Year in Review : Heroes and Zeros of 2022

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Here is Richard Burnett’s 27th annual column of the past year’s heroes and zeros..

ZERO Qatar Major General Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Ansari, director of the Department of International Cooperation and chairman of the National Counterterrorism Committee at the Ministry of Interior, who on April 1 told AP that Rainbow flags would be banned at the FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar from November 20 to December 18. Then, on October 24, Human Rights Watch reported that security forces in Qatar – where same-sex relations are a criminal offense – arrested and abused LGBTQ Qataris as recently as September. 

ZERO British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly who on October 26 said LGBTQ soccer fans attending the FIFA World Cup should adhere to Qatar’s values and resist public displays of affection in the Gulf country.

ZERO Former British footballer and so-called “gay icon” David Beckham whom, the Daily Mail reported on September 22, signed a £10 million deal to become an ambassador for Qatar and the face of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

HERO British queer activist Peter Tatchell who protested anti-LGBTQ laws in Qatar outside that country’s National Museum on October 28, before being released by police to catch a flight to Australia.

ZERO The International Rugby League which on June 21 banned trans athletes from women’s international competition.

ZERO The FINA international swimming organization which on June 20 banned trans women athletes from competing in women’s events if they do not transition by age 12. The Human Rights Campaign condemned the new policy as “unrealistic and effectively impossible.”

ZERO British Rowing chair Mark Davies who on October 6 at the World Rowing Congress called on the sport’s world governing body to follow FINA’s lead to create an « open » category for transgender athletes. World Rowing currently permits an athlete who was male at birth to compete in the female category if they reduce their testosterone to below 5 nanomoles per litre for 12 months.

HEROS The 36 out LGBTQ athletes from 14 different countries who competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing – a Winters Games record. 

HEROES Team Canada which won the gold medal in women’s ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The hockey team included seven out players – Brianne Jenner, Erin Ambrose, Emily Clark, Melodie Daoust, Jamie Lee Rattray, Jill Saulnier, and Micah Zandee-Hart – making it the most LGBTQ inclusive Winter Olympic team of all time. 

HERO Canadian hockey icon and Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser who on July 5 was promoted to assistant general manager by the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL.

HERO Wrestler AC Mack who on January 21 made history as the first out gay man to win a pro wrestling world championship, when he beat Alex Shelley for the IWTV Independent Wrestling World title.

HERO The Los Angeles Dodgers who, at their ninth annual LGBTQ Night at Dodger Stadium on June 3, honoured the late Glenn Burke, the first openly gay MLB player. More than 40 of Burke’s family members and friends were present as the Dodgers during a pregame tribute made amends for their homophobic treatment of Burke, 44 years after the Dodgers traded outfielder to the Oakland Athletics on May 17, 1978, just because Burke was gay, effectively ending his career. 

HERO The Canadiens de Montréal who held their Pride Night on April 16 with an auction of autographed Rainbow jerseys of 32 players, along with a jersey signed by the team. Proceeds from the auction benefitted You Can Play and GRIS-Montréal.

HEROES The Barcelona Dragons of the European League of Football who on April 10 hired Michael Sam as assistant coach for the defensive line. Sam, 32, made history by becoming the first out player to be drafted by the NFL in 2014 before playing with the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League in 2015. Meanwhile, out NFL defensive end Carl Nassib signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on August 15.

HERO Greece which on July 19 became the 5th country in the world (after Malta, Portugal, Germany and Iceland) to ban Intersex Genital Mutilation on children. 

PHOTOS : Ariana DeBose, Monument national LGBTQ2+, H. Nigel Thomas

HERO Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who on August 21 announced Singapore will repeal Section 377A of their penal code and decriminalize sexual relations between men.

ZERO Japan, the only G7 nation that does not allow same-sex marriage. On June 20, a district court in Osaka ruled that Japan’s ban on SSM is not unconstitutional. 

ZERO The Hong Kong authorities who on May 11 arrested lesbian Cantopop star and Canadian citizen Denise Ho, who grew up in Montreal, for her role in a humanitarian relief fund providing legal aid to people who took part in the 2019 pro-democracy protests which were largely suppressed by security forces.

