Hollywood Allies and Heroes

Here’s just a small sampling of the many Hollywood stars who’ve used their fame to stand up for the LGBTIQ community. Some of these stands were most courageous, taking place before support for our community was considered acceptable. Some of the names might surprise you — one of our heroes is remembered as a conservative Republican, but in 1988 he took an extraordinary stand for victims of gay bashings.

This list is by no means complete, so feel free to add more in the comments!

Barbra Streisand

The Oscar- and Grammy-winning superstar has become a show business legend for her incomparable voice and her massive body of work. In 1992, when Colorado passed the now repealed Amendment 2 which legalized anti-gay discrimination, Babs led the call to boycott the state and repeal the law.

Streisand has long used her celebrity in support of a variety of social-justice issues. The Streisand Foundation has contributed $16 million for numerous causes, including preservation of the environment, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, and women’s issues, including the right to choose.

In 2009, she gifted $5 million to endow the Barbra Streisand Women’s Cardiovascular Research and Education Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Women’s Heart Center in Los Angeles. She continues to publicly educate women about heart disease in women’s communities.

Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011)

Dame Elizabeth Taylor was one of Hollywood’s greatest stars. The recipient of two Best Actress Oscars, she was lauded worldwide for her extraordinary beauty — she was also a tabloid editor’s dream due to her many stormy marriages.

But her greatest role, that of AIDS activist, was offscreen. In 1985, her old friend and co-star Rock Hudson was outed when he became the first celebrity to die of AIDS. Taylor was appalled not only at how Hudson was treated, but by the barrage of claims from conservative groups that AIDS was God’s “punishment” for gay men’s “sinful lifestyles.”

Taylor was quite vocal in expressing her disgust at the religious right, and spent more than two decades fighting for AIDS causes. She marched with activists, visited hospitals where she embraced people with AIDS, testified before Congress for research funding, and co-founded AMFAR — the American Foundation For AIDS Research. She later founded The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Both organizations remain at the forefront of research, treatment, and education.

In 1988, Taylor did a PSA which aired on national television. “Use a condom every time you have sex,” she urged viewers, “whether you’re gay or straight.” For her extraordinary stand, Taylor was awarded the Presidential Citizen’s Medal.

Patty Duke (1946–2016)

Patty Duke became world famous after she won the coveted Oscar in 1962 for her extraordinary performance as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. A hit TV series and numerous movies followed. During the 1970s, her life and career spiraled out of control due to a series of bizarre and psychotic behaviors. As she recounted in Call Me Anna, her 1987 autobiography, a desperately ill, hospitalized Duke was diagnosed with manic depression, now known as bipolar disorder. Duke began taking her medication that same day. Her manic episodes disappeared and she resumed her career.

For the rest of her life, Duke advocated for compassion for the mentally ill and for better care. She spoke to community groups, sometimes traveling at her own expense to do so. She would often personally respond to people if they or a loved one were dealing with mental-health issues. She rarely gave an interview without bringing the topic up, offering hope for millions.

Through it all, Duke, who preferred to be called by her birth name of Anna, was also quite vocal in her support of LGBT rights.

Chaz Bono

The son of show business legends Sonny and Cher, Chaz lived the first 40 years of his life as a lesbian, known to the world as Chastity. But he knew something was wrong — he wasn’t comfortable in his own skin. Soon after turning 40, Chaz realized that he was transgender. A media firestorm ensued, and rather than ask for privacy, Chaz generously shared his personal story with the world.

His transition was chronicled in the 2011 documentary Becoming Chaz, which aired on the OWN Network. Chaz granted hundreds of interviews. In doing so, he let thousands and thousands of trans people know that it was OK for them to be who they are. They weren’t alone.

Norman Lear

Lear is best known for creating the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family. On that series and others, he put LGBT characters on the tube and exposed bigotry for what it was. In Judging Books By Covers, a groundbreaking 1971 episode of the sitcom, an effeminate young man turns out to be straight, while a macho, beer drinking ex-football player turns out to be gay. Six years later, Family’s Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) refused to go to Midnight Mass after her friend is gay-bashed to death on Christmas Eve.

Lear’s courage at putting LGBT issues, as well as issues regarding race and feminism, on TV started many important conversations which continue today. In 1981, Lear founded People For the American Way, an organization which continues to fight for free speech and civil liberties.

Maya Angelou (1928–2014)

Throughout her life, author/poet Angelou was open and honest about her past life as a sex worker. She was a fierce advocate for civil rights and for peace, always expressing her support for these issues with calls for love and understanding among peoples of differing communities, races, and sexual persuasions. She served on presidential committees, lectured around the world, and won many awards. The LGBT community were among the peoples she consistently supported.

Elizabeth Montgomery (1933–1995)

Elizabeth Montgomery is best remembered (and beloved) as Samantha, the nose-twitching witch on the classic sitcom Bewitched. One of television’s biggest names for nearly four decades, she lent her name to AIDS activism, women’s rights, gay rights, and was adamantly pro-choice.

Around 1991, her Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent came out publicly, one of the very first celebrities to do so. Montgomery joined Sargent for the 1992 Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade, where they served as Grand Marshals.

Marlon Brando (1924–2004)

Marlon Brando stood for social justice long before the term was even coined. One of the top box-office stars of the 1950s, the two-time Oscar winner marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960s. To Brando, doing what was right was more important than bowing to public opinion.

In 1973, Brando made headlines when he declined to accept his second Oscar for The Godfather as a protest against the film industry’s false and negative portrayals of Native Americans. In 1976, the star admitted to being bisexual which, at the time, was unheard of for a major celebrity.

“Like a large number of men, I too have had homosexual experiences,” he said. “I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think of me.”

Bob Hope (1903–2003)

Perhaps the most unexpected name to appear on this list, the popular movie/TV comedian and long-time Oscar host is best remembered as a conservative Republican. Yet in 1988, when he was made aware of gay-bashing statistics, he appeared in a groundbreaking PSA denouncing anti-gay attacks. The PSA, produced by GLAAD, aired nationally, and raised many eyebrows at a time when AIDS had raised anti-gay hysteria to a fever pitch.

For many years, Hope traveled to the front lines of war zones to entertain American troops, often putting his personal safety at risk to do so. He was also an active supporter of Fight For Sight, a nonprofit which funds medical research for vision loss and ophthalmology.