Frank Kameny: 1925-2011

Frank Kameny, the fearless gay rights pioneer, has died of natural causes at the age of 86.  The man who came out when no one was out died on National Coming Out Day. 

Kameny began standing up for our rights over 50 years ago, when it was quite dangerous to even acknowledge being gay.  He was a Harvard PhD who was fired from his U.S. Government job for being gay, but he fought back.  He protested his firing and took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1961.  1961!  The Court denied his petition, but his was the first civil rights case based on sexual orientation.  He did not give up the fight.  He founded The Mattachine Society of Washington and protested the government's treatment of gays.  He ran for Congress.  He coined the phrase "Gay is Good."  In 1963 he began campaigning to overturn DC's sodomy laws, and the bill he personally wrote finally passed in 1993.  The signs he carried while picketing the White House for fair treatment of gays in 1965 are now on display in the Smithsonian.  There is much more, and you can read about it here and here. 

Frank Kameny lived a life of courage and accomplishment.  We all owe him a huge debt.