William “Bill” Beasley was a pioneering civil rights veteran, bisexual activist, and longtime leader in the LGBTQ+ community whose life connected the Black freedom struggle of the 1950s and earlier decades with the emergence of organized gay liberation.
Born in Atlanta on October 29, 1938, the third of four children of Amos and Susie Beasley, he grew up in a family that emphasized faith, compassion, and standing up for what was right. Those principles would shape his work on behalf of communities facing discrimination throughout his life.
After graduating from Henry McNeal Turner High School in 1956, Beasley became involved in the Civil Rights Movement at age 19. He participated in pickets and sit-ins at segregated Atlanta lunch counters and was arrested during one demonstration. In the late 1950s, he came out as a gay man and moved from Atlanta to St. Louis and later Los Angeles. In addition to opposing the Vietnam War and protesting the use of napalm and other toxic agents, he became involved in the growing Gay Liberation Movement.
In Los Angeles, Beasley was a core organizer of the Gay Liberation Front and a founding member of Christopher Street West. He helped organize the 1972 Los Angeles Gay Pride March, contributing to the development of what would become Los Angeles Pride. These efforts came during a pivotal period when LGBTQ+ people were creating new organizations, public events, and community networks following the Stonewall uprising of 1969.
Beasley later settled in the Bay Area, where he continued working with LGBTQ+ organizations including Berkeley’s Pacific Center for Human Growth and East Bay Gay Day. He also served on the San Francisco Pride Board of Directors. In 2009, San Francisco Pride honored him as a Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal, recognizing his decades of service and leadership. His work reflected an expansive vision of liberation that connected LGBTQ+ rights with racial equality, peace, and other movements for social justice.
Faith remained an important part of Beasley’s life. He was a longtime member of St. Columba Catholic Church, where he expressed his religious convictions through compassion, acceptance, and respect for others. Beasley’s legacy stretches from the lunch-counter protests of segregated Atlanta to the early gay liberation movement in Los Angeles and the LGBTQ+ community institutions of the Bay Area.
He is remembered by his sister-in-law, Naomi Beasley; nephews and niece James Beasley (Cynthia), Chris Beasley (Lateassia), and Deidra Beasley; friends Joshua Smith, Lisa Williams, and Dewitt Hoard; and the many people whose lives he influenced through his community work and leadership.
A Celebration of Life will be held on September 24, 2026, at 11 am at Saint Columba Catholic Church in Oakland. Williams, who is the Executive Director and Executive Producer of Soul of Pride and the Co-Director of the Bayard Rustin Coalition, will present the Proclamation at the community gathering.
In Memoriam
Published on September 24, 2026
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