Who was the writer, philosopher, educator and first African American Rhodes Scholar who was also considered the architect of the Harlem Renaissance?
1. Bernard Lockett
2. Allan Rhodes
3. Floyd Thomas
4. Alaine Locke
Alaine Locke
Alaine Locke was a “out” homosexual and supporter of artists who is considered the “Father of the Harlem Renaissance” primarily because of his publication in 1925 of The New Negro—an anthology of poetry, essays, plays, music and art by artists of the period.
What blues singer was considered Harlem’s most famous lesbian in the 1920s and 30s?
1. Leslie Brown
2. Gladys Bentley
3. Mabel Benning
4. Ethel Bentley
Gladys Bentley
Gladys Bentley’s career took off during the Harlem Renaissance in New York when she performed as a Black, lesbian cross-dressing blues singer and piano player; in the 1930s, she headlined at a well known nightclub where she dressed in men’s clothes, including her signature white tuxedo and top hat.
What 2016 film depicted an urban Black boy becoming a man and coming to terms with his gay sexuality?
1. Moon Joy
2. Moon Eclipse
3. Moonlight
4. Safe Moon
Moonlight
The film, "Moonlight", starring Trevante Rhodes and Mahershala Ali and based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue". The film, the first all Black LGBTQ film, won a host of awards including eight Academy awards nominations.
Who was the brilliant lawyer with four advanced degrees who was also a strategist and advocate for racial and gender equity starting in the 1940s?
1. Gladys Morton
2. Anna Murray
3. Penny Murphy
4. Audre Lorde
Anna Murray
Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray, considered trans by many, was instrumental in crafting the theory behind Brown v. Board of Education; assisted in planning the 1963 March on Washington and was one of the founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW),
Who is the actress, comedian and writer who first came to public notice on "The Chris Rock Show" where she won an Emmy in 1999?
1. Leslie Jones
2. Whoopi Goldberg
3. Wanda Sykes
4. Maya Rudolph
Wanda Sykes
Called one of the funniest people in America in 2004 by American Weekly, Wanda Sykes is known for her roles on The New Adventures of the Old Christine (2006-2010) and ABCs Blackish (2015-present). Sykes came out as a Lesbian in 2008 after marrying Alex Niedbalski, a French woman.
What Chicago drag queen ran for mayor against Mayor Richard M. Daley and challenged nominee Bill Clinton to a debate at the Democratic National Convention in New York City?
1. Stormé DeLarverie
2. Paris Dupree
3. Miss Major
4. Joan Jett Blakk
Joan Jett Blakk
Joan Jett Blakk, the alter ego of Terence Smith, ran for President of the U.S. on the Queer Nation Party Platform and put the issues and needs of gay, black and marginalized people at the fore.
Who was the self described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior poet” who dedicated her life to addressing all injustices, including racism, sexism, and homophobia. Her “biomythology,” "Zami, A New Spelling of my Name" chronicles the evolution of her sexuality?
1. Zandra Poythress
2. Jacqueline Lawless
3. Audrey Stone
4. Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a writer, feminist, librarian and civil rights activist. She has written several collections of poetry which marked her success particularly in the Black Arts Movement and as a gay woman. As well, her prose works explored her battle against breast cancer.
Lori Lightfoot became the first openly LGBTQ mayor of what major U.S. city?
1. Cleveland
2. Charlotte
3. Detroit
4. Chicago
Chicago
In 2019, Lori Lightfoot achieved victory in Chicago by sweeping wins in all 50 of the city’s ward and became Chicago’s first openly gay mayor.
Who is often called the “Rosa Parks of the Gay Rights Movement?”
1. Storme’ Delarverie
2. Spring Gabriel
3. Winter Machon
4. Rain Grievier
Storme’ Delarverie
Storme Delarverie is alleged to have thrown the first punch at the police in the Stonewall Riots of 1964 and vigorously fought the NYPD during the riots. Before Stonewall. She was the MC and “Drag King” of the famed Jewel Box Review, an Apollo Theatre attraction. Although she is far from non-violent, she did "kick off" the Gay Rights Movement as Rosa Parks "kicked off" the Civil Rights Movement.
Who was the gay actor in "Empire", the award-winning TV drama about a hip-hop mogul and his family dynasty?
1. Josiah Smalls
2. Darryl Stephens
3. Jerry Stephens
4. Jessie Smollett
Jessie Smollett
Jessie Smollett, cast as Jamal Lyon, portrayed a gay musician struggling to gain the approval of his father Lucious, head of the family empire.
Who served as a tactician and strategist for the Civil Rights Movement?
1. Ralph Abernathy
2. Joseph Rhinehart
3. Bayard Rustin
4. Julian Bond
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was Martin Luther King’s mentor. He served as the lead organizer for the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin was always out with his sexuality which created problems with some Civil Rights leaders.
Who is the film and television writer, director and producer whose debut film production, "Monster’s Ball", earned two Academy Award nominations with one win, Best Actress?
1. Lee Daniels
2. Ken Brown
3. Mel Daniels
4. Marvin Tilman
Lee Daniels
Lee Daniels, as an out writer, director and producer, has racked up numerous awards for his creations including six Oscar nominations for "Precious", critical acclaim for "The Butler" and as co-creator of the TV series "Empire" and "Star" which debuted in 2015 and 2016.
Who was the freshman congresswoman from Texas who served on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 and helped the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon?
