Pride: Highlighting the Voices of LGBTQ+ MacArthur Fellows

Pride Month is a time to build on the legacy one of the most significant events that ignited the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States: the Stonewall Uprising in Greenwich Village.

Many MacArthur Fellows who identify as LGBTQ+ are tackling issues in a wide range of fields, so this month we amplify their voices and encourage you to explore their work.

In their own words, here are their personal experiences that shape their work:

“My identity and experiences as a queer person fundamentally shape my research. I study the lives of people at society’s margins because they teach us the value of pushing against boundaries and norms.” — Mary L. Gray, Anthropologist and Media Scholar

“Coming-of-age is a hard story to tell because it’s so individual. I mean, we all do it…but we all do it in so many ways, you know? And particularly Black men in America.” — Tarell McCraney, Playwright

“There are many people who contributed to these victories and the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people…For me, it’s about freeing up people to be who they are, have choices, and be part of the ever-widening circle of belonging. It’s been a ton of work, with tons more to go, and thankfully love and justice remain powerful motivators going forward.” — Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Lawyer

“A lot of my work is focused around thinking about whether a lot of the methods we’re currently using in the field are reliable, what the shortcomings of those methods are, and how we can improve them.” — Isaiah Andrews, Econometrician

“The language that matters to me most right now is the language that my partner and I are making in our home. It’s not an easy language — my partner is Black, I’m Indigenous and Latina or Mexican. We’re both queer. We’re out in the middle of this little desert town on my reservation…To me, we have a knowledge with each other that other people might not understand.” — Natalie Diaz, Poet

“I’m hoping that I am showing the way for other young people to tell their stories, to know that they have a story to tell, and a right to tell that story. I’m hoping that people who are experiencing my work, whether it’s on the page or on the stage, are understanding that what I’m saying them is, ‘Go off and tell your story, too.’” — Jacqueline Woodson, Writer

“I’ve wanted to find a church for my daughter, not for the religion of it, but there is a physical thing that goes on when you pray together, or sing together, or chant together…Having gone to a fundamentalist Christian school, and having been outed [as gay] there, I felt very rejected and hurt by Christianity. But I still also feel a real pull toward that gathering and that communion. I think that’s why I started writing plays rather than novels or poems or whatever, because I’m really interested in that kind of shared experience.” — Samuel D. Hunter, Playwright