List of LGBT Jews
Encyclopedia
This is a list of LGBT Jew
s. Each person is both Jewish (by ancestry or conversion) and has stated publicly that he or she is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or identifies as a member of the LGBT community
.
Homosexuality and Judaism
The subject of homosexuality in Judaism dates back to the Torah, in the books of Bereshit and Vayiqra. Bereshit treats the destruction of the cities of Sedom and Amorrah by God...
s. Each person is both Jewish (by ancestry or conversion) and has stated publicly that he or she is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or identifies as a member of the LGBT community
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
.
Politicians
- Roberta AchtenbergRoberta AchtenbergRoberta Achtenberg is an American politician. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S...
, former HUDUnited States Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentThe United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
assistant secretary - David CicillineDavid CicillineDavid Nicola Cicilline is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is formerly the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and was the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.-Early life, education, and career:...
, the Mayor of Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode IslandProvidence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
became a member of the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 2011. - Barney FrankBarney FrankBarney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...
, DemocraticDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution... - Marcia FreedmanMarcia FreedmanMarcia Freedman is an American-Israeli activist on behalf of peace, women's rights, and gay rights. In the early 1970s she helped create and lead the feminist movement in Israel...
, former member of the Israeli KnessetKnessetThe Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government... - Nitzan HorowitzNitzan HorowitzNitzan Horowitz is an Israeli journalist and politician. He was the Foreign Affairs commentator and head of the International desk at News 10, the news division of Channel 10, before being elected to the Knesset on the New Movement-Meretz list in 2009....
, Israeli Member of Knesset, first openly gay person to be elected to the Knesset. - Rebecca KaplanRebecca KaplanRebecca Kaplan is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. She currently serves as City Councilmember At-Large for Oakland, California.She ran for Oakland mayor in 2010 and placed third...
, City Councilmember At-Large, Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724... - Anne KronenbergAnne KronenbergAnne Kronenberg is an American political administrator and LGBT rights activist. She is best known for being Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his historic San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign in 1977 and his aide as he held that office until the assassinations of Milk and mayor George...
, American political administrator - Mark LenoMark LenoMark Leno is an American politician, representing California's 3rd Senate district, which includes parts of San Francisco and Sonoma County, as well as the entirety of Marin County. He was elected in 2008 and is the first openly gay man to serve in the Senate...
, California State Assemblymember - Carole MigdenCarole MigdenCarole Migden is an American politician from San Francisco, California who represented the third district of the California State Senate from 2004 to 2008 and the 13th district of the California State Assembly from 1996 to 2002....
, former California State Senator; seat now occupied by Mark Leno - Harvey MilkHarvey MilkHarvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, former San Francisco city supervisor - Jared PolisJared PolisJared Schutz Polis is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, the Colorado Democrat, a former Internet entrepreneur, became the first openly gay non-incumbent male elected to Congress - Stan Rosenberg, President Pro Tempore, Massachusetts State Senate
Religious figures
- Lionel BlueLionel BlueLionel Blue is a British Reform rabbi, journalist and broadcaster. He was the first British rabbi publicly to declare his homosexuality. Born in the East End of London, he was the son of a master tailor....
, first openly gay rabbi in the UK; broadcaster - Steven GreenbergSteven Greenberg (rabbi)Steven Greenberg is an American rabbi. He is generally described as the first openly gay Orthodox Jewish rabbi. His being an Orthodox rabbi is disputed by some Orthodox Jews since he publicly disclosed he was gay in an article in the Israeli newspaper Maariv in 1999 and participated in the 2001...
, first out Orthodox rabbi and staff member of CLAL. - Denise Eger, first female and the first gay President of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.
- Sherwin WineSherwin WineSherwin Theodore Wine was a rabbi and a founding figure in Humanistic Judaism. Originally ordained a Reform rabbi, Wine founded the Birmingham Temple, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism in 1963, in Birmingham, Michigan, outside Detroit, Michigan .In 1969...
, rabbi and founding figure in Humanistic JudaismHumanistic JudaismHumanistic Judaism is a movement in Judaism that offers a nontheistic alternative in contemporary Jewish life. It defines Judaism as the cultural and historical experience of the Jewish people and encourages humanistic and secular Jews to celebrate their Jewish identity by participating in Jewish...
