Jones organized hospitality workers across the country and pushed for solidarity between LGBTQ communities and immigrant workers. His memoir When We Rise was adapted into a major ABC miniseries, capturing the intersections of queer liberation and labor justice.
Tefere Gebre
An Ethiopian refugee and former warehouse worker, Tefere Gebre became the first openly LGBTQ immigrant elected to a top leadership position at the AFL-CIO. As Executive Vice President from 2013 to 2022, he championed marginalized workers, including immigrants, people of color, and queer laborers. His story embodies the labor movement’s increasingly intersectional approach. Gebre’s leadership helped broaden the definition of worker justice to include racial and sexual identity.
Dr. Mark Toney
Dr. Mark Toney is a queer labor and social justice leader who served as executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and was a key figure in organizing low-income utility ratepayers. He has also been active in broader labor campaigns, especially around economic and racial justice. Toney helped integrate LGBTQ concerns into labor’s fight for equitable services and working conditions. His activism has consistently highlighted the need for solidarity across lines of race, class, and sexual orientation.
Miriam Frank
A labor historian and lesbian activist, Miriam Frank authored Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America, one of the first comprehensive histories of LGBTQ workers in organized labor. While not a union official herself, Frank’s work has been instrumental in documenting the struggles and triumphs of queer workers. Her interviews and scholarship have helped unions recognize the role LGBTQ members have long played in labor battles. Through storytelling and research, she helped bring visibility and legitimacy to queer labor histories.