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Frank Mugisha - BET.com showcases some of the Black community's  prominent LGBT individuals. See who they are in the following pages. Frank Mugisha is an Ugandan advocate for the rights of sexual minorities in Uganda. He has worked tirelessly for equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people in the East African country. In 2011 he received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for his activist work.(Photo: RFK Center)

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Sgt. Anthony Woods - Woods, a West Point graduate, led two combat units in Iraq and received a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government before being discharged for coming out as gay. In 2009, he ran in a special election in California's 10th Congressional District where he grew up. (Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

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Hanifah Walidah - Walidah is a hip hop artist, playwright, actor, music video maker and filmmaker. She is a part of the renowned Brooklyn Funk Essentials.\r(Photo: Courtesy of Hanifah Walidah)

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Lee Daniels - Philadelphia native Lee Daniels is an actor, film producer and director. He is best known for directing the critically acclaimed film Precious, which was nominated for six Academy Awards. Daniels was nominated for the Best Director award; only the second time an African-American received a nod in that category. He's currently directing Selma, a film about the civil rights movement, due to be released in 2011.\r\r(Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

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Sheryl Swoopes - Sheryl Denise Swoopes was the first player to be signed to the WNBA when the league was first created in 1997. She has won three Olympic gold medals and is a three-time WNBA most valuable player. Frequently referred to as the "female Michael Jordan," Swoopes is famous for her offensive and defensive skills. Though she left the league in 2008, she is set to make a comeback during the 2011 season with the Tulsa Shock. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Wanda Sykes - Sykes used her anger and disappointment in California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage there, as an opportunity to come out. "I am proud to be gay!" Wanda declared at a gay rally in Las Vegas in 2008. She also announced to the world that she is married to a woman. In 2009, she became the first African-American and the first "out" lesbian to get the role as featured entertainer for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.\r(Photo: Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

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Jass Stewart -  \rJass Stewart is the first-ever minority or openly-gay person to be elected to serve on Massachusetts' Brockton City Council. He is currently serving a two-year term. In 2005, Stewart ran a highly touted campaign for mayor of Brockton, Mass. As a first-time candidate, he earned 44 percent of the vote and increased voter turnout by 19 percent. \r\r(Photo: Courtesy of Jass Stewart)

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Sabrina Sojourner - Sojourner is the first open lesbian to be elected to the United States Congress. Having been elected by a whopping 83 percent of the vote, Sabrina represented the District of Columbia in the U.S. House of Representatives, where in her non-voting position she lobbied not only for Statehood for the District of Columbia, but impacted other legislators on a whole spectrum of issues. She served from 1997-1999. She is currently the executive office coordinator at InterAction.(Photo: Courtesy of Sabrina Sojourner)

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Denise Simmons \r - Denise Simmons, who served as mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 2008-2009, is the first African-American and open lesbian to be elected mayor of an American city. Simmons, now serving on the Cambridge City Council, had followed in the footsteps of former Mayor Ken Reeves. Reeves made history on a local and national level, becoming Cambridge's first African-American mayor and the nation's first openly gay, Black mayor.\r(Photo: Stephen Maclone)

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Dana Rone - Rone was the first Black lesbian elected in New Jersey when she won the first of two terms on Newark's school board. In 2008, she was convicted of obstruction of justice for a 2006 run-in with police after they stopped her nephew for a traffic violation. She was removed from her position and banned from running for public office in the future in 2008. (Photo: Sarah Rice/For The Star-Ledger)

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 Toshi Reagon\r\r - Over the course of her career, Reagon released eight albums, appeared on The L Word and shared the stage with Ani DiFranco and Elvis Costello. She jumped into the spotlight when she dropped out of college after Lenny Kravitz tapped her to open for him on his first world tour. She's the daughter of Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of the all-African-American musical ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.\r\r(Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson /Landov)

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Ken Reeves - Reeves is the first openly gay African-American man to have served as mayor of any city in the United States. The Harvard College and University of Michigan Law School graduate was mayor of Cambridge, Mass.(Photo: Ron Schlittler)

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Patrik Ian-Polk - Patrik-Ian Polk is the creator, producer and lead writer of the acclaimed former Logo TV series “Noah’s Arc,” which was often described as “Sex and the City” with gay characters. He is also the director behind the groundbreaking 2001 Black gay feature film Punks.\r(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for NAACP)