. - Debbie FriedmanDebbie FriedmanDeborah Lynn "Debbie" Friedman was an American composer and singer of songs with Jewish religious content. She was born in Utica, New York but moved with her family to Minnesota at age 5. She is best known for her setting of “Mi Shebeirach”, the prayer for healing, which is used by hundreds of...
, singer, songwriter and composer; professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music.
Academics
- Allan BloomAllan BloomAllan David Bloom was an American philosopher, classicist, and academic. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Yale University, École Normale Supérieure of Paris, and the University...
, philosopher - Judith ButlerJudith ButlerJudith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
, philosopher - Martin DubermanMartin DubermanMartin Bauml Duberman is an American historian, playwright, and gay-rights activist. He is Professor of History Emeritus at Lehman College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York and was the founder of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the CUNY Graduate School...
, historian - Uzi EvenUzi EvenProfessor Uzi Even is an Israeli professor of chemistry in Tel Aviv University and a former politician.-Biography:Born in Haifa to eastern European Jewish immigrants, Even studied for a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics at the Technion, and a Ph.D at Tel Aviv University...
, Israeli chemist and former Knesset member - Magnus HirschfeldMagnus HirschfeldMagnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sexologist. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, which Dustin Goltz called "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights."-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a...
, sexologist and activist - Ron HubermanRon HubermanRon Huberman is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools system, the third largest public school system in the United States. Huberman oversaw a budget of over $6 billion. Prior to that, Huberman served as President of the Chicago Transit Authority.- Early life and...
, Israeli-born CEO of Chicago Public SchoolsChicago Public SchoolsChicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois... - Fritz KleinFritz KleinFred "Fritz" Klein was an American sex researcher, psychiatrist, inventor of the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid and author. He was also a pioneering bisexual rights activist, who was an important figure in the modern LGBT rights movement.- Life and career :Klein was born in Vienna, Austria, to...
, psychiatrist and sexologist - George MosseGeorge MosseGeorge Lachmann Mosse was a German-born American social and cultural historian. Mosse authored 25 books on a variety of fields, from English constitutional law, Lutheran theology, to the history of fascism, Jewish history, and the history of masculinity...
, historian - Ludwig WittgensteinLudwig WittgensteinLudwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
, philosopher
Show business
- Chantal AkermanChantal AkermanChantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
, film director - Simon AmstellSimon AmstellSimon Marc Amstell is a BAFTA nominated, award-winning English comedian, television presenter, screenwriter and actor, best known for his roles as former co-host of Popworld, former host of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and co-writer and star of the sitcom Grandma's House.-Early life:Amstell was born...
, comedian and television presenter - Michael BennettMichael BennettMichael Bennett was an American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven....
, choreographer and musical theatre director - Sandra BernhardSandra BernhardSandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...
, actress and comedian - Ilene ChaikenIlene ChaikenIlene Chaiken is an American television producer, director and writer. Chaiken is best known as being the co-creator, writer and executive producer of the television series The L Word...
, creator of The L WordThe L WordThe L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood... - George CukorGeorge CukorGeorge Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
, film director - Harvey FiersteinHarvey FiersteinHarvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
, actor and playwright - Stephen FryStephen FryStephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, actor, comedian and writer - Judy GoldJudy GoldJudy Gold is an American stand-up comic and actor. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show...
, stand-up comedian and actress - Julie GoldmanJulie GoldmanJulie Goldman is a comedian, actress, and musician. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. She is Jewish, and an open lesbian....
, stand-up comedian - Todd HaynesTodd HaynesTodd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
, film director - Nicholas HytnerNicholas HytnerSir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
, theatre and film director - Moisés KaufmanMoisés KaufmanMoisés Kaufman is a playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project. He is the author of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 33 Variations and is perhaps best known for writing The Laramie Project with other members of Tectonic Theater Project...
, award-winning Venezuelan-born playwright/director long resident in the U.S. - Jerome RobbinsJerome RobbinsJerome Robbins was an American theater producer, director, and choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and directed/produced for television. His work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater...
, choreographer and musical theatre director - John SchlesingerJohn SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
, film director - Anthony Sher, actor
- Bryan SingerBryan SingerBryan Singer is an American film director and film producer. Singer won critical acclaim for his work on The Usual Suspects, and is especially well-known among fans of the science fiction and superhero genres for his work on the X-Men films and Superman Returns.-Early life:Singer was born in New...
