Pride Month 2026: LGBTQ+ visionaries we love

Frida Kahlo—the queen of the unibrow, the high priestess of the broken spine, and quite possibly the only person in history who could make a medical corset look like high fashion. I’ve chosen her for Pride Month not because she ever held a rainbow flag (she was too busy painting her own face, over and over, with a fearlessness that still takes our breath away), but because she loved exactly who she wanted: women, men and the magnificent, chaotic mess of her own complicated heart.

She wore her desires like her Tehuana dresses—bold, unapologetic and utterly her own. In an era that begged women to be silent and straight-backed, Frida painted herself large, laughed at pain and loved across every line the world tried to draw. So this Pride, I raise a glass to the woman who proved that queerness isn't about fitting into a label—it's about painting your own face on your own terms, unibrow and all.

Fontaine Cheng, Regional Dining Editor

James Baldwin was a radical titan of literature and the Civil Rights Movement. Through masterpieces like The Fire Next Time, his politics targeted the very roots of American inequality. While celebrated as an icon in LGBTQ+ communities of today, Baldwin fiercely rejected sexual labels like “gay” or “bisexual”. To him, labels were semantic cages designed by a rigid society to confine human complexity. Believing love was boundless, he loved individuals over categories, demanding the world meet him on the terms of his absolute, uncaged humanity.

Cyril Ip, Features Editor

Kehlani has never made herself smaller for anyone. As a LGBTQ+ Black woman in R&B, she wears her identity like armour—unapologetic and completely her own. She doesn’t hedge when speaking on Palestine, Black lives, or queer rights. She has lost followers and faced backlash, risking her career, but posted anyway. In an industry that rewards silence, Kehlani chooses truth every single time. That kind of fearlessness doesn't just inspire great music, it makes everyone braver.

Tara Sobti, Content Director & Head of VIP, Hong Kong

Read more: Visible impact: how Hong Kong film ‘Invisible Differences’ is changing perceptions of neurodiversity

I first discovered Philippine-born Joshua Serafin’s viral video years ago, dancing in a gooey black pool under a dim blue glow like a more thoughtful reincarnation of Marvel’s Venom. Fusing dance, visual art and video, the 31-year-old’s mind-bending work blends mythology with futuristic imaginations to explore identity and transmigration. This visually arresting choreography has already graced prestigious global stages, including Hong Kong’s M+, Paris’s Centre National de la Danse and the Venice Biennale.

Zabrina Lo, Senior Editor, Arts and Culture

Oscar Wilde has informed my sense of humour since I was a child. His Importance of Being Earnest is my favourite piece of non-musical theatre; it may seem an unimaginative choice, but adding to its brilliant social satire and immortal turns of phrase its historical context, as the last play he wrote before he was imprisoned for “homosexual acts”, makes it even more noteworthy—and poignant. Reading his work is always inspiring; reading it through the lens of the punishment he faced for expressing “the love that dare not speak its name” is angering, sobering, inspiring, and an impetus to speak up against injustice.

Karly Cox, Editor-at-Large

When activists provided the necessary rage of the Aids era, Randy Shilts was the “everyman” journalist who proved that while fury gets you heard, humanity gets you understood. His April 1990 piece for GQ on “outing” offered profound dignity at a time when the concept was still a terrifying, career-ending taboo. By framing gay life as a collection of neighbours and citizens rather than a tragic subculture, he removed the fear in a time when it was needed most, and was instrumental in achieving breakthroughs to address the health crisis.

Bonus inspiration: Sir John Gielgud. Arrested in 1953 for a bit of public “importuning” (you have to look it up), he skipped the apology tour, walked onto a West End stage weeks later, and received a standing ovation. Apparently, being a National Treasure means never having to say you’re sorry for having a pulse. Total legend.

Karen Vera, Regional Content Director

The self-described “grumpy lady of tech”, Kara Swisher is a journalist, author and podcaster known for launching the news site Recode, which was acquired by Vox Media in 2015. Her unapologetic, brash roasts of Silicon Valley founders and venture capitalists inspired me early on in my career. While I don’t necessarily agree with all of her views, I appreciate the verve and sense of humour she’s brought to tech reporting. To me, she embodies a defining trait of journalism: the courage to stand up to the world’s richest and most powerful people. Also, just as Swisher owns her cropped hair and aviators, I hope one day to have a look as distinctive as hers.

Cat Wang, Leadership Editor

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