Honoring Our LGBTQ Elders

Celebrating Past + Present + Future

THE OLD GAYS = BOOK + INSTAGRAM + PODCAST + TIKTOK

Happy Honor Our LGBT Elders Day, y’all!

As the Family LGBTQ continues grooving and moving forward—sometimes in fits and starts—it’s important to pause and look back. Not out of a sense of nostalgia, but with gratitude and love. Not out of a sense of obligation, but with respect and reverence.

The progress we live and breathe today didn’t happen overnight. It was built, brick by brick, by those who came before us. Our LGBTQ elders have “been there, done that.” They have made and/or witnessed history. They are our living legacies, representing generations of courage and defiance. Their stories shape ours, helping us live louder and prouder than we ever have before.

ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Long before Pride parades and rainbow crosswalks, LGBTQ life was full of whispered conversations, secret meeting places, coded languages, and unimaginable risks.

Our elders, many who lived through Stonewall, the AIDS crisis, and decades of criminalization and marginalization, paved the way with fierce love and relentless courage.

They dared to be themselves when the cost was everything. From Audre Lorde and Harvey Milk to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera —and countless others—we owe a deep and lasting debt to those who fought for rights no one was willing to give us.

But history wasn’t only shaped by icons. We must honor the everyday heroes too: the ones who made zines in basements, held hands under tables, built chosen families, and simply survived. Together, they made the world safer for us all.

LISTENING WHILE WE CAN

Many of our elders are still here. And their stories matter—not just as history, but as perspective. They remind us that every right we enjoy was fought for. That queer joy was never guaranteed. And that our culture is rooted not in hashtags and headlines, but in lived experiences and lives.

Let’s listen while we can. Visit your local LGBTQ center. Attend an intergenerational event. Strike up a conversation. Record oral histories. Ask about the first Pride they attended—or the first time they felt seen. These are treasures no archive can replace.

BRIDGING GENERATIONS

It’s easy to fall into the trap of generational gaps in our community, but we’re more connected than we realize. Younger generations can bring new language, energy, and ideas to the table. Our elders bring the kind of wisdom you won’t find on many social media feeds.

Long story short, we need each other.

By honoring our elders, we’re also honoring our future. Growing old as an LGBTQ person is still a radical act.

In a world obsessed with youth, living out loud and aging proudly is a form of protest and resistance. When we make space for elders to thrive, we build a future where no one is discarded, erased, or forgotten.

FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING

This isn’t just about surviving anymore—it’s about thriving. That means telling our stories, warts and all, in full-spectrum color. It means supporting LGBTQ senior healthcare, housing, and social networks. It means seeing our elders not as relics, but as valued and vital members of our community.

Let’s celebrate Pride not just with parties—but with purpose. Let’s pass the mic. Let’s amplify the voices that built this movement. Let’s give our elders flowers now, while they’re here to enjoy them.

IN GRATITUDE + IN ACTION

Honoring our LGBTQ elders isn’t a one-day event. It’s a way of being. It’s how we love and value one another. It’s the stories we tell, the respect we show, and the future we co-create.

Thank you to all LGBTQ elders.
For surviving. For fighting. For loving.
For making space for us to be ourselves.

And Thank YOU (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)!
Clint 🌈✌️

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ON THIS DAY = MAY 16

BIRTHDAYS

• 1804 = Elizabeth Palmer Peabody = American educator and first US kindergarten founder

• 1827 = Pierre Cuypers = Dutch architect and designer of the Amsterdam Centraal railway station and Rijksmuseum

• 1866 = Erik Satie = French composer 🌈

• 1898 = Tamara De Lempicka = Polish-American painter 🌈

• 1905 = Henry Fonda = American actor

• 1912 = Studs Terkel = American historian and author

• 1913 = Woody Herman = American singer and musician

• 1919 = Liberace = American entertainer and pianist 🌈

• 1921 = Harry Carey Jr. = American actor, producer, and screenwriter

• 1929 = Adrienne Rich = American poet and essayist 🌈

• 1929 = Betty Carter = American singer-songwriter

• 1944 = Danny Trejo = American actor

• 1947 = Cheryl Clarke = American poet, essayist, educator, and activist 🌈

• 1951 = Christian Lacroix = French fashion designer

• 1953 = Pierce Brosnan = Irish-American actor and producer

• 1953 = Richard Page = American singer-songwriter

• 1955 = Debra Winger = American actor

• 1959 = Mare Winningham = American actor and singer-songwriter

• 1961 = Kevin McDonald = Canadian actor and screenwriter

• 1963 = Anya Gallaccio = British artist 🌈

• 1966 = Janet Jackson = American singer-songwriter

• 1968 = Ralph Tresvant = American singer and producer

• 1969 = David Boreanaz = American actor

• 1973 = Tori Spelling = American actor, reality tv personality, and author

• 1990 = Thomas Brodie-Sangster = English actor

• 1991 = Joey Graceffa = American YouTuber 🌈

EVENTS

• 1770 = The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes king of France.

• 1842 = The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.

• 1866 = The United States Congress establishes the nickel.

• 1888 = Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

• 1918 = The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.

• 1929 = The first Academy Awards ceremony is held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

• 1946 = Annie Get Your Gun, starring Ethel Merman, premieres on Broadway.

• 1986 = Top Gun is released in theaters.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• Honor Our LGBT Elders Day

• Malcolm X Day

• National Barbecue Day

• National Classic Movie Day

• National Mimosa Day

• National Do Something Good For Your Neighbor Day

VIDEO + QUOTES OF THE DAY

“When the reviews are bad I tell my staff that they can join me as I cry all the way to the bank.”
Liberace

“You know that bank I used to cry all the way to? I bought it.”
Liberace

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