Hurston, an African-American woman from Eatonville, Fla., moved to New York City during the era of “The New Negro.” Her 1928 essay, “How it Feels To Be Colored Me,” based on her life in Eatonville, inspired contemporary and conceptual artists such as Glenn Ligon, whose work is rooted in his  experiences as an African-American and gay man living in the United States.

Hurston’s most famous novel is Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) and her literary successors include Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

As a child, Laurent was incessantly taunted by his peers. As a result, he spent so much of his time alone and in his room, drawing, painting and designing dresses for his mother and sisters. He had it in his mind that it didn’t matter what others thought or said about him because he would be famous one day and prove them wrong.

At 17, Laurent presented his raw talent to the world in a dress design competition. He won first prize and caught the attention of Christian Dior, a leader of high fashion in France.

Dior gave Laurent a job on the spot as his assistant.

Laurent’s tasks at the House of Dior  included decorating the studio and designing accesories, but soon he began sketching for the Dior collection, season after season.

Following Dior’s death in 1957, Laurent, only 21 years old, became the head designer of the House of Dior.

In 1960, Laurent was called to serve time in the French Army  during the Algerian War. It was not long before fellow soldiers taunted Laurent and hazed him to the point where he found himself in a military hospital. It was there that he heard of the news that he had been fired by the House of Dior. Upon his discharge,  Laurent sued the House of Dior for breach of contract and then he opened his own house. This was a turning point in the history of fashion.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Yves Saint-Laurent revolutionized haute couture.

His homosexuality lled him to play with lesbian culture in his designs. The trend of androgeny in fashion only heightened as he feminized male clothing. He has even been noted as the designer who made the pantsuit for wearable for women.

Laurent’s sexuality was no secret to the the fashion industry nor the general public, but he never officially came out until 1991.

Laurent died of a brain tumor in 2008, but YSL Fashion is still a leader in high culture and he is honored worlwide.

Today’s leading designers credit Yves Saint Laurent as their mentor and inspiration.

Vaid was born in New Delhi, India in 1956. She immigrated to the United States at age 8.

In the United States, Vaid excelled in her studies. She graduated high school in 3 years and attended Vassar College in New York. She graduated from Vassar in 1979 and received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1983.

Vaid took over as Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 1989. After taking a hiatus to work on a book in the mid ’90s, she returned as Policy Institute Think-Tank Director of the NGLTF and served under the title for three years. She then worked for the New York City -based Ford Foundation from 2000 to 2005.

She currently serves as Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation since 2005.  She resides in Manhattan and Provincetown, Massachusetts with her partner, comedian Kate Clinton.

He was born in Texas in 1961. He discovered his love of fashion and design after designing his first dress at age 15.

After graduating high school, Oldham moved to Dallas and worked at Polo/Ralph Lauren in 1980.  He designed his first fashion collection and sold it to Neiman Marcus in 1981.

He moved to New York City in 1988 and became creative consultant to Escada, a prestigious luxury international fashion house.

In the mid ’90s, Oldham designed a line of furniture for Warner Brothers Pictures based off of the movie Batman Forever. The ’90s also saw him getting into the field of television as he hosted a number of fashion specials for MTV.

His furniture designs were commissioned by La-Z-Boy in the early and mid ’00s. Oldham also served as creative director for Old Navy during this time.

Oldham has published books regarding subjects of his interest and expertise. He is also an active philanthropist.

She is an avid supporter of civil rights, energy independence and renewable fuels, stem cell research and the woman’s right to choose.

Baldwin has been working vigorously in the fight for health care reform. She has voiced her opinion on how much the legislation affects the LGBT community, and advises everyone to pay much more attention to the universal health care debate.

Tammy Baldwin earned her law degree in 1989 from the University of Wisconsin Law School, but was first elected to political office in 1986.

She was one of 133 members of the House to vote against the invasion of Iraq and in 2008 she was a superdelegate to Hillary Clinton.

Today, Baldwin lives in Madison, Wisc., with her partner Lauren Azar. She is one of three openly gay members of Congress.