The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes." Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the country's LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty inductees were unveiled June 27, 2019, as a part of events marking the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Five honorees are added annually.

History In February 2019, the National LGBTQ Task Force and Imperial Court System announced their plans for the Wall of Honor. Nicole Murray Ramirez was the project's founder, and the Wall was supported by the co-owners of the Stonewall Inn. The monument committee accepted initial nominations to honor deceased LGBTQ heroes who have had a positive impact on LGBTQ civil rights. Fifty of the initial nominees were selected to form the first round of people on the wall.

The Wall of Honor was dedicated on June 27, 2019, the night before the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots as part of Stonewall 50 – WorldPride. The Wall of Honor was created inside the Stonewall Inn, which was remodeled after the riots but remained a bar by 2019. The unveiling ceremony held talks that focused on the honorees' achievements and the ongoing fight for LGBTQ rights. Many speakers critiqued contemporary anti-LGBTQ policy in the U.S. promoted by the 2016 Trump administration.

More inductees have been added to the Wall of Honor in each year following its 2019 founding. In 2025, all seven inductees were trans: the organizers stated this was an intentional choice in the face of heightened attacks against transgender and nonbinary communities. them commented that the year's honorees communicated the increased violence and political fights for trans rights, and the erasure of trans history, highlighted by the U.S. government's modifications to the Stonewall Monument.

Nominations The wall was designed to honor "the lives of LGBTQ trailblazers, pioneers and s/heroes who have passed", and have had a positive impact on LGBTQ civil rights. Initial nominations were collected online.

The nominations are administered by a Board of Governors, consisting of eighteen LGBTQ leaders including transgender activist Marsha Botzer, Black LGBTQ activist Mandy Carter, LGBTQ youth advocate Wilson Cruz, LGBTQ human rights activist Stuart Milk, and founder of the Metropolitan Community Church Troy Perry.

Honorees

The first fifty honorees were announced in June 2019. In June 2020, the first additional five were announced: Lorena Borjas, Larry Kramer, Phyllis Lyon, Sean Sasser, and Aimee Stephens.

A Dolores Alexander was a lesbian feminist writer and reporter. In 1969 she became the first executive director of the National Organization for Women (NOW) but resigned. She later founded the feminist restaurant Mother Courage. She was added to the wall in 2022. Gloria Allen was a transgender activist who ran a non-profit charm school for trans youth. In addition to inspiring the play Charm, she received the Living Legend Award at the Trans 100 Awards and a Carmen Vázquez Award for Excellence in Leadership on Aging Issues from SAGE. She was added to the wall in 2023. Wanda Alston was an LGBTQ feminist activist who organized for NOW, national LGBTQ marches, and the Democratic Party.

B Gilbert Baker was a gay artist and activist who created the Rainbow flag without license so the LGBTQ symbol would spread worldwide. James Baldwin was a gay novelist, playwright, and activist who explored intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in America. Larry Baza was a gay man who was "a titan of the arts scene in San Diego" and a long-standing member of the California Arts Council, serving as its chair at the time of his death from COVID-19. He was added to the Wall in 2024. Melvin "Mel" Boozer was a gay and Black activist for African American, LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS issues. He was active in both the Democratic and Socialist Party USA, becoming the first openly gay person ever nominated for Vice President of the United States in 1980. Lorena Borjas was a Mexican-American transgender and immigrant rights activist, known as the mother of the transgender Latinx community in Queens, New York. Her work on behalf of immigrant and transgender communities garnered recognition throughout New York City and the United States. She was added to the wall in 2020. Ivy Bottini was a lesbian artist, activist and co-founder of the New York branch of the NOW, for whom she designed the logo in 1969. She was added to the wall in 2021.

C Jiggly Caliente was a trans drag artist and singer who achieved worldwide fame appearing on multiple seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, as well as hosting Drag Race Philippines. She also found success as an actress, portraying Veronica Ferocity on Pose. She was added to the Wall in 2025. Michael Callen was a gay singer, songwriter, composer, author, and influential early AIDS activist. Tyler Clementi was an 18-year-old Rutgers University student who was cyberbullied into suicide by homophobic classmates. He was added to the wall in 2022. Charles H. Cochrane was the first openly gay New York City policeman. He came out publicly in 1981 during a hearing on whether to ban discrimination against gay people. The bill never passed, but Cochrane was hailed for his bravery, and later formed the Gay Officers Action League.Juliet Papa and Marla Diamond, "Greenwich Village Street Renamed In Honor Of Founder Of NYPD's Gay Officers Action League", CBS New York, June 17, 2016. He was added to the Wall in 2024. Lynn Conway was a computer scientist and educator who was fired from IBM in 1968 after her status as a trans woman became public. After working at Xerox for a decade, during which she helped launch the Mead–Conway VLSI chip design revolution, she became a professor at the University of Michigan and devoted herself to trans activism after her retirement. She was added to the Wall in 2025.