ZERO WorldPride licensor InterPride which, to appease China, asked WorldPride 2025 Taiwan to change the name of their event to “Kaohsiung” – removing the word “Taiwan” – forcing event organizers on August 12 to cancel what would have been the first WorldPride event to be held in East Asia. 

HERO An appeals court in Poland which on June 28 ruled that “LGBT-free zones” must be scrapped in four municipalities. Established in 2019, “LGBT-free zones” banned the “promotion” of homosexuality and other minority sexual identities. Poland ranks last in the EU for queer rights.

ZEROS The right-wing protestors who clashed with riot police at the Serbian capital Belgrade’s EuroPride march on September 17 after President Aleksandar Vucic on August 27 announced he would not permit EuroPride to take place. Police lined the streets as thousands of marchers braved pouring rain and protesting religious groups chanting biblical verses and holding crucifixes. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Serbia’s first openly lesbian prime minister, said 10 police officers were injured, five police cars damaged, and 64 protesters arrested.

HERO Croatia’s High Administrative Court which on May 26 ruled that same-sex couples have the right to adopt children.

HERO The Slovenian parliament which on October 4 passed an amendment allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt, becoming the first former communist country to endorse this reform in Europe.

ZERO The Slovakian parliament which on October 16 voted against recognizing same-sex relationships, thus denying same-sex couples inheritance rights and other legal protections.

ZERO The radicalized 19-year-old gunman Juraj Krajcik who on October 12 killed two people outside the gay bar Teplaren in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava. Krajcik was found dead on October 14.

ZERO 42-year-old Norwegian citizen Zaniar Matapour who on June 25 opened fire outside London Pub, a popular gay nightclub in Oslo, killing two and wounding 21, forcing the cancellation of Oslo’s 2022 Pride parade. Norwegian Police Security Service called the attack an “Islamist terror act.” Three additional arrests have been made, including 44-year-old Norwegian Islamist Arfan Bhatti.

HEROES Patrons at the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs who pistol-whipped and pinned the gunman who killed five people and injured 25 on November 19. The suspect in the shooting was identified as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich who is now in police custody.

HEROS U.S. District Judge David Bunning who on March 18 ruled that former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis – who refused to sign marriage certificates for same-sex couples in 2015, despite the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing these unions nationwide – violated their constitutional rights. On September 29, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Davis is not protected from being personally sued for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

HERO Mexico which on February 11 issued its first non-binary birth certificate, whose senate on October 11 voted to prohibit and criminally punish conversion therapy, and whose state of Tamaulipas on October 26 legalized same-sex marriage, meaning SSM is now legal throughout Mexico.

ZEROS Bermuda and the Cayman Islands whose ban on same-sex marriage was upheld on March 14 by British judges in London sitting on the UK’s judicial committee of the privy council, the ultimate court of appeal for British overseas territories, dependencies and Commonwealth states.

HERO The High Court of Justice for Antigua and Barbuda which on July 5 ruled that laws which criminalize consensual private sexual acts between persons above the age of consent are unconstitutional.

HERO The Eastern Caribbean Court – top court for nine eastern Caribbean nations and territories – which on August 30 struck down a colonial-era law against homosexual conduct in St. Kitts and Nevis, ruling that sexual orientation is covered by the right to privacy.

HERO The Isle of Man where since June 30 anyone convicted of “homosexual activity” before the law was changed in 1992 can now apply for a pardon.

HERO The Supreme Court of India which on August 28 ruled same-sex couples are entitled to social benefits.

ZERO The Grindr dating app, exposed in a Wall Street Journal story published May 2, for selling users data so it could offer targeted ads based on users’ location. Grindr updated its privacy settings in 2020 to prevent advertisers from obtaining this data, but many analysts allege historical data can still be accessed.

PHOTOS : Amy Schneider, Mexican Non-binaries, André Boisclair

ZEROS Gay men having public sex on the dunes of Gran Canaria. As reported in the January 1 edition of the Journal of Environmental Management (Volume 301).  jellyfish-eating Gran Canary giant lizards are dieing from ingesting condoms left behind by pleasure seekers. 

