Rick Stokes is an American LGBT activist, lawyer and politician who ran unsuccessfully against Harvey Milk for San Francisco Supervisor in 1977 and is one of the people portrayed in the 2008 film *Milk *.

Stokes was born in Oklahoma. In the 1950s he married a woman with the hope that marriage would reduce his homosexual desires. He later underwent electroshock therapy in an attempt to overcome his homosexuality, but eventually ended his marriage after this proved to be unsuccessful. ^[1]

He moved to Sacramento, California, where he formed a partnership with another man that was to last 35 years. Stokes and his partner formed the Association for Responsible Citizenship there. They later moved to San Francisco, where Stokes became involved in legal action on behalf of gay men. ^[1]

Stokes ran against Harvey Milk for San Francisco Supervisor in 1977 and lost. ^[1] In that same year he participated in the documentary, *Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives *, which tells the stories of twenty-six LGBT people.

In 2008, actor Stephen Spinella portrayed Stokes in the film *Milk *. ^{[1] [2]}

Stokes is currently the president and owner of the North American bathhouse chain known as "Steamworks."