LGBTQ+ activist and ‘Mother of SC Pride’ Harriet Hancock dies aged 89
Known as the “Mother of SC Pride”, Hancock's legacy lives on through the South Carolina organisations she helped build, which continue to support LGBTQ+ people and their families
By Aaron Sugg
Harriet Hancock, the pioneering South Carolina LGBTQ+ activist known as the “Mother of SC Pride”, has died aged 89.
The Harriet Hancock Center announced her death on Facebook on Wednesday (23 September), just two days before what would have been her 90th birthday.
“It is with profound sadness, deep gratitude, and immeasurable love that the Harriet Hancock Center shares the passing of Harriet Daniels Hancock,” wrote the LGBTQ+ organisation.
“She touched the lives of so many” – The Harriet Hancock Center announce their founder’s death
“She touched the lives of so many of us through her work with PFLAG, PALSS, and SC GLPM/the Harriet Hancock Center,” the Harriet Hancock Center continued.
Hancock’s family has asked those wishing to honour her memory to consider making a donation to the Harriet Hancock Center, continuing the work of the organisation she founded in 1993 with the Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement.
Where did her advocacy begin?
Hancock’s story is nothing short of extraordinary – a true ally and role model for parents everywhere. Her activism began after her son, Greg, 20, came out as gay in the early 1980s, at a time when LGBTQ+ people faced widespread discrimination. Fully embracing and guided by love, she founded Columbia’s chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) in 1982.
The community led organisation was the first PFLAG chapter in South Carolina, created to support LGBTQ+ people and their families.
She went on to become a prominent advocate during the AIDS crisis, co-founding Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services (PALSS) in 1985.
HIV/AIDS support
Through her work as an attorney, she helped several people living with HIV/AIDS and used her legal career to support LGBTQ+ people. As a result, she received the South Carolina Bar’s Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award in 1991.
Her legacy perhaps lies most strongly in her home state of South Carolina, where she led a rally of around 2,000 people taking part in the state’s first Pride march in 1990. It was this work that earned her the nickname “Mother of SC Pride”.
In an essay reflecting on the historic moment, Hancock wrote: “I took my son’s trembling hand in my trembling hand. What a feeling of empowerment came over us. We were part of history!”
Hancock’s cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.