October is LGBT History Month. The month of observance was first organized in 1994 by high school teacher Rodney Wilson to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) and was meant to highlight the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement.
In 2006, the Equality Forum began promoting the annual commemoration by featuring a different LGBT icon each day.
“This is the 7th anniversary of LGBT History Month. There are a total of 217 Icons that inspire pride in our heroes and our impressive national and international accomplishments,” said Malcolm Lazin, Equality Forum executive director, in a statement.
Darian Aaron, the Atlanta award-winning blogger and author of "When Love Takes Over: A Celebration of SGL Couples of Color," discusses his religious upbringing in Alabama in the April issue of Ebony magazine that is dedicated to Whitney Houston.
"In my Bible Belt community, I'd heard plenty of anti-homosexual stories, and I didn't know anyone who was openly gay. If I had mentioned my attraction, I would have been shunned. My feelings were also at odds with what I was taught as a Christian: Being gay is a sin. Whenever I heard that message, I questioned it, because something in my core told me it wasn't true," he says in the story posted in full on his website. The story is currently not found on Ebony's website.