History Posts, Daily

Black History Month: Simon Nkoli

“I am black, and I am gay. I cannot separate the two parts of me into secondary and primary struggle. They will all be one struggle.”

Simon Nkoli was born in the late 1950s in the Black township of Soweto in South Africa. He grew up under apartheid, and first became involved with anti-apartheid activism as a student, despite negative reactions within the movement to his homosexuality.

In 1984, Simon was arrested along with 21 other men while protesting rent increases in the township of Delmas, a group which became known as the Delmas 22. While in prison awaiting trial, Simon was outed, and faced backlash from the rest of the group, many who feared that pulic knowledge of his sexuality would negatively impact the outcome of the trial. To the surprise of his co-accused, Simon received an outpouring of support from the international queer community, which in turn led to greater international support for the Delmas 22 and anti-apartheid work.

Simon was ultimately acquitted, and began work as a founding member of a new group, GLOW - the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Witwatersrand - fighting for the rights of queer people in Johannesburg’s Black townships. Simon was diagnosed with HIV while in prison, and focussed especially on HIV/AIDS activism in Black communities. With GLOW, Simon went on to organise Johannesburg’s first Pride march in 1990.

In 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s president, marking the end of apartheid. Simon met and negotiated with government officials to ensure the rights of gay and lesbian people would be enshrined in the country’s new constitution - the first country in the world to do so.

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José Sarria (1922-2013) was an American drag queen and political activist.

Sarria was born in San Francisco to an absent Spanish father and a working Colombian mother, and was partially raised by another childless couple when his mother was busy. He began dressing in girls' clothes from an early age and spoke four languages by the time he graduated high school. Sarria's first, and longest lover, was Austrian baron Paul Kolish, whom Sarria tutored in languages.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sarria joined the Army (despite being too short--he seduced an Army major to be enlisted). He was officially attached to the Signal Corps, but also spent some time in the Intelligence School, trained as a cook, deliberated failed to be trained as a scout, and worked in the motor pool.

After Sarria returned from overseas, Kolish proposed marriage (it would not have been legally recognized), and though Sarria's mother agreed, Sarria himself did not. Kolish died in 1947, and despite instructions for Sarria to be looked after, Kolish's brother kept most of the inheritance.

After, Sarria returned to San Francisco, where he began working as a drag queen named Michelle and a cocktail waiter. He would sing full parody operas while serving drinks, including leading patrons to sing "God Save Us Nelly Queens" to the tune of "God Save the Queen", loud enough to be heard by the fellow gay men in the jail across the street.

Sarria also began work to decrease the number of police raids on gay bars and ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961. This makes him the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in US history. He helped form the Tavern Guild, the country's first gay business association and the Society for Individual Rights.

June 6th, 1894: Colorado governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engages in the Cripple Creek miners' strike.