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[forsythiajo]

Razieh Shirmohammadi (b. 1976 or 1977) died on this day, 25 June, in 2019. Shirmohammadi was an Iranian para-archer.

Shirmohammadi began competing internationally in 2010, when she won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Para Games. She competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning bronze in the women's team curve open, and at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.

She died from a heart attack in 2019, at age 42. She had recently won a quota spot for the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

[forsythiajo]

Dora Moono Nyambe was born on this day, 23 June, in 1992. Nyambe was a Zambian humanitarian and TikToker.

Nyambe grew up in Lusaka Province, and became a primary school and ESL teacher, working for a brief time in China. As a young adult, she began to adopt children who needed a guardian; by 2019, she had five adopted children, three of whom were teenagers.

In 2019, Nyambe visited a friend in a village in Mkushi Province. Shocked by the number of children out of school, and the number of child marriages, Nyambe decided to establish a school in the town.

Nyambe and her children faced multiple issues, including distrust from local residents, but she established her school all the same. She began posting about her life and work on TikTok in May 2020. Her content quickly gained traction, and served to help her raise more funds.

By 2023, Nyambe's school served 350 children, 150 of whom were boarders. The facilities included classrooms, a library, a dining hall, and dormitories.

In addition to teaching, Nyambe also intervened when she heard that her students were going to be married off. She also raised legal cases when her students told her of abuse they had experienced.

Nyambe died in the early hours of 25 December, 2024, at the age of 32 and was buried at her school on 30 December. Her cause of death was unclear, with some online commentators speculating she had been murdered. At the time of her death, she had 13 adopted children and considered herself the foster mother of her 150 boarding students.

[forsythiajo]

Robbi Mecus (d. April 25, 2024) was born on this day, June 20, in 1971. Mecus was an American forest ranger and mountain climber.

Mecus grew up in New York City, in a conservative and homophobic household. As a young adult, Mecus discovered mountain climbing, which she fell in love with, and climbed in upstate New York. She became a forest ranger in the state in 1999.

As a ranger, Mecus participated in "hundreds" of rescue missions. Since she also had climbing experience, she worked to bridge the gap between rangers and rescuers. She also continue to climb for fun, and was known to pair up with climbers of all skill levels.

After identifying as a crossdresser for many years, Mecus came out as a trans woman in 2016. Although she wasn't sure how the "hyper macho" forestry field would react, she was supported by her coworkers. In 2022, she co-founded the Adirondack Queer Ice Fest.

In April 2024, Mecus and her climbing partner were climbing Mount Johnson in Denali National Park. Mecus fell about a thousand feet and was killed. Her climbing partner survived with serious injuries.

Mecus is well remembered by the New York state rangers, and by her chosen hometown of Keene, New York.

The New York Times covered a rescue Mecus assisted in about two weeks before her death, the link is here if you're curious.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Todat's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Christian Walker (1953-2003), an African-American LGBTQ photographer. Walker's work explored multiple topics and themes, including the intersections of race, sexuality, drug use, and the HIV/AIDS crisis

Walker was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and moved to Boston in 1974. His early photography was documentary. After graduating from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, in 1984, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

With the move to Atlanta, Walker's work shifted to focus on the racial divides in the South. He also began using more experimental techniques, such as double exposure. In 1985, he began his Miscegenation Series, which explored interracial relationships. Walker created additional series exploring the racial politics of Georgia, and remained active in the arts scene until the 1990s.

Much of Walker's photography dealing with sexuality featured nudity, but he referred to his work as "anti-pornographic". Walker died in 2003.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Caesar Samayoa, an American actor.

Samayoa, a gay man, was born to Guatemalan immigrant parents, and grew up in Spanish Harlem in New York City. He began working as an actor in 1997.

Samayoa may be best known for being in the original cast of the musical Come From Away, where he originated the roles of Kevin J. and Ali. He was involved with the show from 2015 until 2022, including its Broadway run.

Samayoa returned to Broadway in 2023 and 2025, in the shows How to Dance in Ohio and Just In Time respectively.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Gerda von Zobeltitz (d. 29 March 1963) , who was born this day, 9 June, in 1891. Von Zobeltitz was a German woman thought to be one of the earliest trans women in the country.