, film director - Mauritz StillerMauritz StillerMauritz Stiller was a Finnish-Swedish actor, screenwriter and silent film director, who was mostly active in Sweden.-Life:...
, film director - Bruce VilanchBruce VilanchBruce Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a six-time Emmy Award-winner Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant; in the entertainment industry he is best known as head writer for the show...
, comedy writer and actor
Musicians, Composers, Lyricists, Vocalists
- Howard AshmanHoward AshmanHoward Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...
, musical writer - BabydaddyBabydaddyScott Hoffman , known by his stage name Babydaddy, is the Ivor Novello Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, backing vocalist and lyricist for the American glam rock band, Scissor Sisters...
, member of Scissor SistersScissor SistersScissor Sisters are an American band "spawned by the scuzzy, gay nightlife scene of New York" who took their name from a sexual position between two women also known as tribadism... - Frieda BelinfanteFrieda BelinfanteFrieda Belinfante was a Dutch cellist, conductor, a prominent lesbian and a member of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. After the war, Belinfante immigrated to the United States and continued her career in music...
, conductor (Jewish father) - Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, composer and conductor - Marc BlitzsteinMarc BlitzsteinMarcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...
, composer - Carrie BrownsteinCarrie BrownsteinCarrie Rachel Brownstein , is an American musician, writer, and actress, best known as a guitarist and vocalist in the now-defunct Portland, Oregon-based band Sleater-Kinney...
, guitarist in Sleater-KinneySleater-KinneySleater-Kinney was an alternative rock band from Portland, Oregon that formed in 1994. Originally formed in Olympia, Washington, the group's name is derived from Sleater-Kinney Road, Interstate 5 off ramp #108 in Lacey, Washington, the location of one of their early practice spaces. They were a... - Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, composer - Fred EbbFred EbbFred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
, musical theatre lyricist - Michael FeinsteinMichael FeinsteinMichael Jay Feinstein is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an interpreter of, and an anthropologist and archivist for, the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs...
, singer and pianist - William FinnWilliam FinnWilliam Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.-Biography:...
, musical theatre composer, lyricist and librettist - Ari Gold, pop singer
- Lesley GoreLesley GoreLesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
, pop singer - Howard GreenfieldHoward GreenfieldHoward Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building...
, composer ("Love Will Keep Us TogetherLove Will Keep Us Together"Love Will Keep Us Together" is a popular song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield in 1973. It was first released in the United Kingdom on Sedaka's 1973 LP The Tra-La Days Are Over, which was never released in the U.S. The song arrived in the U.S...
", TV theme song from "BewitchedBewitchedBewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
") - Lorenz HartLorenz HartLorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
, lyricist - Jerry HermanJerry HermanJerry Herman is an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage...
, musical theatre composer and lyricist - Vladimir HorowitzVladimir HorowitzVladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
, classical pianist - Janis IanJanis IanJanis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...
(born Janis Eddy Fink), American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. - Dave KozDave KozDave Koz is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.- Life and career :Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California....
(born David Kozlowski), jazz saxophonist - Adam LambertAdam LambertAdam Mitchel Lambert is an American singer, songwriter, and actor from San Diego, California. In May 2009, he finished as the runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol...
, singer and runner-up on the 8th seasonAmerican Idol (season 8)The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show's contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol...
of American IdolAmerican IdolAmerican Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment... - Jon MossJon MossJon Moss is an English drummer best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, The Nips and The Damned.-Early life:...
, drummer, member of Culture ClubCulture ClubCulture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...
and The Damned - Laura NyroLaura NyroLaura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
, singer-songwriter - PeachesPeaches (musician)Merrill Beth Nisker , better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian electronic musician and performance artist who lives in Berlin, Germany. Her songs are noted for disregarding traditional gender norms and their use of sexually explicit lyrics...
, Canadian electro-punk musician and performance artist - PhrancPhrancPhranc is an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned several decades.-Biography:She began her performing career in the late 1970s and early 1980s punk scene in Los Angeles...
, singer-songwriter - Marc ShaimanMarc ShaimanMarc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy...
