2021 Awardees and Event Coverage
In December, 2021, Rainbow History Project honored its newest class of Community Pioneers. Due to pandemic conditions, no physical celebration occurred, but a special video presentation was created. It can be viewed on the RHP YouTube page.
• Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance, which since its 1981 founding has addressed equal rights issues for LGBT Virginians from a state and local perspective
• Eboné F. Bell, founder and editor-in-chief of Tagg Magazine and Tagg Communication LLC
• Bart Forbes, founding member of “Gay Fairfax,” a pioneering television newsmagazine program in Northern Virginia
• Ellen Kahn, youth and family advocate, president of Rainbow Families, former director of the Lesbian Services Program at Whitman-Walker Health, and currently senior director of programs and partnerships at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation
• Theodore Kirkland (deceased), a co-founder of D.C. Black Pride in 1991, member of the Gay Liberation Front and Skyline Faggots, active community health volunteer and advocate
• Paul Marengo, community leader through LGBT organizations including Reel Affirmations, Cherry Fund, and Pride celebrations for Youth, Latino, Black and Transgender communities
• David Mariner, executive director, CAMP Rehoboth, and former executive director of the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community
• Mark Meinke, founder and longtime chair, Rainbow History Project, and co-founder Rainbow Heritage Network, a national organization for the recognition and preservation of sites, history and heritage associated with sexual and gender minorities
• David Perez, community leader, including former service as chair, Advisory Committee to the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; president, Latino GLBT History Project; and co-chair LGBTQ Task Force, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda
• Michael “Micci” Sainte-Andress, artist, health educator and advocate and an early leader in bringing African Americans into HIV/AIDS clinical trials
• Boden Sandstrom, founder and owner of Woman Sound (later City Sound), the first all-woman sound company, which made LGBT rights rallies and the woman’s music scene possible, and her late partner, singer/songwriter Casse Culver
• Alan Sharpe, playwright, director and co-founder of the African American Collective Theater in Washington in 1976, which now focuses on LGBT life and culture in the Black community.