The biographies of people included in Friends of Dorothy: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Icons starts with Dorothy herself, Judy Garland, and each person who follows has become an icon for the queer community. 
Garland would have gay men of her era take her name for a code, “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” Meaning, were you gay. This was during a time when their open representation of who they were could have dire consequences to their military career, jobs and safety. Rumor had it that her funeral would indirectly inspire the Stonewall Riots and her service was the night it all began. The author ends her section with maybe or maybe not that was true, but she was a representative of the old way and her death signaled a new era. The riots would start a new era in gay rights.
The first three people are the icons, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Women that had tragic lives and the GLBTQ community could relate to them. And their few pages of biographies of what their lives were like, their struggles and how they would inspire are filled with a lot of information about how they became embraced by a marginalized group. These women were not the first, but they were some of the first people who would represent in ways nobody could have imagined. I knew I would love this book before I even finished Davis’ part with how her movies (and others) would have queer audiences embracing them and they would say such lines as, “What is more boring than a queen doing a Judy Garland impersonation? A Bette Davis impersonation.” This says how strong the community had to be and the people who inspired were just as powerful to “get the message across” to a mainstream audience that wasn’t really “having it” it “allowed out there” in front of everyone.
Of course, we can’t forget the guys: James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Tennessee Williams. Some of the icons are queer themselves, others have “just” inspired by what they did or how they became allies (Eartha Kitt). People we know such as Barbra Streisand and Marsha P. Johnson and others who might be new (depending on your generation) Tab Hunter, Montgomery Clift, Lana del Ray, Lil Nas X, span the pages of this information, but fun, non-fiction read. There is even a section of Honorable Mentions (Greta Garbo, Dolly Parton, Rock Hudson, and more).
Anthony Uzarowski and Alejandro Mogollo Díez gave their best and created something that is both fun and educational. 