Dennis R. Thomas was active in Milwaukee's LGBT community for many years. He was reportedly one of the original volunteers who helped form Pridefest, and was also very involved with AIDS activism.

Thomas was born in Niagara, Wisconsin, and spent his first years in an orphanage. He enlisted in the Army in 1960, and for a time was assigned to the White House as an honor guard during the Kennedy administration. Thomas passed away from lung cancer.