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Felicia "Snoop" Pearson - Baltimore native Felicia "Snoop" Pearson is an actress, author and rapper, known for her role on the HBO series The Wire as a character named after herself. When she was just 14, Pearson was convicted of second degree murder and spent the rest of her teenage years in a correctional facility before being released. The actress, now 31, ran into more trouble in March 2011 when she was arrested along with 60 others for alleged drug offenses. \r\r(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

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Rahsaan Patterson  \r - Named after '60s jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Rahsaan Patterson's singing and songwriting style are reminiscent of Stevie Wonder, while his voice has also drawn comparisons to Chaka Khan. His credits include Brandy's platinum Top 5 smash "Baby" and Tevin Campbell's hit "Back to the World."\r(Photo: MCT/HO /Landov)

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Ron Oden - Oden is an openly gay politician. In November 2003, he was elected mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., after serving eight years on its city council. In 2006, he lost a close race in the Democratic Primary for a seat in the California State Assembly. He is the father of two daughters and the grandfather of two girls and one boy.\r(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

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Me'shell Ndegéocello - The daughter of a devotedly religious mother and a strict military father, Me'shell Ndegéocello is a singer, songwriter, rapper, bassist and multi-instrumentalist. The music press has hailed her as a redeemer of soul music. Her music incorporates funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, R&B, rock and jazz. She has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards.\r(Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

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Neb Luv - While presently pursuing a solo recording deal, she has achieved well-deserved respect and recognition for her association with Warren G, her producer on Da 5 Footaz LP released on Restless Records. Neb appeared on the “Set It Off” soundtrack single, "The Heist” and the “Jason’s Lyric” soundtrack single, “Walk Away.” She also appeared in the Def Pictures feature film The Show and has toured internationally as the opening act for Warren G and The Fugees, and appeared on BET’s ComicView.\r(Photo: www.myspace.com)

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Melange Lavonne - Lavonne, who is an outspoken lesbian hip hop artist, uses her mic to talk about important issues, especially within the LGBT community. In the video for "Gay Bash," the out MC calls out those who hated her friend Kevin enough to kill him, when they didn't even know him.\r(Photo: www.facebook.com)

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Maurice Jamal - Maurice Jamal is a director-writer-producer and is the creative mind behind the landmark Logo Network film The Ski Trip and the award-winning family comedy drama Dirty Laundry. His first break was on the feature film Spider-Man, and in a short period he developed a lengthy and impressive list of credits, most notably the Comedy Central smash hit Chappelle’s Show – both in front and behind the camera.\r(Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images)

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E. Lynn Harris - The late E. Lynn Harris was an openly gay author, most known for his depictions of African-American men on the down low or in the closet. Harris was initially unable to land a book deal with a reputable publishing house for his first work, Invisible Life, so he self-published it through a vanity publisher and sold copies from his car trunk. Since then, five of his novels have achieved New York Times bestseller status. He died in 2009.\r(Photo: Jonathan Fickies/Getty Images for Jumpstart for Children)

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James Earl Hardy - James Earl Hardy is best known as the author of the B-Boy Blues series that includes: B-Boy Blues, 2nd Time Around and If Only for One Nite. The series is credited with launching the Afrocentric, gay, hip hop love genre. Hardy also has written for Essence, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Advocate and Source.\r(Photo: www.facebook.com)

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Angela Davis\r - Angela Davis, an American socialist organizer and professor once associated with the Black Panther Party, first achieved nationwide notoriety when she was linked to the murder of Judge Harold Haley during an attempted prison break. She was a fugitive but was eventually captured, arrested, and tried; she was then acquitted in one of the most famous trials in recent history. She is now a retired professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.\r \r(Photo: UPI Photo/bg/Wiley Price)

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Kecia Cunningham - Kecia Cunningham is currently serving as Decatur, Georgia's City Commissioner.  The African-American lesbian first won a seat on the City Council in 1999.(Photo: Project Q)

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Wilson Cruz \r - Wilson Cruz came out at the age of 19 and then went to Hollywood to try to start an acting career. He was successful, and has starred in a number of stage, TV and film productions. He's perhaps better known for his role as Rickie Vasquez on ABC's My So-Called Life and a recurring character on Noah's Arc.\r\r(Photo: Robert Pitts /Landov)

