List of LGBT Jews

The following is a list of some prominent LGBT Jews.

Politicians

 * Roberta Achtenberg, former HUD assistant secretary
 * Karen Burstein, politician, former judge and unsuccessful Democratic nominee for New York State Attorney General in 1994.
 * David N. Cicilline, mayor of Providence, R.I. since 2003. Jewish mother; Italian Roman Catholic father. First openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.
 * Art Feltman, former member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
 * Barney Frank, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives
 * Deborah Glick, New York State Assembly member
 * Jackie Goldberg, politician, teacher and former member of the California State Assembly where she was a founding member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus
 * Mark Leno, California State Assemblymember
 * Peter Mandelson European Commissioner for Trade, former British cabinet member.
 * Carole Migden, former California State Senator ; seat now occupied by Mark Leno
 * Harvey Milk, San Francisco city supervisor
 * Jared Polis, successful entrepreneur elected to Congress from Colorado's 2nd District, took office on January 3, 2009
 * Suzi Wizowaty, member of the Vermont House of Representatives

Religious figures
See also: List of LGBT Rabbis
 * Rabbi Lionel Blue, first openly gay rabbi in the UK; broadcaster
 * Professor Daniel Boyarin, talmudic scholar, philosopher, religious historian and queer theorist
 * Rabbi Malka Drucker, rabbi, much published author and long-time companion of portrait photographer Gay Block
 * Rabbi Steven Greenberg
 * Rabbi Greg Kantor
 * Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Senior Rabbi of New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah (CBST) since 1992.
 * Rabbi Toba Spitzer, first openly lesbian or gay person to head a rabbinical assembly
 * Rabbi Alan Stadtmauer, former principal of the Modern Orthodox day school, Yeshiva of Flatbush

Academics

 * Rebecca Alpert author; associate professor of religion and women's studies and chair of the department of religion at Temple University.
 * Allan Bloom, philosopher
 * Judith Butler, philosopher
 * Martin Duberman, historian
 * Joe Herzenberg (1941-2007), historian and political activist who was a Freedom Summer volunteer and the first openly gay elected official in North Carolina
 * Magnus Hirschfeld, sexologist and activist
 * Ron Huberman, Israeli-born CEO of Chicago Public Schools
 * Fritz Klein, psychiatrist and sexologist
 * George Mosse, historian
 * Randi Weingarten, New York City teacher and labor union leader
 * Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher

Show business

 * Chantal Akerman, film director
 * Simon Amstell, comedian and television presenter
 * Michael Bennett, choreographer and musical theatre director
 * Sandra Bernhard, actress and comedian
 * Sarah Bernhardt, world-famous stage actress
 * Ilene Chaiken, creator of The L Word
 * Allan Corduner, actor
 * George Cukor, film director
 * Dana International, Israeli pop singer
 * Harvey Fierstein, actor and playwright
 * Eytan Fox, Israeli film director
 * Stephen Fry, actor, comedian and writer
 * Sara Gilbert, actress
 * Judy Gold, stand-up comedian and actress
 * Todd Haynes, film director
 * Judy Holliday, Academy Award- and Tony Award- winning actress
 * Libby Holman, actress and singer
 * Tab Hunter, actor (Jewish father)
 * Nicholas Hytner, theatre and film director
 * Mia Kirshner, actress, The L Word
 * Stuart Krasnow, reality television producer
 * Lisa Kron, Tony Award - nominated actress and playwright
 * Matt Lucas, comedian (Little Britain)
 * Inge Meysel, actress (Jewish father)
 * Jerome Robbins, choreographer and musical theatre director
 * John Schlesinger, film director
 * Adam Shankman, film director
 * Anthony Sher, actor
 * Bryan Singer, film director
 * Mauritz Stiller, film director
 * Kim Stolz, model, competed in 5th cycle of America's Next Top Model, MTV VJ
 * Pieter-Dirk Uys, satirist, performer, author, political activist
 * Bruce Vilanch, comedy writer and actor

