Stuart Milk (born December 26, 1960) is an global LGBT human rights activist and political speaker. Stuart, nephew of the late civil rights pioneer Harvey Milk, is the co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation. Milk's activism and work has been both domestic and international, such as his support of LGBT movements in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Stuart Milk has worked in public service since the late 1980's in both the public and private sector, primarily on workforce issues pertaining to youth and disadvantaged populations in the US and abroad. In addition to his human service work, he has been a public speaker on LGBT rights at colleges, universities and public events including for Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, University of San Francisco, SUNY, Central European University, University of Oxford, University of San Diego, as lead speaker or grand marshal for numerous LGBT Pride parades including San Francisco and Orlando in 2008, Istanbul and Madrid in 2009, Boston and San Diego in 2010, Pittsburgh and Budapest in 2011. He has provided keynote addresses at political conventions, including both the California Democratic Convention and Florida statewide conventions in 2009 and 2010.

Nicole Murray-Ramirez, known as Empress Nicole the Great, The Queen Mother of the Americas within the Imperial Court System, has been an LGBT activist for over 55 years and is currently a San Diego appointed city human rights commissioner.

Within the Imperial Court System, Murray-Ramirez long held a leadership position as president of the Imperial Court Council and 1st Heir Apparent to José Sarria, the Widow Norton. At a Coronation Ball in Seattle, Washington on February 17, 2007, Sarria formally handed leadership of the organization over to Murray-Ramirez. The latter assumed the title "Queen Mother of the Americas".

In 1974, in his drag persona as Empress of the Imperial Court de San Diego, Murray-Ramirez rode in San Diego's first Pride Parade in an open vehicle amid jeers from hostile spectactors. He was among the few to take the microphone and speak at the rally in Balboa Park immediately following. Regarding that day he said:

It was a scary and lonely march down Broadway...Nobody applauded. And most gay people didn't come out to the sidelines because they were afraid.

Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around the age of 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.

Milk moved from New York City to settle in San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men to the Castro District. He took advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood to promote his interests, and ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. His theatrical campaigns earned him increasing popularity, and Milk won a seat as a city supervisor in 1977, part of the broader social changes the city was experiencing.

Milk served almost 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. Milk's election was made possible by and was a key component of a shift in San Francisco politics. The assassinations and the ensuing events were the result of continuing ideological conflicts in the city.

Bevan Dufty (born February 27, 1955) is an American politician and former Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (2002-2011). As supervisor he represented San Francisco's 8th District, encompassing The Castro, Ashbury Heights, Buena Vista, Diamond Heights, Dolores Park, Duboce Triangle, Glen Park, Noe Valley, Sunnyside and Twin Peaks. Dufty currently serves as San Francisco's Director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement (HOPE).

Dufty is the son of writer William Dufty and Maely Bartholomew, who had lost most of her family in the Holocaust. Dufty was raised in Harlem, NYC where his mother befriended jazz musician Billie Holiday, who would later become his godmother. His voice can be heard on a recording made in the Dufty household where Holiday makes jokes about his red underpants.

After moving from Harlem to California at age 16, Dufty finished high school at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, CA, just south of San Francisco. Dufty graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a student body co-president and earned a degree in Political Science.