ZERO Monkeypox whose first two cases in Canada were reported by Quebec public health officials on May 19. Global News reported on May 26 that the suspected epicentre of the outbreak in Montreal was the G.I. Joe sauna. During Pride Month, the U.S. CDC reported more than 3,500 confirmed Monkeypox cases in 44 countries, largely among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

HERO Quebec’s pro-active vaccination campaign against Monkeypox. The Direction de santé publique du Grand Montréal began giving second shots in October. In a November 7 news report, Dr. Réjean Thomas told The Canadian Press that Monkeypox has been “almost eradicated” in Montreal.

HEROES American gay and lesbian adults whom a CDC study published on February 4 reports are more likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 than heterosexual adults. The study also reports gay and lesbian adults are also more likely to believe in vaccine safety.

HEROES The U.S. State Department which on April 11 began allowing Americans to select the gender marker X on their U.S. passport applications, to make federal documents more inclusive of intersex, gender-nonconforming and non-binary identities.

HEROES Switzerland which as of January 1 allows a person to legally change gender without hormone therapy, and Spain which on June 27 approved a new LGBTQ inclusive bill that allows trans youth to change their gender via self-identification. 

HERO The Quebec government which amended Bill 2that was then adopted by the National Assembly on June 7. Beginning on June 17, the law allows trans people to change their sex designation on identification documents, introduce “X” markers for non-binary people, and permits trans parents to change their label of parental designation.

HERO Canada whose 2021 National Census released on April 27 offers a snapshot of Canada’s transgender population for the first time: The census reports 0.33 per cent of residents identify as a gender that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The data reported 100,815 Canadians are transgender or non-binary.

HERO The Language Council of Norway which on January 31 announced its support for the gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun “hen,” complementing the masculine “han” and feminine “hun.”

HEROES France which on January 25 unanimously banned LGBTQ conversion therapy, followed by Israel on February 14, New Zealand on February 15, and Greece on May 11. Canada’s ban took effect on January 7.

HEROES Greece, for lifting its blood ban on men who have sex with men, on January 10, followed by France on March 16, and Austria on May 20. The Canadian Blood Service lifted its ban effective September 30. Hema-Quebec will follow suit in 2023.

HERO Zimbabwe which on March 18 decriminalized HIV transmission following the passage of a new bill signed into law by Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Prior to the repeal of Section 79 of Zimbabwe’s Criminal Code, any act of HIV transmission could result in a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

HERO The charity Queer Britain which on May 5 opened Britain’s first national LGBTQ museum, also called Queer Britain, in North London.

HERO The non-profit Pride Live organization which, in partnership with the U.S. National Park Service, will manage the new Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre. The groundbreaking was held on June 24. The centre opens in summer 2024 and will be housed in the storefront adjoining the Stonewall, which was part of the bar in 1969.

HERO Canada which on March 24 unveiled the winning design for the nation’s LGBTQ2S+ National Monument. The winning design, Thunderhead, was created by Winnipeg-based Team Wreford and will be built in Ottawa. Construction is expected to be completed by 2025.

HERO Canada which on August 28 announced a five-year, $100-million plan to support LGBTQ communities across the country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 75 per cent of the funding will go toward community organizations focused on diversity and inclusion.

ZERO Pride organization Fierté Montréal for the last-minute cancellation of their Pride parade on August 7. Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante called the cancellation a “fiasco” and announced an independent investigation lead by Philippe Schnobb, former chair of the STM board of directors. Schnobb released his 25-page report on October 5, concluding “the parade was cancelled because of a misunderstanding, after a series of chaotic exchanges, caused by communication problems accentuated by too rapid a reaction from certain key people in the operational chain, and too slow a reaction from others.” This miscommunication also lead to the hasty cancellation announcement without the approval of the organization’s executive director or board of directors. Schnobb made 13 recommendations, including a reorganization of Montreal Pride’s entire governance structure.

ZERO Saskatchewan’s Moose Jaw Pride which on September 18 voted unanimously to dissolve after learning the non-profit had over $100,000 in outstanding debts. When they looked into their finances, the board found huge debts and significant gaps in their accounting.

HERO Montreal drag legend Barbada de Barbades whose children’s TV show Barbada premiered on ICI TOU.TV on March 29.