Von Zobeltitz came from a depreciated noble family, and grew up in Berlin, living with family for most of her life. She first appears as "Gerda" in records from 1912. She reached out to Magnus Hirschfeld, who provided her with a medical report that allowed her to obtain a "transvestite pass"; this pass would allow her to dress as a woman without being bothered by police.

Von Zobeltitz was married to women several times, although none of the marriages lasted for more than a year. She became involved in Berlin's gay subculture in the 1920s. During the Nazi Regime, she worked as a seamstress. Although she feared persecution by the regime, it is unclear whether she was ever threatened.

After the war, Von Zobeltitz continued to make women's clothing, and remarried. She died in a traffic accident on March 29, 1963, at the age of 71.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Matcha Phorn-in (มัจฉา พรอินทร์; born 1979 or 1980), a Thai activist.

Matcha was raised in Isan by a poor single mother, and she began working on the weekends at age nine. She was able to attend university through a scholarship.

Matcha has been involved with activism since the 2000s, when she was involved with organizations who supported youth from marginalized communities. She later became involved with LGBTQ rights organizations, including ILGA Asia. She has also advocated for abortion access and government aid for ethnic minorities.

Matcha, a lesbian, has an adopted daughter, who is her biological niece, and has also spoken on the challenges of same-sex adoption in Thailand.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Alla Parunova (ალა პარუნოვა; born 1989 or 1990), a Georgian feminist and queer activist.

Parunova, who is queer, was raised by an Armenian-speaking family in Tbilisi. In university, she studied English Language and Literature before pursuing a master's degree in gender studies.

Her interest in feminism was kickstarted by Elfriede Jelinek's novel Women as Lovers. While studying for her master's degree, she also became interest in the intersection of queer and ethnic Armenian identity.

Parunova was a member of the Georgian Young Greens for the second half of the 2010s. As a member of the group, she was active in feminist and environmental activism. She received the Kato Mikeladze Award in 2023.

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Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Basira Paigham (born 1997 or 1998), an Afghan LGBTQ rights activist

Paigham, a queer lesbian, began her activism in 2015, when she began using social media to connect with other LGBTQ Afghans; the following year, she formed a Facebook group for the community. In 2018, she and some of her fellow activists began organizing meet-ups in Kabul. It was also around this time that she began speaking to journalists about LGBTQ Afghan life, albeit under a pseudonym.

After the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Paigham began receiving threatening phone calls. She fled to Pakistan, and then to Ireland, where she lived in a refugee camp. In the camp, she worked with children. Following media coverage of her story, some parents turned against Paigham, worrying she was teaching the children about homosexuality. Paigham has since also spoken at LGBTQ conferences.

Her family remains in Afghanistan, where her mother, father, and brother have faced violence and imprisonment for Basira's activism.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Lea Hopkins (born 1944), an American LGBTQ rights activist from Missouri.

Hopkins grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and realized she was gay at a young age. As an adult, Hopkins worked as a model, becoming the first Black Playboy Bunny in Kansas City. She also helped her coworkers negotiate for higher pay.

Hopkins moved to New York City in the 1970s, where she became involved with the gay liberation movement. After returning to Kansas City in 1974, she was an activist there. She helped to organize the city's first pride parade, and a protest against Anita Bryant. She continued to be involved with activism through the 1990s, and worked for GLAAD.

In honor of her efforts, she was named Grand Marshal of the 2022 Kansas City Pride parade.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Cody Daigle-Orians, an American author and social media personality known under the name Ace Dad Advice.

Orians (he/they) grew up in Louisiana. He previously worked as a playwright, but became involved in online LGBTQ activism and content in the late 2010s. In 2021, he began posting on TikTok as "Ace Dad Advice", providing advice regarding asexuality from the viewpoint of a parental figure. Orians is gay, agender, asexual, and polyamorous, and has spoken online about the intersections of his identities.

Orians published a book on asexuality, I Am Ace, in 2023. He also contributed to the anthology Being Ace.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Frances Coombe (born 1992 or 1993), a Canadian model.

Coombe grew up in Toronto, and was scouted as a model while in grade ten. He began modeling in late 2009.