, musical theatre and film composer - SocalledSocalledJosh Dolgin, aka Socalled, is a Canadian rapper and producer, known for his eclectic mix of hip hop, klezmer and other styles, for example drum & bass and other types of folk music. A pianist and accordion player, he has taught the latter at Klezfest London, where he has also run workshops in...
, rapper - Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
, musical theatre composer and lyricist - Michael Tilson ThomasMichael Tilson ThomasMichael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...
, conductor, composer, and pianist
Writers
- Leroy F. AaronsLeroy F. AaronsLeroy "Roy" F. Aarons was an American journalist, editor, author, playwright, founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association , and founding member of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education...
, journalist/editor/author/playwright and activist founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists AssociationNational Lesbian and Gay Journalists AssociationThe National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association is an American professional association dedicated to unbiased coverage of gay/lesbian issues in the media...
(NLGJA) - Jon Robin BaitzJon Robin BaitzJon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
, playwright and screenwriter - Steve BermanSteve BermanThis article is about the writer. For the lawyer, see Steve Berman ; for the Mayor of Gilbert, Arizona see Steven M. Berman.Steve Berman is an American editor, novelist and short story writer.-Biography:...
, speculative fiction writer - Jane BowlesJane BowlesJane Bowles, born Jane Sydney Auer , was an American writer and playwright.-Early life:Born into a Jewish family in New York, Jane Bowles spent her childhood in Woodmere, New York, on Long Island. She developed tuberculous arthritis of the knee as a teenager and her mother took her to Switzerland...
, novelist and playwright - Alfred ChesterAlfred ChesterAlfred Chester was an American writer known for his provocative, experimental work, including the novels Jamie Is My Heart's Desire and The Exquisite Corpse and the short story collection Behold Goliath....
, novelist - Nick DentonNick DentonNick Denton, born August 24, 1966, is a British journalist and internet entrepreneur, the founder and proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and the managing editor of the New York-based Gawker.com...
, founder of Gawker MediaGawker MediaGawker Media is an American online media company and blog network, founded and owned by Nick Denton based in New York City. It is considered to be one of the most visible and successful blog-oriented media companies. , it is the parent company for 11 different weblogs: Gawker.com, Fleshbot,...
(Jewish mother) - György FaludyGyörgy FaludyGyörgy Faludy , sometimes anglicized as George Faludy, was a Hungarian-Jewish poet, writer and translator.- Notable works :...
, poet - Edward Field, poet
- Sanford FriedmanSanford FriedmanSanford Friedman was an American novelist.Friedman's Totempole features an army love affair between its protagonist and a North Korean doctor war prisoner...
, novelist - Allen GinsbergAllen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, US Beat generationBeat generationThe Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
poet - Richard GreenbergRichard GreenbergRichard Greenberg is an American playwright. He is the author of over 25 plays including eight South Coast Repertory world premieres: Our Mother's Brief Affair, The Injured Party, The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last, Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg (1958–present) is an American...
, playwright - Jacob Israël de HaanJacob Israël de HaanJacob Israël de Haan was a Dutch Jewish literary writer and journalist who was assassinated in Jerusalem by the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah for his anti-Zionist political activities and contacts with Arab leaders. He is believed to be the first victim of Zionist political violence...
, poet - Marilyn HackerMarilyn HackerMarilyn Hacker is an American poet, translator and critic. She is Professor of English at the City College of New York....
, poet - Aaron HamburgerAaron HamburgerAaron Hamburger is an American writer best known for his short story collection The View from Stalin's Head and novel Faith for Beginners ....
, novelist - Max JacobMax JacobMax Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
, poet - Chester KallmanChester KallmanChester Simon Kallman was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with W. H. Auden and Igor Stravinsky.-Life:...
, poet and librettist - Arthur LaurentsArthur LaurentsArthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...
, playwright, screenwriter and librettist - David LeavittDavid LeavittDavid Leavitt is an American novelist.-Biography:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University. and a professor at the University of Florida...
, novelist and short-story writer - Leo LermanLeo LermanLeo Lerman was an American writer and editor who worked for Condé Nast Publications for more than 50 years. Lerman also wrote for the New York Herald Tribune, Harper's Bazaar, Dance Magazine, and Playbill.Lerman grew up in a Jewish immigrant family in East Harlem and Queens, New York...
