Stella Rush (April 30, 1925 – July 25, 2015),[1] also known by her pen name Sten Russell, was an American journalist and LGBT rights activist.
Her father died when she was two years old, and she spent her childhood moving repeatedly between Los Angeles and Kentucky with her mother.
[3] After graduating from Dorsey High School in 1943, she worked as an aircraft draftsman for North American Aviation until 1945.
Rush's career as a gay rights activist began as a writer for ONE magazine, joining the organization in 1953.
[4] She wrote her first article, a first-person account of the Los Angeles gay scene, in 1954 under the pseudonym "Sten Russell".