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Miss Cleo\r - Youree Dell Harris, better known as Miss Cleo, is a self-proclaimed psychic and shaman who achieved fame as spokeswoman in television ads which aired during the late 1990s and early 2000s. In those ads, she hawked a psychic pay-per-call service. As of 2007, Cleo offers private psychic consultations and other services through Wahgwaan Entertainment, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.\r(Photo: LILLY ECHEVERRIA / MIAMI HERALD)

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Staceyann Chin \r - Staceyann Chin is a full-time artist and has been an “out poet and political activist” since 1998. Having drawn rousing cheers from the Nuyorican Poets' café, one-woman shows Off- Broadway, poetry workshops in Denmark and London, and as a co-writer and performer in the Tony-nominated Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, Chin credits the long list of "things she has done" to her grandmother's hard-working history and the pain of her mother's absence.\r(Photo: Robert Pitts /Landov)

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Jasmyne Cannick - Award-winning journalist Jasmyne Cannick is known for addressing the issues that others can't or simply won't. She is a critic and commentator based in Los Angeles who addresses the intersection of race, class, religion and gender in the African-American community as played out in today's pop culture and politics. She was selected as one of ESSENCE Magazine's 25 Women Shaping the World.\r \r(Photo: Courtesy of Jasmyne Cannick)

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Gordon Chambers \r - Chambers is a soul music veteran, but is principally known as a songwriter. Over the past dozen years the Jamaican-born Chambers has penned tunes for a virtual Who's Who of modern urban adult contemporary singers, including Whitney Houston, Heather Headley, Carl Thomas, Stephanie Mills, Gladys Knight, Gerald LeVert and Phyllis Hyman. He also earned a songwriting Grammy Award in 1995 for Anita Baker's "I Apologize."\r(Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

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Keith Boykin \r - Keith Boykin is the editor of TheDailyVoice.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of three books, a political commentator for BET.com and a frequent guest on CNN.\r(Photo:  Rob Loud/Getty Images)

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Kevin Aviance - New York female impersonator, designer and dance musician Kevin Aviance is popular in the New York City gay scene. He is a member of the gay performers' group House of Aviance.\r\r\rNew York female impersonator, designer and dance musician Kevin Aviance is popular in the New York City gay scene. He is a member of the gay performers' group House of Aviance.\r\r \r(Photo: Doug Meszler)

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John Amaechi - In 2007, John Amaechi became the first NBA player to come out of the closet, making the revelation in his memoir, Man in the Middle. He had retired from professional basketball in 2003.\r\r(Photo: Michael Germana / SSI Photo)

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Dagmawi Woubshet - Dagmawi Woubshet is an assistant professor of English at Cornell University, where he teaches courses on African-American and comparative African Diaspora literature and culture. He recieved his PhD from Harvard University in 2007 and his BA in 1998 from Duke University. His scholarly interests include: critical race and sexuality studies, contemporary Black visual culture, translation and vernacular Ethiopian poetics.\r(Photo: Cornell University)

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Stanley Bennett Clay\r  - Stanley Bennett Clay is an author, filmmaker and actor. He has written three novels: Diva, In Search of Pretty Young Black Men and Looker. A self-described “fanatical Los Angeles type of person,” Clay writes stories about the Black gay scene on the West Coast. He’s also won three NAACP Image Awards for writing, directing and producing the film Ritual.\r(Photo: www.myspace.com)

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Lawrence Webb\r - Webb is the first openly gay African-American elected in the state of Virginia. Lawrence was elected to the Falls Church City Council in 2008 after his first run for political office.\r(Photo: Vote Falls Church)

Photo By Photo: Vote Falls Church

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Doug Spearman \r - Spearman's career as an actor includes work on TV shows Star Trek Voyager, The Drew Carey Show, The Hughleys, Charmed and Girlfriends. Spearman also appeared on the Logo hit show Noah's Arc, in which he played Chance Counter, an out Black gay college professor.\r \r(Photo: John M. Heller/Getty Images for Logo Features)

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Bill T. Jones - Dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones has won two Tonys for choreography in the Broadway musicals Spring Awakening (2007) and Fela! (2009). Jones, the 9th of 12 children, moved from rural Florida to upstate New York at three years old. He would later become a dancer in a local company while a student at SUNY Binghamton. In 1982, he and his then-lover, Arnie Zane, started their own dance company, which still exists. After Zane’s death, Jones created some of his most powerful work.\r(Photo: Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)