David K. Johnson (born c. 1962)[1] is an American historian and author who has taught at the University of South Florida since 2003.
His first book, The Lavender Scare, was made into a documentary film that garnered best documentary awards at over a dozen film festivals and broadcast nationwide on PBS June 18, 2019.
[2] His second book, Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement chronicles the rise of a gay commercial network in the years leading up to the Stonewall Riots.
[3] A nationally recognized authority on LGBT history, Johnson has contributed to government reports and amicus briefs that document a history of discrimination and thereby seek to expand civil rights protections and create a more inclusive educational curriculum.
He has enjoyed fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Social Science Research Council.