Harriet Daniels Hancock

Harriet Daniels Hancock, a noted advocate/activist for civil and human rights of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender community in South Carolina died on September 23, 2026 after a brief illness.

Born in Columbia on September 25, 1936, she was the daughter of Harry Adam Daniels and Elizabeth McCabe Daniels.

Harriet, a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was a descendant of Col. Thomas Taylor, a revolutionary war patriot, and Thomas Harwell, an early settler to the Midlands, who established a homestead on Gills Creek in 1784.

She graduated from Columbia High School in 1954. Later in life she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of South Carolina where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1984.

Harriet then went on to graduate from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1988 and practiced law in Columbia until she retired in 2012. She used her legal expertise to provide representation and council to the LGBTQ community, often at no charge, and was honored by the South Carolina Bar Association as Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.

In 1982 she founded a chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) – an organization committed to educating and supporting the families of the LGBTQ community.

In 1985 she co-founded Palmetto Life Support Services of South Carolina (PALSS) – an organization that provides free services for people with HIV/AIDS. She served as a volunteer and a board member until 1991.

Harriet was co-founder of the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement (now South Carolina Pride Movement) and was instrumental in planning the first South Carolina Pride March and Festival in Columbia in 1990 and was later expanded to other areas throughout the state. She is affectionately known as the Mother of South Carolina Pride.

In 1993 she was instrumental in establishing the LGBTQ Community Center which was later renamed, The Harriet Hancock Center, in her honor.

Harriet is predeceased by her husband, Marion Jerome Hancock and is survived by her children, Karen (Hancock) Klocko, Gregory Marion Hancock, and Jennifer (Hancock) Tague, her grandchildren Caroline (Klocko) Green, MaryKatherine (Klocko) Sperlak, Elizabeth (Klocko) Hunter, Laura (Olsen) Taylor, Erik Olsen and Thomas Gordon. She has 11 great-grandchildren.

Donations can be made in memory of her to the Harriet Hancock Center.