Musicians, Composers, Lyricists, Vocalists

 * Howard Ashman, musical writer
 * Babydaddy, member of Scissor Sisters
 * Frieda Belinfante, conductor (Jewish father)
 * Leonard Bernstein, composer and conductor
 * Marc Blitzstein, composer
 * Carrie Brownstein, guitarist in Sleater-Kinney
 * Aaron Copland, composer
 * Vaginal Davis, performance artist (Jewish father)
 * Alix Dobkin, singer
 * Fred Ebb, musical theatre lyricist
 * Michael Feinstein, singer and pianist
 * William Finn, musical theatre composer, lyricist and librettist
 * Ari Gold, pop singer
 * Lesley Gore, pop singer
 * Lorenz Hart, lyricist
 * Jerry Herman, musical theatre composer and lyricist
 * Fred Hersch, jazz pianist.
 * Vladimir Horowitz, classical pianist
 * Dave Koz (born David Kozlowski), jazz saxophonist
 * Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
 * Janis Ian, singer/songwriter
 * Mara Levi, Smart Pop singer-songwriter, composer
 * David Mesirow, pop and jazz pianist, composer, and vocalist
 * Jon Moss, drummer, member of Culture Club and The Damned
 * Laura Nyro, singer-songwriter
 * Peaches, musician
 * Phranc, singer-songwriter
 * Lou Reed, rock musician
 * Marc Shaiman, musical theatre and film composer
 * Stephen Sondheim, musical theatre composer and lyricist
 * Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor, composer, and pianist

Writers

 * Jon Robin Baitz, playwright and screenwriter
 * Terry Baum, playwright, actress, director, teacher and Green Party activist
 * David Bergman, writer, editor and English professor
 * Steve Berman, speculative fiction writer
 * Jane Bowles, novelist and playwright
 * Susie Bright (1958 – ) American writer and broadcaster
 * Myron Brinig  (1896-1991) one of the first American Jewish novelists to write in English, his 1929 family saga Singermann contains two gay brothers; the 1938 film version of his book The Sisters starred Bette Davis and Errol Flynn
 * Bryher, novelist (probably Jewish father)
 * Charles Busch, playwright
 * Alfred Chester, novelist
 * Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media (Jewish mother)
 * Andrea Dworkin, feminist writer
 * David Ehrenstein, film critic (Jewish father)
 * Lillian Faderman, memoirist and gay/lesbian historian
 * Evan Fallenberg, American-born and educated, award-winning Israeli translator and author
 * György Faludy, poet
 * Hubert Fichte, writer (Jewish father)
 * Edward Field, poet
 * Sanford Friedman, novelist
 * Allen Ginsberg, iconic Beat Generation poet/activist
 * Richard Greenberg, playwright
 * Jacob Israël de Haan, poet
 * Marilyn Hacker, poet
 * Aaron Hamburger, novelist
 * Moss Hart, playwright and musical theater director.
 * William Hoffman, playwright
 * Max Jacob, poet
 * Chester Kallman, poet and librettist
 * Moisés Kaufman, playwright and theatre director, co-wrote The Laramie Project
 * Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, essayist, poet, activist, academic
 * Wayne Koestenbaum, poet, culture critic and English professor at CUNY Graduate Center
 * Larry Kramer, novelist, playwright and activist
 * Tony Kushner - playwright and screenwriter (Angels in America and the 2006 Steven Spielberg movie Munich)
 * Arthur Laurents, playwright, screenwriter and librettist
 * David Leavitt, novelist and short-story writer
 * Leo Lerman, writer/editor
 * Amy Levy, writer
 * Christopher Lisett novelist & poet
 * Michael Lowenthal, novelist
 * Craig Lucas, playwright, screenwriter, theater and film director, musical actor
 * David Mesirow (1984 - ) American poet and writer
 * Jay Michaelson, writer, teacher, scholar, polymath
 * Joan Nestle, lesbian/gay historian
 * Harold Norse, poet
 * Walt Whitman Odets (1947-), clinical psychologist, non-fiction author, photographer son of playwright and screenwriter Clifford Odets.
 * Peter Orlovsky, beat generation poet, activist
 * Marcel Proust, novelist
 * David Rakoff, essayist
 * Oren Rice, Ynet news editor
 * Adrienne Rich, poet
 * David Rieff, non-fiction writer and foreign policy analyst
 * Paul Rudnick, playwright, screenwriter and columnist
 * Joanna Russ, novelist, essayist and short story writer
 * Umberto Saba, poet and novelist
 * Siegfried Sassoon, poet (Jewish father)
 * Sarah Schulman, novelist, playwright, journalist, academic
 * Maurice Sendak, writer and illustrator of children's literature
 * Martin Sherman, playwright
 * Susan Sontag, essayist and novelist
 * Gertrude Stein, writer
 * Aryeh Lev Stolman novelist and short story writer
 * Julian Stryjkowski, novelist
 * Harold Test novelist
 * Rebecca Walker, writer and feminist (Jewish father)