D Darcelle XV was a drag queen and coffee shop owner from Portland, OR. From 2016 until her death, she was recognized as the "world's oldest performing drag queen" by the Guinness Book of World Records. She was added to the wall in 2023. Stormé DeLarverie was a biracial butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to some eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the 1969 Stonewall uprising. She has been hailed as "The Rosa Parks of the gay community" and a gay civil rights icon. She was also a singer, drag king, MC, and volunteer street patrol worker, the "guardian of lesbians in the Village".

E Ruth Ellis was an African American activist recognized as the oldest living out lesbian, dying at 101. The Ruth Ellis Center is named in her honor. She was added to the wall in 2021. Paula L. Ettelbrick was an internationally acclaimed lesbian lawyer, educator, and pioneer of the LGBTQ equality movement. She served as director for Lambda Legal, National Centre for Lesbian Rights, the National Gay and Lesbian Task force, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and led the Stonewall Community Foundation.

F Leslie Feinberg was a butch transgender lesbian, author, communist organizer, and early transgender activist, whose writings have been foundational in the field of gender studies, as well as setting the standard for much of the terminology around gender identity.

G

Rick Garcia was an activist known for his work with various groups to improve relations between the LGBTQ and Catholic communities. After working with United Farm Workers, Dignity USA, he co-founded Equality Illinois and became a significant figure in the successful 15-year campaign for a 1988 ordinance prohibiting sexual-orientation discrimination as part of the activist group known as the "Gang of Four." He later contributed to the passage of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance in 1993. He was added to the Wall in 2026. Cecilia Gentili was an Argentinian-born transgender advocate for sex workers' rights, Director of Policy at GMHC and successfully sued the Trump administration to prevent the removal of trans healthcare from the Affordable Care Act. She was added to the Wall in 2024. Barbara Gittings was a lesbian activist who participated many of the earliest gay rights actions in the United States. In 1958 she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, and from 1963 to 1966 she edited the group's magazine, The Ladder. She organized the gay caucus of the American Library Association to promote positive literature about homosexuality in libraries, and in 1972 was a part of the movement that succeeded in getting the American Psychiatric Association to drop homosexuality as a mental illness. One of the original 50 honorees, she was re-added to the Wall in 2026. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was an activist and organizer for transgender rights, who was involved in the Stonewall riots. She was added to the Wall in 2026. Sakia Gunn was a black lesbian victim of a hate crime in 2003. Outrage over the leniency towards her killer and lack of media coverage led to the formation of the Newark Pride Alliance. In 2023, Newark renamed Academy Street to Sakia Gunn Way. She was added to the Wall in 2024.

H Keith Haring was a gay pop artist whose graffiti-like work grew out of the New York City street culture of the 1980s addressing political and societal themes—especially homosexuality and AIDS—through his own iconography and sexual allusions. E. Lynn Harris was an openly gay Black author best known for his depictions of African-American men who were on the down-low and closeted in ten consecutive books that made The New York Times Best Seller list, making him among the most successful African-American or gay authors of his era. Alan L. Hart was a trans man who, as a doctor and medical researcher, pioneered the use of X-rays in diagnosing tuberculosis. After his death, controversy arose between the lesbian and trans communities over whether Hart was a woman or a trans man; the controversy stemmed in part over whether "transsexualism", as it was then known, could be recognized in people born before it was part of the lexicon. He also wrote four novels. He was added to the Wall in 2025. Henry "Harry" Hay Jr. was a Marxist organizer involved in some of the earliest gay rights organizations, including the Mattachine Society—the first sustained gay rights group in the United States which launched some of the earliest public protests by gays and lesbians—as well as co-founding the Radical Faeries, a worldwide loosely-affiliated gay spiritual movement. Heklina was a drag queen and stage actress. She co-founded Trannyshack (now called Mother), a long-running series of drag shows, and frequently collaborated with fellow drag queen and filmmaker Peaches Christ. She was added to the wall in 2023. Diana Hemingway was a genderqueer transfeminine artist and activist, who was neuroatypical on the autism spectrum, and worked on "trans/queer issues, sex worker rights, disability rights, economic justice, racism, and issues impacting the kink community". Essex Hemphill was an openly gay Black spoken word poet, author and activist known for his insights into issues of the African-American gay community. James Hormel was a diplomat and philanthropist. He helped found the Human Rights Campaign, served on the board of amfAR, and was the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg under the Clinton administration, the first openly gay man to hold such a post. He was added to the Wall in 2022.