ZEROS Ville Saint Laurent borough councilors – all members of the Ensemble Montréal party – who in early July unanimously decided to cancel the kid-friendly Drag Story Hour by Montreal drag queen Barbada de Barbades (a.k.a. Sébastien Potvin) scheduled at two borough public libraries in November. After Barbada met with borough officials on August 1, the events were reinstated, on November 5 at the Bibliothèque du Vieux-Saint-Laurent and Bibliothèque du Boisé. 

HERO Montreal drag legend Gisele Lullaby who won season 3 of Canada’s Drag Race.

HERO Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who became the first world Leader to appear on Drag Race when he made a work room appearance on Canada’s Drag Race: Canada Vs. The World which premiered on November 18.

ZERO Former PQ leader André Boisclair who on June 20 plead guilty to two sexual assault charges. The former PQ cabinet minister admitted he sexually assaulted two men in 2014 and in 2015. On July 18, Boisclair was sentenced to two years less a day in prison, plus two years probation. On November 15, his parole request was denied due to his arrogant attitude, narcissistic traits, and refusal to participate in therapy.

HERO Chilean President Gabriel Boric who on January 21 named two openly LGBTQ people to his Cabinet: education minister Marco Antonio Ávila and sports minister Alexandra Benado. Boric’s government took office on March 11. Chile’s marriage equality law went into effect the day before.

CRÉDIT PHOTO : Velma, personnage de Scooby Doo, Denise Ho

HEROES Brazilians who on October 2 voted in their first two trans members of Congress: Erika Hilton in the state of São Paulo, and Duda Salabert in the state of Minas Gerais..

HEROES The National Assembly of Cuba which on July 22 approved a sweeping update of its family law opening the door to same-sex marriage and adoption. In a referendum vote on September 25, Cubans approved the new Families Code by 66.9%..

HERO Out comedian Jerrod Carmichael who in a June 15 interview with GQ trashed comedian Dave Chappelle for mocking trans people. Carmichael headlined a sold-out show at Just For Laughs in Montreal on July 29.

HERO Actor Ariana DeBose, the first out woman of colour to win an acting Oscar. DeBose won the 2022 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of West Side Story.

HERO Montreal filmmaker and video artist Anne Golden who on February 22 was awarded the inaugural Robert-Forget Award to mark Vidéographe’s 50th anniversary.

HERO Calgary-based queer author Suzette Mayr who on November 7 won the $100,000 Giller Prize, the biggest literary prize in Canada, for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter.

HERO Montreal author H. Nigel Thomas who was awarded the prestigious 2022 Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes..

HERO Scooby Doo character Velma who came out as lesbian in the Warner Bros. animated Halloween movie Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! which debuted on HBO Max on October 16.

ZEROS The 14 Middle Eastern and Asian countries – including China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and Lebanon – who in June banned the Pixar animated movie Lightyear because it depicts a same-sex couple who share a brief kiss.

HERO DC Comics whose 2022 DC Pride anthology published on May 31 featured the eight-page story “Think of Me” in which Connor Hawke, son of Green Arrow, comes out as asexual.

HERO Marvel Comics which in September introduced Web-Weaver, the first-ever gay version of Spider-Man, in the graphic novel Edge of Spider-Verse #5.

ZERO Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times, the world’s largest queer theatre, which imploded in 2022 over generational conflict and accusations of systemic racism.

ZERO Playwright David Mamet who on Fox News on April 10 supported Florida’s “don’t say gay” law and said that gay male teachers are “inclined” to pedophilia.

ZERO Caitlyn Jenner who on March 31, International Transgender Day of Visibility, announced she had joined the anti-LGBTQ Fox News network.

HERO Thai media tycoon and transgender rights advocate Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip who on October 25 announced she purchased the Miss Universe Organization for $20 million. The Miss Universe pageant began 71 years ago and runs in 165 countries. In 2018, Miss Spain, Angela Ponce, became the first trans contestant to compete.

HERO Jeopardy! trans contestant Amy Schneider who won 40 consecutive games, placing fourth on January 26 for all-time regular season cash winnings with US$1.382 million. Then on May 6, Canadian lesbian Mattea Roach ended her 23-game Jeopardy! winning streak, bringing her total winnings to US$560,983, making her the highest-winning Canadian contestant in Jeopardy! history.

