BRENDA HOWARD

Brenda Howard was an American bisexual rights activist. A militant activist who helped plan and participated in LGBT rights actions for over three decades, Howard was an active member of the Gay Liberation Front and, for several years, chair of the Gay Activists Alliance's Speakers Bureau in the post-Stonewall era.

Howard is known as the "Mother of Pride" for her work in coordinating the first LGBT Pride march in 1970; she also originated the idea for a week-long series of events around the Pride march, which became the genesis of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June. Additionally, Howard is credited with popularising the word "Pride" to describe these festivities. Bisexual activist Tom Limoncelli later stated, "The next time someone asks you why LGBT Pride marches exist or why LGBT Pride Month is June tell them 'A bisexual woman named Brenda Howard thought it should be.'"

A fixture in New York City's LGBT Community, Howard was active in the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights which helped guide New York City's Gay rights law through the City Council in 1986 as well as ACT UP and Queer Nation.

In 1987, Howard helped found the New York Area Bisexual Network to help co-ordinate services to the region's growing bisexual community. She was also an active member of the early bisexual political activist group BiPAC/Bialogue, a Regional Organizer for BiNet USA, a co-facilitator of the Bisexual Discussion Group and a founder of the nation's first Alcoholics Anonymous chapter for bisexuals.

On a national level, Howard's activism included work on both the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation where she was female co-chair of the leather contingent and Stonewall 25 in 1994.

Brenda Howard is a Certified Proud Icon because her activism has shaped how we celebrate Pride today, turning it from a form of protest to a form of celebration.