Wanda Alston

rdf:langString Wanda Alston

rdf:langString Wanda Alston (April 7, 1959 – March 16, 2005) was an American feminist, LGBT activist, and a government official. She was born in Newport News, Virginia. In the 1990s, Alston served in the National Organization for Women (NOW) as an executive assistant. She was also a co-leader in 1995 to the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing. She was a political organizer for five marches in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. She was an elected member of NOW's National Board of Directors. Alston also worked as a political consultant and was active in the Democratic Party. She also worked as an events organizer with the Human Rights Campaign. She was active in the recovery movement in Washington, D.C. Alston was an active member of her local church, Unity of Washington. Alston was also a leader in the LGBT community and was the acting director of the Washington, D.C. Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs from 2004 until her death. Alston died on March 16, 2005, as a result of a homicide in her home in Washington, D.C. She was stabbed to death. In June 2019, Alston was one of the inaugural fifty American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City’s Stonewall Inn. The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history, and the wall’s unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.