Mark Segal is a pioneering figure in LGBTQ+ activism, known for his involvement in the Stonewall riots and founding membership in the Gay Liberation Front. He served as a marshal during the first Gay Pride March in 1970. In 1972, Segal initiated a campaign against LGBTQ+ invisibility on television, disrupting shows like the CBS Evening News. In 2025, Mark is working with NPCA to ensure more people know the Stonewall story and that more inclusive stories are told throughout existing park sites. Learn more at www.marksegalstonewall.com
Collaborating with Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp in 1974-75, he helped enact the nation’s first executive order banning discrimination in state government, leading to the creation of the first official cabinet-level commission on LGBTQ+ affairs.
Podcast Episode
It Takes a Village
55 years after Stonewall, one of the participants in the uprising shares his experience and celebrates the opening of a new visitor center.
See more ›In 1976, Segal founded the Philadelphia Gay News and later raised $1.2 million for HIV/AIDS awareness through a July 4th Concert featuring Elton John. As President of the Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld Fund, he partnered with the Obama Administration to develop the nation’s first LGBT-friendly affordable senior apartment building.
Appointed to the Comcast NBC/Universal Joint Diversity Council in 2011, Segal published his memoir “And Then I Danced: Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality” in 2015. His papers and artifacts from over 55 years of activism are part of the Smithsonian Institute’s American History Museum’s LGBT Collection. Learn more at www.marksegalstonewall.com
