{{Short description|Cuban American researcher and LGBTQ rights activist (1933–2023)}} {{Use American English|date=April 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Ada Bello | image = Ada C. Bello-LSU-1961.png | caption = Bello in 1961 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|11|06}} | birth_place = Havana, Republic of Cuba | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|03|31|1933|11|06}} | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | citizenship = {{hlist|Cuba|United States}} | alma_mater = {{ubl|University of Havana|Louisiana State University}} | occupation = {{hlist|LGBT rights activist|medical laboratory researcher}} | employer = {{ubl|University of Pennsylvania|Food and Drug Administration}} }}
'''Ada C. Bello''' (November 6, 1933 – March 31, 2023) was a Cuban-American LGBT rights activist and medical laboratory researcher of Portuguese descent. She was a founder of the Philadelphia Chapter of Daughters of Bilitis and the Homophile Action League. Bello led activism efforts for the LGBT community beginning in the late 1960s and served in advocacy roles including as a board member of the LGBT Elder Initiative.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Fortino |first=Sebastian |date=April 4, 2023 |title=Ada Bello, LGBTQ pioneer who made Philadelphia home, dies at 89 |url=https://epgn.com/2023/04/04/ada-bello-lgbtq-pioneer-who-made-philadelphia-home-dies-at-89/ |access-date=April 6, 2023 |website=Philadelphia Gay News |language=en-US |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406052144/https://epgn.com/2023/04/04/ada-bello-lgbtq-pioneer-who-made-philadelphia-home-dies-at-89/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":7" />
== Early life and education == Bello was born on November 6, 1933, in Havana, Cuba.<ref name=":5" /> Her mother was a homemaker from Madeira and her father was a lawyer and judge.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/philadelphia-lgbt-interviews/interviews/ada-bello|title=Ada Bello, February 7, 1993 · Philadelphia LGBT History Project · OutHistory.org: It's About Time|website=outhistory.org|access-date=September 27, 2019|archive-date=September 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927141735/http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/philadelphia-lgbt-interviews/interviews/ada-bello|url-status=dead}}</ref> She lived in Matanzas before moving to Havana to study.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://aldianews.com/articles/opinion/paradise-fighting-lgbt-rights/31426|title=In paradise, fighting for LGBT rights|date=May 9, 2013|website=AL DÍA News|language=en|access-date=September 27, 2019|archive-date=September 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927141744/https://aldianews.com/articles/opinion/paradise-fighting-lgbt-rights/31426|url-status=live}}</ref> Bello attended University of Havana from 1953 until 1956, upon Fulgencio Batista's closing of the university, and she transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU) afterwards.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.iftheyshouldask.com/ada-bello/|title=Ada Bello|website=If They Should Ask|language=en-US|url-status=live|access-date=September 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111193555/http://www.iftheyshouldask.com:80/ada-bello/ |archive-date=November 11, 2017}}</ref> In 1961, she earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from LSU.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 24, 1961 |title=Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Medical College Mid-Year Commencement, January 24, 1961 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=commencement |page=7 |access-date=April 9, 2023 |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407201833/https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=commencement |url-status=live }}</ref> She resided in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1958 to 1961, before moving to Picayune, Mississippi, for a year.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == Bello worked for the University of Pennsylvania as a medical laboratory assistant from 1962 to 1980. She became a medical laboratory researcher at University of Pennsylvania in 1980 and later worked for the Food and Drug Administration.<ref name=":0" />
=== Activism === {{external media | width = 150px | float = right | video1 = [https://vimeo.com/701411205 "Ada Bello: The OUTWORDS Archive Full Length Interview"], April 5, 2018, The OUTWORDS Archive}}
Bello moved to Philadelphia in 1962 where she participated in LGBTQ social and political organizing.<ref name=":5" /> These nascent actions became known as the homophile movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Metcalf |first=Meg |title=Research Guides: LGBTQIA+ Studies: A Resource Guide: Before Stonewall: The Homophile Movement |url=https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/before-stonewall |access-date=April 7, 2023 |website=guides.loc.gov |language=en |archive-date=February 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213085029/https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/before-stonewall |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1967, Bello became a founding member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). Bello edited the DOB-Philadelphia newsletter with fellow activist Carole Friedman. They both influenced the decision to dissolve DOB and create the Homophile Action League (HAL) in 1968. Bello worked as the editor of the HAL newsletter which challenged police harassment against the LGBTQ community.<ref name=":2" /> She and other members of HAL began to meet with members of the Pennsylvania legislature, such as former governor Milton Schapp, to discuss equal rights and protections for LGBTQ people under Pennsylvania law.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Funk |first=Mason |title=The book of pride : LGBTQ heroes who changed the world |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-06-257170-0 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |oclc=1088601027 }}</ref>
In 1968, Bello decided to become an activist after the Philadelphia Police Department raided Rusty's Bar, a local lesbian bar, and arrested 12 women. After consulting with the American Civil Liberties Union, HAL requested to meet with the police department. Due to her immigration status, Bello did not participate directly in the meetings, but drove the car for the HAL attendees.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kywnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/lgbt-people-color-equality-has-been-multi-layered-fight|title=For LGBT people of color, equality has been a multi-layered fight|last=Gregg|first=Cherri|date=June 19, 2019|website=KYW|language=en|url-status=live|access-date=September 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927141743/https://kywnewsradio.radio.com/articles/news/lgbt-people-color-equality-has-been-multi-layered-fight |archive-date=September 27, 2019 }}</ref> Bello attended the final two Annual Reminder day protests in 1968 and 1969, having received U.S. citizenship in 1968.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" />
