June is LGBTQ Pride Month

Communitas is a nonprofit that provides Direct Support Professional assistance in Poulsbo, Silverdale, Bremerton, and Port Orchard for adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities.

In recognition, we are going to list some influential LGBTQ people from history who had disabilities.

Leonardo da Vinci – 1452-1519 - suffered from epilepsy - in 1476 when Leonardo was 24 years old, with 3 other young men, was charged with sodomy in an incident involving a well-known male prostitute.

Michelangelo – 1475-1564 - suffered from epilepsy - unconfirmed whether gay.  He wrote over 300 sonnets and madrigals, many of which were to a man Tommaso dei Cavelieri.  It wasn’t discovered until 1893 that Michelangelo’s grandnephew had changed all of the genders in Michelangelo’s sonnets to female.

Marcel Proust – 1871-1922 - suffered from Asthma and other illnesses - never openly admitted to his homosexuality, though family and close friends knew.

Edith Craig – 1869-1947 - suffered from acute arthritis from a young age – her lesbian lifestyle was looked down upon by her family.  Her brother insisted that his sister’s (Edith’s) sexuality was a result of her “hatred of men, initiated by the hatred of her father”.

Frida Kahlo – 1907-1954 - contracted polio at age 6, was in bus accident in 1925 – Frida and her husband were both not faithful, having many affairs.  Kahlo was bisexual, having affairs with both men and women.

Audre Lorde – 1934-1992 - diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978, underwent mastectomy.  The breast cancer had metastasized in her liver, died of breast cancer in 1992.  Lived with her life partner Gloria Joseph until she passed away.

Barbara Jordan – 1936-1996 - used a wheelchair for much of her later years due to Multiple Sclerosis – was the first African American to serve in the Texas senate, the first African American woman from a southern state to serve in Congress, and first LGBTQ woman in Congress in 1973.  She was survived by her partner Nancy Earl.