Thomas Lawrence Higgins (June 17, 1950 – November 10, 1994) was an American writer and

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

activist credited with coining the term ''

gay pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, Social equality, equality, and increas ...

''. He is best known for pushing a pie into the face of anti-gay activist

Anita Bryant Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and anti-gay rights activist. She had three top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ...

on live television in 1977.

Early life

Higgins was born in

Beaver Dam A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators such as coyotes, alligators, cougars, foxes, eagles, wolves and bears, and holds their food during winter. These structures modify th ...

, Wisconsin. He attended

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

elementary school in Minnesota as well as Catholic high schools in Minnesota and North Dakota before being accepted to the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

in 1967 to study in journalism and theater. He was suspended in 1968 for his involvement in an underground student publication ''Snow Job''.

Career and activism

In 1969 Higgins became the first person in Minnesota to be granted conscientious objector status from the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. Around this time he joined the Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (FREE), where he is credited with coining the term

. He was terminated from his job at the State Radio Services for the Blind as a result of his affiliation with FREE. In response FREE picketed his former workplace, protesting for anti-discrimination protections. On October 14, 1977, Higgins and his friend and fellow gay rights activist Bruce Brockway attended a televised pre-concert press conference hosted by singer Anita Bryant, who was answering questions about her plan to open a network of Anita Bryant Centers where " homosexuals could go for rehabilitation." During the conference Higgins got up, and pushed a banana cream pie into Bryant's face. Afterwards he and four companions exited the studio to answer questions for the media. Bryant's husband Bob Green noticed one of them holding an unused pie, and pressed it into his face in retaliation. Criminal charges were not filed against Higgins. Earlier in the year, Higgins had also been involved in the pieing of Archbishop John Roach. In 1980, Higgins and Brockway founded the Positively Gay Cuban Refugee Task Force, in response to an influx of refugees fleeing Cuba. Among these refugees were gay men, who faced legal persecution in their home country. They were all housed in refugee camps, and were unable to leave without an American sponsor. The organization helped mobilize

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

's gay community to sponsor gay refugees, and allow them to leave and resettle.

Death

Higgins died of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

complications on November 10, 1994. He is buried in Roseville, Minnesota.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Thomas Lawrence 1950 births 1994 deaths American LGBTQ rights activists People from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin AIDS-related deaths in Minnesota