The movie “Rustin” has finally shone a proper spotlight on the life and crucial work of civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin, picking up abundant accolades along the way that include an Oscar nomination for its lead actor, Colman Domingo.
Created for and embraced by wide audiences, Netflix’s “Rustin” biopic openly incorporates its title character’s sexuality, revealing how Rustin’s refusal to hide his gayness likely prevented him from taking a more prominent place — at least publicly — in the struggle for Black equality in America.
Rustin has also long been revered for his vital contributions to queer culture and history, first as an unapologetically out gay man within the greater civil rights movement, and later as a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights in particular.
But Rustin’s connection to queer culture may have stretched back even further, indeed to the very beginning of his life. Born Bayard Taylor Rustin in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1912, he was named after Bayard Taylor, the man some now credit with having written America’s first gay novel some four decades earlier.
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