LGBTQIA+ Excellence within the Last Year

By Mikaila Rivas '26

As we approach Pride Month, it is important we celebrate the LGBTQIA+ icons who continue to pave the way for us, especially in these times when many in our country and legislation are against them.  Pride Month and the celebrations that come with it were started a year after The Stonewall Inn Riots.  On June 28, 1969, a police raid stormed the gay bar where patrons and employees were thrown out of the bar, resulting in violent physical confrontations.  For six days, protests against the NYPD occurred throughout the Stonewall Inn neighborhood and gained attention worldwide.  A year later, activists urged the public to remember the event and it soon became the Gay Pride Parade.  In the early 2000s, June was officially recognized as Pride Month by the government.  Below are LGBTQIA+ artists, activists, authors, and actresses who have made waves within the last year. 

Ethel Cain 

Ethel Cain is the first openly trans singer to earn a top 10 album in the United States for her 2022 album “Preacher’s Daughter,” that was recently issued on vinyl.  Cain,

formerly known as White Silas, has used her challenging upbringing in the Floridian Bible Belt as a trans bisexual woman, to connect with her supporters through her alternative Southern Gothic music.  Ethel Cain is rather an alter ego for herself, symbolizing an unsatisfied wife of a nefarious preacher. She says it’s “a trope I saw first-hand plenty of times growing up, dreaming of running away and living her life to the fullest.“ Cain also serves as an advocate for others, as she released a song titled  “من النهر,” (From the River) on Valentine’s Day to bring attention from the commercialized holiday to those in Palestine.  She continues to spread awareness about multiple social justice issues and will soon be releasing her second album of the year titled, Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You.

Hayley Kiyoko

Hayley Kiyoko is a lesbian actress, singer-songwriter, and author who recently had her book Girls Like Girls approved to be a movie.  Girls Like Girls was initially a song that celebrated romantic queer connections, but was turned into a coming-of-age book about

a girl named Coley who moves to Oregon after the death of her mom and catches the eye of Sonya.  Kiyoko may sound like a familiar name as she gained popularity after starring as Stella Yamada in Disney Channel’s Lemonade Mouth.  Her upcoming projects include the release of her new book in November, titled Where There’s Room For Us about an 1800s England where everyone is free to love whomever they choose. Hayley Kiyoko's impressive discography and portfolio are what makes her the beloved and celebrated artist she is today.

Chase Strangio 

Chase Strangio is the Co-Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s

LGBT & HIV Project.  The project seeks to change the narrative on how America perceives the LGBTQIA+ community and advocates for the rights of them and people living with HIV.  In December 2024, Strangio was the first openly trans lawyer  to argue at the Supreme Court on behalf of the ACLU against Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender children. 

Young Miko 

Young Miko, or María Victoria Ramírez de Arellano Cardona is a rising Boriqua artist in the reggaeton scene.  She has created space for lesbian artists in the Latin Trap scene and

is part of the wave of other Caribbean queer artists rising to fame.  Last year, she released her album att. or sincerely in English where she allows herself to be vulnerable with her audience, while also showing her self-confidence.  She received the 2024 Impact Award for Billboard Women in Music, has been featured on a Bad Bunny song titled, “FINA,” and has opened for multiple dates of Karol G’s world tour.  Miko commented to NPR about her album, "The music we were making came from such a genuine and innocent place. I wasn't like, 'Oh my god! We're making history! Oh my god, no girl's doing this!' It was just me having fun."

Janelle Monáe

Janelle Monáe is an pansexual actress and singer-songwriter who is to star as Tanya

Smith in a movie titled Never Saw Me Coming that was originally a memoir about how Smith defrauded banks millions of dollars.  Besides being a well-known actress from her other movies, Harriet and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, she has also had multiple hits as an R&B artist, such as “Make Me Feel” and “I Like That.”  She had been nominated for an outstanding ten GRAMMYs, one of them for “Album of the Year.” 

The icons and trailblazers above serve as a reminder that the LGBTQIA+ community will continue to prosper, even when the odds are against them. In these precarious times of our country, remember progress is not a linear journey.  Even during times when it may seem like a historically disadvantaged community you are a part of is being forced to go back, know the ancestors who have come before you have survived and that you will too see the day where your true self is accepted.  The dolls, sapphics, and other queer people above and in your spaces are not going anywhere and will persist.

All Photos Courtesy of whenthehornblows.com, aclu.org and Getty Images

Sources: History.com, Grammy.com, npr.org, aclu.org, theamag.com, undergroundunderdogs.com and Instagram.com

Edited by: Kavya Chacko '26 & Ms. Brillant

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