Artists and Architects

 * Aaron Betsky, architect, architectural critic and curator
 * Gay Block, portrait photographer and longtime companion of author/rabbi Malka Drucker
 * Alan Buchsbaum, architect and originator of the High Tech style
 * Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer
 * Robert Denning, American interior designer, from the age of 15 was the partner of Edgar de Evia, photographer and from 1960 both life and business partner of Vincent Fourcade, French interior designer.
 * Nan Goldin, photographer
 * Gluck (Hannah Gluckstein), painter
 * Frank Israel, architect and set designer who helped define contemporary southern California style
 * Deborah Kass, artist
 * Annie Leibovitz, photographer
 * Herbert List, photographer
 * David Mesirow (1984 - ) American painter and photographer
 * Jill Posener, photographer (Jewish father)
 * Larry Rivers (1923-2002), artist, musician and filmmaker - one of the pioneers of Pop Art, though twice married and a father, had several affairs with men, including Beat Generation poet and memoirist, Harold Norse
 * Simeon Solomon, painter
 * Connie Wolf, [polymath] Director and CEO of San Francisco's Daniel Libeskind-designed Contemporary Jewish Museum

Fashion Designers

 * Marc Jacobs, fashion designer
 * Michael Kors, fashion designer (Jewish mother)
 * Isaac Mizrahi (1961 - ) American fashion designer
 * Zac Posen, American fashion designer
 * Arnold Scaasi (1931-) Montreal-born American fashion designer

Sports figures

 * Robert Dover, 6-time Olympic equestrianist
 * Andrew Goldstein, former professional lacrosse goal tender
 * Renée Richards, tennis player
 * Jack Waters, horse trainer

Miscellaneous

 * Gad Beck, Holocaust survivor and memoirist
 * Roy Cohn, lawyer and co-counsel--along with Robert F. Kennedy--to Sen. Joseph McCarthy
 * Barry Diller, media executive
 * Sandi DuBowski, documentary film maker
 * Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles
 * David Geffen, film producer and record executive
 * Sandy Gallin, manager, talent agent and producer
 * Ron Huberman, former President of the Chicago Transit Authority and current CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
 * Leopold and Loeb, murderers
 * Michael Lucas, gay porn star
 * Richard Quest, television journalist
 * Adam Rose, president of family-owned real estate management and development giant, and philanthropist
 * Jeffree Star, performance artist, drag queen (various categories). Real name is Jeffrey Steininger.
 * Bryan Whitley-Grassi, MA, journalist, executive director, and gay rights activist

Related figures
Persons of debated sexual orientation:
 * Anna Freud, psychoanalyst
 * Moss Hart, playwright and theatre director
 * Calvin Klein, fashion designer

Straight contributors to LGBT culture:
 * Leo Abse, British MP (gay rights campaigner)
 * Bella Abzug, congresswoman (gay rights campaigner)
 * Jonathan Ames, author (explores blurred boundaries in human sexuality)
 * Eduard Bernstein, founder of evolutionary socialism (challenged anti-gay prejudice)
 * Stanley Biber, pioneer in sex reassignment surgery
 * Michael Chabon, pulitzer prize winning author, frequently writes about LGBT topics
 * Hélène Cixous, feminist philosopher (contributed to queer theory)
 * Job Cohen, mayor of Amsterdam (officiated first same-sex weddings)
 * Irwin Cotler, Canadian Justice minister (introduced Bill C-38)
 * Billy Crystal, actor (played Jodie Dallas in Soap)
 * Yael Dayan, Israeli MK (gay rights campaigner)
 * Jacques Derrida, philosopher (contributed to queer theory)
 * Michael Gottlieb & Joel Weisman, doctors (early identifiers of AIDS)
 * Senna Hoy, anarchist (gay rights activist)
 * Jonathan Larson, creator of the Broadway musical Rent
 * Judith Light, actress (gay rights advocate)
 * Herbert Marcuse, philosopher (influence on sexual liberation theories)
 * Judd Marmor, psychiatrist (successfully campaigned to remove homosexuality from the DSM)
 * Kazimiera Szczuka, feminist critic (gay rights campaigner) (Jewish mother)
 * Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, queer theorist
 * George Weinberg, psychologist (coined the word homophobia)