HEROES Veteran CHOM deejay Sharon Hyland who on February 28 became the co-host of the new CHOM radio morning program Mornings Rock With Jay, Sharon & Chantal; veteran journalist Bert Archer who on May 16 became Editor-in-Chief of The Montreal Gazette; former CBC News Editor-in-Chief Jennifer McGuire who in January became CCO of 51-year-old Pink Triangle Press which publishes Xtra; and Equal Entertainment which announced on June 21 it had acquired Pride Media, parent company of The Advocate.

ZERO Russia which on February 17 arrested seven-time WNBA all-star Brittney Griner for possession of cannabis oil and vape pens. On July 7 in a Russian court near Moscow, Griner pleaded guilty to smuggling and drug possession. On August 4, Judge Anna Sotnikova of the Khimki city court sentenced Griner to nine years in jail and fined her 1 million rubles, or about US$16,400.

ZERO Turkish police who attacked and arrested hundreds of people at the Istanbul Pride March on June 26, in a sweeping display of violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people. Then on July 5, Turkish police used teargas and pepper spray to halt an LGBTQ Pride march in the capital Ankara.

ZERO Iran which on January 30 executed Mehrdad Karimpou and Farid Mohammadi on sodomy charges. The two were killed in the Maragheh prison in northwestern Iran where they had been incarcerated since their arrest six years earlier. Iran has reportedly executed 4,000 to 6,000 LGBTQ people since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

ZERO An Islamic sharia court in Nigeria’s northern state of Bauchi which on July 1 sentenced three men to death by stoning after convicting them on charges of engaging in homosexuality.

HERO Germany which on January 5 appointed 42-year-old MP Sven Lehmann from the German Greens as the country’s first-ever commissioner dedicated to LGBTQ affairs. Lehmann will be in charge of preparing a “national action plan” to promote acceptance and protect diversity, according to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs.

HEROES The 125 Catholic church officials in Germany – including priests and workers in education and administration – who came out as LGBTQ or non-binary on January 24, publishing a statement demanding an end to church “discrimination and exclusion.”

HERO Kuwait’s Constitutional Court which on February 16 overturned article 198 of the penal code that criminalized the imitation of the opposite sex, a move welcomed by Amnesty International as a “major breakthrough” for transgender rights in the Gulf Arab region.

HERO U.S. District Judge Denise Cote who on January 14 ordered Martin Shkreli – dubbed “Pharma Bro” in the media – to return US$64.6 million in profits he and his former company reaped from raising the price of Daraprim. Shkreli jacked up the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after his company Turing Pharmacueticals (since renamed Vyera) obtained exclusive rights to the AIDS drug in 2015.

HERO Drug manufacturer ViiV Healthcare whose long-acting injectable for HIV PrEP called Apretude was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on December 20, 2021. Apretude is given first as two initiation injections administered one month apart, then every two months thereafter. It is hoped the availability of injectable PrEP will increase PrEP adherence.

HEROES The BEEHIVE project researchers at the University of Oxford who on February 3 in the journal Science published their study which identified a variant of HIV that has been circulating in the Netherlands since the late 1980s. While people with this variant have a viral load that is three to four times higher than usual for those with HIV – meaning the virus is more contagious and progresses into serious illness twice as fast — the good news is existing medications are effective in treating this variant.

HERO Moderna who on January 27 announced they have begun a trial of an mRNA vaccine for HIV. First doses of the vaccine were administered in a clinical trial at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., that is also being organized by non-profit scientific research organization IAVI. 

ZERO The Canadian government which bungled applications for delegates scheduled to attend the International AIDS Conference inMontreal from July 29 to August 2. As a result, International AIDS Society president Adeeba Kamarulzaman said the IAS will re-evaluate how it organizes international conferences and told attendees at the AIDS 2022 opening ceremony that she was “deeply upset by the high number of denials and pending visas that prevented many registered delegates, including IAS staff and leadership, from entering Canada.” Following widespread criticism, International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan cancelled a planned appearance at the conference and was not replaced by another Canadian government representative.

