Craig Rodwell
Craig Rodwell | |
|---|---|
Rodwell (right) with his partner, Fred Sargeant, in the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop | |
| Born | Craig Louis Rodwell October 31, 1940 |
| Died | June 18, 1993 (aged 52) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Activist and bookshop proprietor |
| Known for | Founding Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop and proposed the first annual Gay Pride March, then called Christopher Street Liberation Day |
| Honors | Lambda Literary Award for Publisher's Service, in the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument |
Craig L. Rodwell (October 31, 1940 – June 18, 1993) was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967 - the first bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors - and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City gay pride demonstration. Rodwell, who was already an activist when he participated in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early, pre-Stonewall, homophile movement of the 1960s.