by Fred Kuhr

Kevin Neff, editor of the Washington Blade, will be featured as an “LGBT icon” this year as part of the Equality Forum’s annual LGBT History Month celebration.

Neff is one of 31 “icons” to be recognized and featured, one for each day of October, which has been marked as LGBT History Month since 1994. Neff’s day will be October 13.

“I am truly honored and humbled to be recognized by the Equality Forum with the icon award,” Naff said in the Blade. “None of us does this work for accolades, but it’s nice to be appreciated. I am so grateful for more than 20 years of working alongside the accomplished professionals at the Blade and in tandem with some of the luminaries working for social justice here and abroad. I will work hard to live up to this honor as we continue the fight for full equality.”

Naff has worked at the Blade since 2002 and served as its editor for most of that time. He published his first book, “How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality — And How Our Enemies Could Take It All Away,” in 2023.

Other community “icons” to be recognized include pop singers George Michael, Sam Smith and Luther Vandross; United States Circuit Judge Beth Robinson; reality TV star Colton Underwood; activist and editor Robyn Ochs; and Sen. Laphonza Butler and Rep. Robert Garcia, both Democrats from California.

Equality Forum, a Philadelphia-based international civil rights organization with a focus on education, has coordinated LGBT History Month since 2006. It also oversees the application for and installation of government-approved LGBT historic markers, produces documentary films and undertakes other initiatives. Equality Forum runs these programs in collaboration with learning institutions, professional associations, research centers, for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations, according to the organization.

Every year for LGBT History Month, the group chooses 31 “LGBT icons,” living or dead, for achievements in their field of endeavor, for their status as a national hero, or for their significant contribution to LGBT civil rights, said the group. Equality Forum solicits nominations from regional, state, national, and international organizations, activists, and the general public. LGBT History Month co-chairs Jim Obergefell and Sharon Ullman review all nominations and recommend the annual icons.

Obergefell was the plaintiff in the landmark marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges. The 2015 decision legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Ullman is a professor of history at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She specializes in 20th-century America with an emphasis on popular culture, media, and gender.

As each day’s “icon” is celebrated, the Equality Forum will make available  videos, bios, bibliographies, downloadable images and other resources for free at https://lgbthistorymonth.com/.

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Volume 26
Issue 7