ABilly Jones Hennin was born in 1942, in St John's Antigua, and at age 3 he joined a family of 9 other adopted children. He grew up in South Carolina and Virginia with his family and after graduation he served in the US Marine Corps.
In 1968 he graduated from Virginia State University. He was married, had 3 kids, but wound up divorcing his wife when he came out as bisexual. In 1978 ABilly helped launch the National Coalition of Black Gays in Columbia Maryland, it was the first national advocacy organization for African American gay men and lesbians.
1979 ABilly helped mobilize the first March on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. At that same time he helped convene the National Third World LGBTQ conference at Howard University which became the university's Lambda Student Alliance- the first LGBTQ organization at an HBCU.
His work has led him in many directions including leadership roles within the Black LGBTQ movements and a board member of Binet USA.