Coombe came out to his modeling company as non-binary in 2021. He has alleged that the company pushed him to continue modeling women's clothing, despite wishing to begin modeling androgynous fashions. He came out as a trans man in 2022, after which he says his company refused to let him work as a male model.

Coombe has since found employment with another company, and began HRT in 2022.

[forsythiajo]

In honor of World Bicycle Day, June 3, I'm uplifting the story of the Gaza Sunbirds. The Sunbirds are a para-cycling team based in the Gaza Strip.

The group was founded in 2020 by Alaa al-Dali and Karim Ali; al-Dali was a cyclist who lost his leg in 2018, after being shot during the Great March of Return.

The team modifies their own bicycles to account for disabilities like amoutations; due to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, importing any specialized gear has been very difficult. At times the group has had between 10 and 50 members, and organized training sessions, fundraising rides, and special events for teens.

After the beginning of the ongoing Gaza War, the team began using their bikes to transport food and other aid to communities in need. Outside of Gaza, cycling groups around the world have organized events to raise funds for aid. By early 2025, the Sunbirds had reported giving away $400,000 worth of supplies. At least one team member has been killed in an airstrike.

If you’d like to support the Sunbirds and their aid efforts, you can check out their website: https://gazasunbirds.org

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia spotlight is on...

Ymania Brown (born 1962 or 1963), a Samoan LGBTQ rights activist and lawyer.

Brown grew up in Samoa, and began identifying as a girl at age three. Her mother left when she was young, having been abused by her husband, and Brown helped to raise her younger siblings. She later left Samoa to live with her mother in New Zealand.

Brown later moved to Australia, where she had gender-affirming surgery, and then to Europe, where she worked as a model. She attended college in New Zealand and then returned to Sydney, where she began working in corporate jobs.

Brown became a full-time activist during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been involved with LGBTQ organizations since 2014. Causes she has worked towards include recognition of same-sex couple adoptions in Samoa, repeals of laws criminalizing "impersonation of a woman", and appeals to Australia to focus on LGBTQ rights in their foreign policy.

[forsythiajo]

Happy Pride! Today's Wikipedia article is...

Imani Barbarin (born March 1990) is an American writer, public speaker, and disability rights activist.

Barbarin grew up in Pennsylvania, and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age two. She studied creative writing and French in college, and holds a master's degree in communication. She is queer.

Barbarin has been active online since 2014, when she launched the Crutches and Spice website, where she has written about her experiences as a disabled Black woman. She has been active online, discussing subjects such as disability representation, voting access, and government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Offline, she has worked as a communications manager, a writer, and has spoken at universities.

[forsythiajo]

Chen Congying (陈琮英; b. January 1902) died on this day, 31 May, in 2003. Chen was a Chinese revolutionary who took part in the Long March (1934-1935).

Chen was born in Hunan and raised in a poor family. She moved in with her future husband's family at age 12, and began working in a factory at age 14. In 1926, she joined the Communist Youth League and married Ren Bishi, a Communist revolutionary. Their first three children died. Chen worked to transport documents for her husband, sometimes at peril to herself; in 1931, she and her fourth infant child were imprisoned for three months.

After being released from prison, Chen left her daughter with family and traveled to meet Ren in Jiangxi. While there, she worked to decipher telegrams and had two sons; one died, while the other was left with locals, as the revolutionaries would be leaving the area on the treacherous Long March. She gave birth to her seventh child, a daughter, while on the March.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Chen was a leader in the All-China Women's Federation and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. She lived to the age of 101.

[forsythiajo]

Paul Parkman (d. May 7, 2024) was born on this day, May 29, in 1932. Parkman was an American physician-scientist and virologist, and was a developer of the rubella vaccine.

Parkman was born and raised in New York. He studied medicine and joined the Army Medical Corps, where he became interested in virology. He worked at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where he was on the team which identified and isolated the rubella virus. In 1965, he was involved in clinical trials of a rubella vaccine; the vaccine was announced to the public the following year, and in 1969 was licensed commercially. Parkman and his team did not monetize their vaccine patents, wanting the vaccine to be freely available.

Parkman became the National Intitutes of Health chief of general virology, and then in the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He retired in 1990, but continued to work as a consultant until the 2010s.