Click here for a bibliography of works of or about the eighteen notable LGBT Ohioans.
Top Left Mel Roberts (1923-2007)
Born in Toledo
Gay rights activist and photographer of
gay male (“California Boy”) erotica
Cinematographer and film editor for several Hollywood studios
Music editor on Salt of the Earth, the only blacklisted American film
Early member of the Mattachine Society, one of the first gay rights group
Top Middle Barbara Grier (1933 – )
Born in Cincinnati
Began writing for The Ladder in 1957, became
poetry and fiction editor in 1966, general editor in 1968
Published The Lesbian in Literature (1967) with Lee Stuart,
a bibliography of all known English titles on lesbian themes
Co-founded Naiad Press (1973) with Donna McBride
Recognized with Gay Academic Union’s President’s Award for
Lifetime Service, 1985
Lambda Literary Award for Publisher’s Service, 1992
In 1992 donated Lesbiana collection of 14,000 books to the
James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library
Top Right Billy Strayhorn (1915 – 1967)
Born in Dayton
Pianist, composer, and arranger
Worked alongside Duke Ellington for over twenty years
Composed “Chelsea Bridge”, “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and “Lush Life”
An openly gay African American in a era of intense homophobia and racism
An activist for gay and civil rights causes
Considered one of the most under-recognized American composers in history
Bottom Left Michael Cunningham (1952 – )
Born in Cincinnati
Won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for
The Hours
Common themes include family dynamics, complicated friendships,
and gay culture
Author of five novels as well as works of short fiction and nonfiction
Received the 1995 Whiting Writers’ Award and
the 1993 Guggenheim Fellowship
Bottom Center Elizabeth Birch (1956 – )
Born in Dayton
Attorney and frequent keynote speaker in corporate America
Guided hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies in implementing
LGBT supportive policies regarding equity in the workforce
Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, 1995-2004
First leader of LGBT rights organization to address
a national political convention, 2000
Honored by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 2002
Santa Clara University School of Law’s first Social Justice and
Human Rights Award, 2008
Bottom Right Hart Crane (1899 – 1932)
Born in Garrettsville; also lived in Warren, Cleveland, and Chagrin Falls
Modernist poet and reporter for the
Considered a successor to Walt Whitman
Known for his use of metaphor, commercial lingo, and epic perspective
The Bridge is considered one of the century’s major poetic achievements
Awarded the 1929 Guggenheim Fellowship
Known as much for his destructive behavior as for his literary gifts