Bello's advocacy efforts in the late 1960s and early 1970s served as a "bridge between pre- and post- stonewall political activities."<ref name=":2" /> She was one of the original organizers of the Philadelphia Gay Pride Parade in 1972 and 1973.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Watermark Issue 29.12: Looking Back, Marching Forward by Watermark Publishing Group – Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/watermarkmedia/docs/2912_spp_web |access-date=April 3, 2023 |website=issuu.com |date=June 9, 2022 |page=25 |language=en |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407042900/https://issuu.com/watermarkmedia/docs/2912_spp_web |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1980, Bello and fellow LGBTQ activists Mark Segal and John Cunningham traveled to Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania along with Spanish-speaking volunteers from the Metropolitan Community Church to assist a group of LGBTQ refugees from Cuba on the Mariel boatlift, known generally as "Marielitos", to receive asylum and temporary housing with LGBTQ-friendly hosts in the United States as part of a settlement program initiated by President Jimmy Carter.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Bodies and barriers : queer activists on health |date=2020 |others=Adrian Shanker, Rachel Leland Levine, Kate Kendell |isbn=978-1-62963-801-0 |location=Oakland, CA |page=182 |oclc=1124761535 }}</ref>
Bello volunteered for the American Library Association's Gay Task Force under Barbara Gittings and was a supporter of the William Way LGBT Community Center where she served as co-chair. Bello served on the board of the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force. She organized the predecessor of the AIDS Fund, From All Walks of Life.<ref name=":3" />
Bello served on the panel at the LGBT Aging Summit in 2010, alongside local LGBTQ activist Heshie Zinman. After the Summit, she helped to found the LGBT Elder Initiative, for which she served as a long-term board member.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://lgbtelderinitiative.org/2018/02/07/ada-bello-board-profile/|title=Ada Bello- Board Profile {{!}} LGBT EI|language=en-US|access-date=September 27, 2019|archive-date=September 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927141737/https://lgbtelderinitiative.org/2018/02/07/ada-bello-board-profile/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":4" />
On July 4, 2015, Bello was one of the participants in the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Reminder day protests and LGBT Civil Rights Movement, held at Independence Hall.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Program Participants {{!}} LGBT 50th Anniversary July 4, 2015 |url=https://lgbt50.org/2015/participants |access-date=April 7, 2023 |website=lgbt50.org |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407201136/https://lgbt50.org/2015/participants |url-status=live }}</ref>
In a 2018 interview, Bello stated about her advocacy that: "In the future, I would like to get to a point in which your sexual orientation is irrelevant and is not taken more seriously than the color of your eyes."<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Miles |first=Gary |title=Ada Bello, pioneering LGBTQ activist and longtime laboratory chemist, has died at 89 |url=https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/ada-bello-obituary-philadelphia-cuba-gay-rights-lgbtq-20230407.html |date=April 7, 2023 |access-date=April 7, 2023 |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407202728/https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/ada-bello-obituary-philadelphia-cuba-gay-rights-lgbtq-20230407.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Death == Bello died from complications of COVID-19 and pneumonia in Philadelphia on March 31, 2023, at the age of 89.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" />
== Awards and honors == Bello received the 2015 David Acosta Revolutionary Leader Award (DARLA) from the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative (GALAEI).<ref name=":3" /> In 2020, she received the Spirit of CARIE Award from the Center for Advocacy for the Rights of the Elderly for her work in advocating for LGBTQIA+ senior citizens in Philadelphia.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=PGN Feb. 21–27, 2020 {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/448289631/PGN-Feb-21-27-2020 |access-date=April 3, 2023 |website=Scribd |page=8 |language=en |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407042900/https://www.scribd.com/document/448289631/PGN-Feb-21-27-2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== * Oral history interview of Ada Bello by Arthur Esquino, Rosenbaum Oral History Project, William Way LGBT Community Center, September 10, 2009: [https://digital.wilcoxarchives.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A1463 Part 1] and [https://digital.wilcoxarchives.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A1466 Part 2]. * [https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/philadelphia-lgbt-interviews/int/ada-bello Philadelphia LGBT History Project Interview with Ada Bello], by Marc Stein, February 7, 1993.
{{Early U.S. gay rights movement}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bello, Ada}} Category:1933 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Activists from Havana Category:Cuban people of Portuguese descent Category:People of Madeiran descent Category:People from Matanzas Category:University of Havana alumni Category:Louisiana State University alumni Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty Category:Food and Drug Administration people Category:Cuban lesbians Category:LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania Category:Activists from Philadelphia Category:Cuban LGBTQ rights activists Category:LGBTQ rights activists from Pennsylvania Category:Hispanic and Latino American LGBTQ people Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Cuban emigrants to the United States Category:American medical researchers Category:Women medical researchers Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American women academics Category:American women civil rights activists Category:20th-century Cuban LGBTQ people Category:21st-century Cuban LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American women Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Pennsylvania Category:Daughters of Bilitis members Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania