200 Years of LGBTQIA+ History

From Shadows to Pride — UK & Global Timeline

Source Record

Bayard Rustin

Why this source is used

National Park Service profile of Bayard Rustin as strategist, March on Washington organiser, civil rights worker, and gay rights advocate.

Start with the answer

Start with the answer Which LGBTQ+ public figures changed visibility? They changed visibility in politics, science, activism and literature by showing that queer lives could be public, influential and historic. Read the topic guide Queer Public Trailblazers Queer public trailblazers made LGBTQ+ lives visible across science, civil rights, elected office and trans liberation, often while facing erasure or punishment.

Source Status

Publisher
U.S. National Park Service
Type
government
Reliability
high
Cited by
3 pages

Source Links

Open original source https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/bayard-rustin.htm Accessed 2 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/bayard-rustin.htm

Used by Topics

Queer Public Trailblazers

Used by Questions

Which LGBTQ+ public figures changed visibility?

Used by Timeline Events

28 August 1963 ActivismCulturalPeople

Bayard Rustin — The Gay Man Who Organised the March on Washington

Bayard Rustin served as the chief organiser of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one of the most significant events in American civil rights history. It was Rustin who masterminded the logistics of bringing over 250,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech. Despite his indispensable role, Rustin was deliberately kept in the background because he was an openly gay man. Segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond publicly denounced Rustin's homosexuality on the Senate floor to discredit the march. Throughout his career, Rustin's sexuality was used to sideline him from the movement he helped build.