When sexually explicit lyrics are the least scandalous part of your persona, you know you’re doing something right. Tux and top hat wearing Gladys Bentley was the toast of 1920s Harlem queer culture.

Bingo, Barbie and big car journeys: few people knew how to get media attention like Bobbie Lea Bennett, forcing 1970s Medicare to consider trans rights through a different lens.

Breeches, petticoats and late night Chelsea scandals are all in vogue for our cross-dressing 18th century icon. 

Although her mission in the 1950s was to educate the scientific community about the true nature of homosexuality, Dr Evelyn Hooker’s story teaches us a lot about allyship to this day. 

Rockstar banquets, glitter queens and warthog-head window displays - how could anyone forget the work of 1970s Los Angeles artist Mundo Meza?

Organising against repressive laws is no song and dance, but Yoyo might argue otherwise. This queer icon proves punk’s not dead and neither is the spirit of Malaysia’s queer community.

A century and a half before RuPaul’s Drag Race, masquerade balls and queer liberation were the norm for Washington drag royalty, William Dorsey Swann.

They say actions speak louder than words, but Esan Regmi opts for both, using storytelling to create space for intersex activism in Nepal.