Brenda Howard (December 24, 1946 – June 28, 2005) was an American bisexual rights activist, sex-positive feminist, and polyamorist. Howard was an important figure in the modern LGBT rights movement.
As a lifelong activist, she helped plan and participated in LGBT rights initiatives, Howard was an active member of the Gay Liberation Front and was chair of the Gay Activists Alliance’s Speakers Bureau for a time.
She is known as the “Mother of Pride” for her work in coordinating a rally and then the Christopher Street Liberation Day March to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Howard also originated the idea of a week-long series of events around Pride Day. Her efforts would eventually lead to annual LGBT Pride celebrations that are now held around the world every June. Additionally, Howard along with fellow LGBT activists Stephen Donaldson and L. Craig Schoonmaker are credited with popularizing the word “Pride” to describe these festivities.
In one of the most recent interviews before her death in 2005, she was asked to describe herself. She simply stated…
Bi, Poly, Switch—I’m not greedy, I know what I want.
Source: Wikipedia