, writer/editor - Michael LowenthalMichael LowenthalMichael Lowenthal is an American fiction writer, author of three novels, most recently, Charity Girl . Currently an instructor of creative writing at Lesley University and Boston College, he has been the recipient of fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Wesleyan writers' conferences, the...
, novelist - Herbert MuschampHerbert MuschampHerbert Mitchell Muschamp was an American architecture critic.- Early years :Born in Philadelphia, Muschamp described his childhood home life as follows: “The living room was a secret. A forbidden zone. The new slipcovers were not, in fact, the reason why sitting down there was taboo. That was...
(1947–2007) , New York Times architecture critic - Harold NorseHarold NorseHarold Norse was an American writer who created a body of work using the American idiom of everyday language and images. One of the expatriate artists of the Beat generation, Norse was widely published and anthologized.- Life :Born Harold Rosen to an unmarried Lithuanian Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn...
, poet - Marcel ProustMarcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
, novelist (Jewish mother) - David RakoffDavid RakoffDavid Rakoff is a Canadian-born writer based in New York City who is noted for his humorous, sometimes autobiographical non-fiction essays. Rakoff is an essayist, journalist, and actor and is a regular contributor to Public Radio International's This American Life...
, essayist - Paul RudnickPaul RudnickPaul M. Rudnick is an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. His plays include I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla and The New Century. He also wrote for Premiere magazine under the pseudonym Libby Gelman-Waxner, and for Spy.Rudnick grew up in Piscataway...
, playwright, screenwriter and columnist - Umberto SabaUmberto SabaUmberto Poli was an Italian poet and novelist, born in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean port of Trieste when it was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Poli assumed the nom de plume "Saba" in 1910, and his name was officially changed to Umberto Saba in 1928. From 1919 he was the...
, poet and novelist - Siegfried SassoonSiegfried SassoonSiegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...
, poet (Jewish father) - Martin ShermanMartin ShermanMartin Sherman is an American dramatist and screenwriter, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play Bent , which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust...
, playwright - Susan SontagSusan SontagSusan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
, essayist and novelist - Gertrude SteinGertrude SteinGertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
, writer - Julian StryjkowskiJulian StryjkowskiJulian Stryjkowski was a Polish journalist and writer, notable for his social prose of leftists character.He was born April 27, 1905 in Stryj , to a family of Hasidic Jews...
, novelist
Artists and Architects
- Claude CahunClaude CahunClaude Cahun was a French artist, photographer and writer. Her work was both political and personal, and often played with the concepts of gender and sexuality.-Early life:...
, French photographer and writer - Robert DenningRobert DenningRobert Denning was an American interior designer whose lush interpretations of French Victorian decor became an emblem of corporate raider tastes in the 1980s.-Early life:...
, American interior designer, from the age of 15 was the partner of Edgar de EviaEdgar de EviaEdgar Domingo Evia y Joutard, known professionally as Edgar de Evia , was a Mexican-born American photographer....
, photographer and from 1960 both life and business partner of Vincent FourcadeVincent FourcadeVincent Gabriel Fourcade was a French interior designer and the business and life partner of Robert Denning...
, French interior designer. - Nan GoldinNan GoldinNancy "Nan" Goldin is an American photographer.-Life and work:Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts suburb of Lexington, to middle class Jewish parents whose ideas, moderately liberal and progressive, were put to the test when on April 12, 1965 their eldest...
, photographer - Herbert ListHerbert ListHerbert List was a German photographer who worked for magazines including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Life and was associated with Magnum Photos...
, photographer - Maurice SendakMaurice SendakMaurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
, illustrator and author of children's books as well as costume and set designer for films, theater and opera - Simeon SolomonSimeon SolomonSimeon Solomon was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter-Biography:...
, painter
Fashion Designers
- Isaac MizrahiIsaac MizrahiIsaac Mizrahi is an American TV presenter, fashion designer, and was the creative director of Liz Claiborne. He is best known for his eponymous fashion lines.-Early life:...
(1961 - ) American fashion designer - Arnold Scaasi (1930-)
Sports figures
- Robert DoverRobert Dover (equestrian)Robert Jeffrey Dover is an American equestrian who has had international success in the sport of dressage. Riding from the age of 13, he began specializing in dressage at age 19 and competed in his first Olympics in 1984. He competed in every summer Games between 1984 and 2004, winning four team...