1. Barbara Jordan
2. Barbara Walters
3. Barbara Knight
4. Barbara Smith
Barbara Jordan
The Honorable Barbara Jordan was celebrated as one of the world’s best orators, was the first Black woman to serve in the Texas Senate, the first African American to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention (1976) and the first Black person buried in the Texas state cemetery. Only after her death was her sexuality publicly revealed.
Who is the prolific writer who penned "A Raisin in the Sun", the first play by an African American woman produced on Broadway?
1. Mary Martin
2. Lorraine Hansberry
3. Alice Chidress
4. Lorrain Thesberry
Lorraine Hansberry
The inspiration for Nina Simone’s To Be Young Gifted and Black , Lorraine Hansberry, wrote "A Raisin in the Sun'' whose title comes from Langston Hughes’ poem "A Dream Deferred". She died five years after her play was on Broadway, but not before becoming an active member of the Daughters of Bilitis, an activist “Homophile” movement.
Who is the first openly gay Black man to be nominated and win in a lead acting category of the Primetime Emmys?
1. RuPaul
2. Billy Porter
3. Darryl Stephens
4. Steven Blackshear
Billy Porter
Billy Porter, the flamboyant dresser and Broadway actor, singer, performer, has won awards in a host of categories including for his starring role in the television series Pose for which he won a Golden Globe Award, in addition to the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Who was the choreographer and founder of one of the most well-known dance companies in the U.S.?
1. Skip Holliday
2. Garner Graves
3. Alvin Ailey
4. Barris Fontaine
Alvin Ailey
Alvin Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in 1958, which grew to become one of the best known companies throughout the world. Fighting against the stereotype that Black dancers were all gay, Ailey kept his homosexuality intensely private.
Who was one of the few openly gay artists of the Harlem Renaissance who published what is considered the first explicitly gay story by a Black man in America, "Smoke, Lilies and Jade"?
1. Frederick Nugent
2. Richard Bruce Nugent
3. Bryce Nugent
4. Charles Nugent
Richard Bruce Nugent
Richard Bruce Nugent, in addition to being an openly gay writer of the first gay story published during the Harlem Renaissance, was also the founder of the Harlem Cultural Council which raised funds for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Who was the first openly transgender Black woman elected to political office in the U.S.?
1. Andrea Jenkins
2. Julienne Andrews
3. Jacqueline Andres
4. Antoinette Jefferson
Andrea Jenkins
In 2017, Andrea Jenkins became the first openly transgender black woman elected to a U.S. office after winning a seat on the Minneapolis City Council.
Who was the author of the 1956 ground breaking novel, "Giovanni’s Room", which depicts both homosexuality and bisexuality as well as white characters?
1. Charles Chesnutt
2. Ralph Ellison
3. Frank Yerby
4. James Baldwin
James Baldwin
James Baldwin was a renowned novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and a political activist who participated in both the Civil Rights and the Gay Liberation Movements. He settled permanently in France in 1970 where he died in 1987.
For what work did RuPaul earn his fifth consecutive Emmy in 2020 in the Television Academy's “Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program” category?
1. RuPaul’s Drag Fags
2. RuPaul’s Drag Race
3. RuPaul’s Drag Queens
4. RuPaul’s Queens and Queers
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Drag queen, actor, model, singer, songwriter, and television personality, RuPaul, earned his fifth consecutive Emmy for hosting RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Who was the activist, author, and teacher who was also the romantic and political focus of George Jackson, "Soledad Brother"?
1. Angela Harper
2. Angela Davis
3. Sherry Davis
4. Sherry Weather
Angela Davis
Angela Davis was one of the most celebrated freedom fighters of the Black Nationalist Movement. She was listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List after firearms registered to her were used in an armed takeover of a California courtroom. Davis came out as a lesbian in 1997 in Out magazine.
"Gay Voices of the Harlem Renaissance" (2003), written by A. B. Christa Schwartz features all of the following poets EXCEPT which one?
1. Jean Toomer
2. Langston Hughes
3. Countee Cullen
4. Claude Mckay
Jean Toomer
A.B. Christa Schwartz examines the “gay coding” in the poetry of Claude McKay, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen; Jean Toomer is NOT featured in this examination.
Who was a pioneer as the first black producer at a PBS Station in New York who created "Soul!", a trailblazing television show that explored the breadth of black culture?
1. Moses Newsome
2. Myra Keen
3. Joann Peony
4. Ellis Haizlip
Ellis Haizlip
Ellis Haizlip’s "Soul!" ran from 1968-1973 and employed black brilliance both on camera and behind the scenes. While he was never “out”, he often challenged black leaders such as Louis Farrakhan on Soul! about their stance on gays and lesbians.
Who was the first African American to lead the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the U.S.?
1. Franklin Davies
2. Jamie Dodd
3. Alphonso David
4. Alvin Jenkins
Alphonso David
In the 40-year history of the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, became the first Black leader in 2019; prior to that the Temple educated attorney served as an attorney for Lambda Legal, working on LGBTQ cases around the country, and as the first openly gay counsel to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Who was the rapper who received global attention and success with his Diamond Certified country rap song, "Old Town Road"?
1. Lil Uzi
2. Lil Nas
3. Lil Baby
4. Lil Lil
Lil Nas
Lil Nas hit the rap scene in 2019 with his mega award-winning country rap hit, "Old Town Road", which stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nineteen weeks, becoming the longest-running number-one song since the chart debuted in 1958. Lil Nas came out as gay on Coming Out Day in 2019 in a series of tweets.
