Fearless: Since the 1970s, Jewel Thais-Williams has given the black Los Angeles LGBT community a place of their own through her Catch One nightclub. After more than 40 years, Thais-Williams stepped down from running the club in July 2015, but she reflects one more time on the club’s origins, the famous names who came through the club’s doors and... watch
Fearless: Comedian and activist Ivy Bottini, an early NOW activist, reflects on her influence in including lesbians in the feminist movement and being one of the first outspoken lesbian comedians. watch
Fearless: Alan Bell edited BLK Magazine, a monthly publication aimed at the African-American LGBT community from 1988 to 1994. In addition to running BLK, Bell also hosted a monthly safe-sex party in Los Angeles for African-American men. In the latest installment of Fearless, Bell reflects on his career in publishing and HIV/AIDS outreach. watch
Fearless: Criminal defense attorney Mia Yamamoto reflects on how coming out as transgender impacted her life and career, why being transgender is more "in your face" than being gay, and she shares her message for LGBT youth. watch
Fearless: Reverend Troy Perry founded the Metropolitan Community Church in 1968 as an outreach to the underserved gay community. Rev. Perry looks back at his personal evolution from a heterosexually-married, closeted gay man in the conservative south to a spiritual and civil rights leader of the LGBT community in Los Angeles and beyond. watch
Fearless: Texas native Carolyn Weathers is an author and activist who helped found Clothespin Fever Press, a small lesbian book press in Los Angeles which published titles including 'Dykes Bike Repair Handbook' and 'Leaving Texas.' Weathers reflects on her life in writing and activism - including the time when she and other... watch
Fearless: Pioneering Los Angeles-based artist Joey Terrill discusses his influences, how being queer, Hispanic and HIV positive has informed his painting over the years, and how simple T-shirts helped give birth to his activism. watch
Fearless: MSNBC launches its new web series devoted to important LGBT activists, starting with Dr. Virginia Uribe, a retired Los Angeles teacher who founded the first dropout prevention program for LGBT high school students in 1984. watch
MSNBC is proud to join with the It Gets Better Project and the ONE Archives Foundation to create a 10-part web series called “Fearless: How 10 LGBT Activists Made It Better,” which offers first-hand insight into some of the LGBT movement’s most crucial activists. read more
Our community’s history is filled with many lives that were led mostly in secret, which has caused those stories to be difficult to collect and largely overlooked by mainstream historical accounts. read more
Rev. Malcolm Boyd, an Episcopal priest, best-selling author and gay rights pioneer, died in Los Angeles last month at the age of 91. Early in his career, Boyd became a prominent voice in the civil rights movement, and later, a champion of gay rights. In 1976, Boyd also became one of the first high-profile religious figures in America to come out... read more
