Magora Kennedy

Magora Ernestine Molineaux (September 22, 1938 – November 6, 2023) was an American Baptist minister and LGBT civil rights activist who participated in the Stonewall uprising. She was a former Black Panther and was involved in the civil rights and women’s rights movements. She was a self-proclaimed Black lesbian, crone goddess, and woman of God.

Early life Kennedy was born on September 22, 1938, in Albany, New York, and raised in Saratoga Springs, New York. Her father was White and Caribbean and her mother was Native American and Black. Her parents raised her with both Baptist and Methodist traditions. Kennedy knew that she was a lesbian from a young age. The marriage was consummated, but later annulled because of her age. Kennedy's second husband was bisexual, with whom she had five children. She organized a children’s church choir called the “Little Wonders” at Way of the Cross Holy Church of God in Roxbury, but was asked to leave when her lesbianism was discovered.

Kennedy took part in the Stonewall uprising in New York in 1969. She was driving to Provincetown when she heard that LGBT people were fighting against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, so she turned her car around and joined the uprising.

In 1971, she appeared on The David Susskind Show along with other LGBT activists, arguing against the American Psychiatric Association's designation of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

In 1975, she served on the Task Force on Racism of the Christian Social Action Commission of the Metropolitan Community Church.

Kennedy's activism continued throughout her career, and in 2011 she attended Occupy Wall Street protests. In an interview at an Occupy Wall Street protest, Kennedy connected the LGBT rights movement and Occupy Wall Street to the civil rights movement.

Legacy Interest in Kennedy’s life has increased due to her participation in interviews and exhibits about the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and her participation in the documentary Cured, an Independent Lens film that appeared on PBS. She is the former Chaplain of the Stonewall Veterans Association and was involved with the National Action Network. Kennedy participated in an oral history interview with the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network in March 2023.

Magora Kennedy describes her philosophy on life in her book This Goddess Has Landed: Does She Have a Message For YOU!: Mother Goddess/Father God loves you just the way you are. So learn to Love Yourself for real, as the star that you are. Love is the most powerful Force in the Universe. Sisterhood is Powerful!