, 6-time Olympic equestrianist - Renée RichardsRenee RichardsRenée Richards is an American ophthalmologist, author and former professional tennis player. In 1975, Richards underwent sex reassignment surgery. She is known for initially being denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association, citing an unprecedented women-born-women...
, tennis player
Miscellaneous
- Stuart Appelbaum, president of both the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store UnionRetail, Wholesale and Department Store UnionRetail, Wholesale and Department Store Union is a labor union in the United States and Canada that is a semi-autonomous division of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Change to Win Federation...
and the Jewish Labor CommitteeJewish Labor CommitteeThe Jewish Labor Committee is an American secular Jewish organization dedicated to promoting labor union interests in Jewish communities, and Jewish interests within unions. The organization is headquartered in New York City, with local/regional offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago... - Gad BeckGad BeckGad Beck is a retired educator, author and gay Holocaust survivor.-Early life:Beck was born in Berlin, Germany, along with twin sister Margot, to a Jewish father and German mother who had converted to Judaism. The family lived in a predominately Jewish immigrant section of the city...
, Holocaust survivor and memoirist - Roy CohnRoy CohnRoy Marcus Cohn was an American attorney who became famous during Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into Communist activity in the United States during the Second Red Scare. Cohn gained special prominence during the Army–McCarthy hearings. He was also an important member of the U.S...
, lawyer and co-counsel—along with Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
--to Sen. Joseph McCarthyJoseph McCarthyJoseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957... - Barry DillerBarry DillerBarry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
, media executive - Sandi Simcha DuBowskiSandi Simcha DuBowskiSandi Simcha DuBowski is an American director and producer. Best known for his work on homosexuality and religion, DuBowski directed the 2001 documentary Trembling Before G-d and is the producer of Parvez Sharma's documentary A Jihad for Love .-Personal life:DuBowski was born in Brooklyn in 1970...
, documentary filmmaker. - Brian EpsteinBrian EpsteinBrian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
, manager of The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr... - David GeffenDavid GeffenDavid Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
, film producer and record executive - Mitchell Gold, furniture company CEO and gay rights activist
- Leopold and LoebLeopold and LoebNathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb , more commonly known as "Leopold and Loeb", were two wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.The duo were...
, murderers - Michael Lucas, gay porn star
- Ezra NawiEzra NawiEzra Itzhak Nawi is an Israeli human rights activist and pacifist. He is particularly active among the Bedouin herders and farmers of the South Hebron Hills. He has been charged for numerous infractions of the law, convicted for a number of offences, and served several short stints in prison as a...
, Israeli human rights activist - Richard QuestRichard QuestRichard Austin Quest is an English journalist and a CNN International anchor and reporter based in London. He anchors Quest Means Business. In addition to anchoring the five-times-weekly business program, Quest hosts the monthly program Business Traveller...
, television journalist - Randi WeingartenRandi Weingarten'Randi Weingarten is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator, the current president of the American Federation of Teachers , a member of the AFL-CIO, and former president of the United Federation of Teachers. New York magazine called her one of the most influential people in education in...
, current president of the American Federation of TeachersAmerican Federation of TeachersThe American Federation of Teachers is an American labor union founded in 1916 that represents teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff, and nurses and other healthcare professionals...
See also
- Keshet RabbisKeshet RabbisKeshet-Rabbis is an organization of Conservative/Masorti rabbis which holds that LGBT Jews should be embraced as full, open members of all Conservative/Masorti congregations and institutions...
- Homosexuality and JudaismHomosexuality and JudaismThe subject of homosexuality in Judaism dates back to the Torah, in the books of Bereshit and Vayiqra. Bereshit treats the destruction of the cities of Sedom and Amorrah by God...
- List of bisexual people
- List of gay, lesbian, or bisexual figures in fiction and myth
- List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
- List of transgendered people
- Timeline of LGBT historyTimeline of LGBT historyThe following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender related history.-9660 to 5000 BC:* Mesolithic rock art in Sicily depicts phallic male figures in pairs that have been interpreted variously, including as depictions of homosexual intercourse.-7000 to 1700 BC:*Among the sexual...