• • •

CRÉDIT PHOTO : Kit Connor, David Barta, Rebel Wilson

HEROES For coming out in 2022
The Voice season 8 winner Sawyer Fredericks, King Richard star Aunjanue Ellis, Heartstopper actor Kit Connor, She-Hulk actress Ginger Gonzaga, U.S. Olympic skier Breezy Johnson and actors Mackenzie Phillips and Susan Sarandon all came out as bisexual; RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 contestants Bosco, Kerri Colby, Kornbread, Jasmine Kennedy and Willow Pill all came out as trans, as did Disney heir Charlee Corra and retired Japanese pro wrestling legend Yu Ishino, who formerly wrestled under the name Kagetsu; Broadway veteran Jessica Phillips came out as queer at age 50, pro wrestler Max Zero and former Mr. International USA David Barta came out as pansexual, and Janelle Monáe and John Cameron Mitchell came out as non-binary; Nollywood actor Uche Maduagwu, 90s R&B teen idol Tevin Campbell, stand-up comic Jerrod Carmichael, British Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes, British Olympic swimmer Dan Jervis, German pro handball player Lucas Krzikalla, Minor League Baseball pitcher Solomon Bates, Brazilian FIFA referee Igor Benevenuto, and professional Irish rugby player and Leinster scrum-half Nick McCarthy all came out as gay; while 17-year-old Blackpool FC forward Jake Daniels became the first professional U.K. soccer player to come out in more than 30 years (after Justin Fashanu did in 1990), followed by Scottish footballer Zander Murray; Australian comedian / actor Rebel Wilson and Russia’s highest-ranked women’s tennis player Daria Kasatkina came out as lesbian, while original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player Maybelle Blair – one of the inspirations behind the iconic film A League of Their Own – came out at 95-years-old; She-Ra and the Princesses of Power creator Nate Stevenson, professionally known as ND Stevenson, came out in a new comic, updating his name and pronouns, while keeping his middle name ‘Diana’ to pay “tribute to this other side of me” while French singer-songwriter Chris (formerly known as Christine and the Queens) updated his pronouns online to “he/him.”

• • •

LOCAL HEROES who passed away in 2022
Au-delà de l’arc-en-ciel founder Hector Gomez; Montreal drag legend Dream (a.k.a. Julien Cliché); author Michel-Émile Gendron who wrote for Fugues, Zipper and ZIP magazines between 1985 and 2000; February 2020 Fugues coverboy Jean-William Bourget; the Godfather of Montreal Disco, legendary DJ Robert Ouimet, principal house deejay at Montreal’s famed Lime Light disco from 1973 to 1981; legendary photographer Marcus Leatherdale who was born and raised in Montreal; Québécois theatre icon André Brassard and journalist Jean Lorrain. Also, Tennis Lambda founder Yvan Germain passed away in December 2021. RIP. 

• • •

HEROES who passed away in 2022
Iconic Vogue Editor André Leon Talley, legendary author and pioneering Gay Activists Alliance activist Arnie Kantrowitz, famed fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler, cult artist and queer underground filmmaker James Bidgood who directed the 1971 erotic arthouse film Pink Narcissus, stand-up comic and actor Louie Anderson, Nobel Prize-winning French virologist and HIV co-discoverer Luc Montagnier, gay-identity academic theorist Leo Bersani, pioneering writer and editor Richard Labonté; actress Anne Heche and actor Leslie Jordan, porn stars Jason Pacheco, Lawrence Morningstar (a.k.a. Lawrence William Tyler), Steve ‘Titpig’ Hurley and 80s “Golden Age” porn star Shawn Mayotte (a.k.a. Doug Probst), RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K. season two contestant Cherry Valentine (a.k.a. George Ward), legendary LGBTQ activists Gerald Hannon and Urvashi Vaid, Holocaust survivor Margot Heuman, Chicago trans legend Mama Gloria Allen, Spanish trans icon Trinidad Falcés – a.k.a. “La Trini” who survived the Franco regime, Tony-winning Broadway producer Steve Fickinger, Hair co-creator James Rado, British gay rights activist and journalist Terry Sanderson, Kevin Conroy the longtime voice of Batman, and trailblazing gay country star Patrick Haggerty all passed away in 2022. RIP. 

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