Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Washington Blade: Longtime gay activist Frank Kameny passes on


Franklin E. Kameny, one of the nation’s most prominent gay rights leaders, died in his home today from an apparent natural causes. He was 86.

The death came less a month before the planned celebration of the 50th anniversary of Kameny’s founding of the Mattachine Society of Washington, the first gay rights organization in the nation’s capital.

LGBT rights advocates Charles Francis and Bob Witeck, who were longtime friends of Kameny’s and established the project to preserve Kameny’s papers over a 50-year period, said they would be announcing soon plans for a memorial service to honor the gay rights leader’s life.

Timothy Clark, Kameny’s tenant, said he found Kameny unconscious and unresponsive in his bed shortly after 5 pm on Tuesday. Clark called 911 police emergency and rescue workers determined that Kameny had passed away earlier, most likely in his sleep. Clark said he had spoken with Kameny shortly before midnight on the previous day and Kameny didn’t seem to be in distress.

The Blade will have more information as it becomes known.



From  Wikipedia

Dr. Franklin E. "Frank" Kameny (born Franklin Edward Kameny on May 21, 1925 in New York City, died October 11, 2011) was "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement.[1] In 1957, Kameny was dismissed from his position as an astronomer in the Army Map Service in Washington, D.C. because of his homosexuality,[2] leading him to begin "a Herculean struggle with the American establishment that would transform the homophile movement" and "spearhead a new period of militancy in the homosexual rights movement of the early 1960s".[3] 


Kameny protested his firing by the U.S. Civil Service Commission due to his homosexuality, and argued this case to the United States Supreme Court in 1961.[4] Although the court denied his petition, it is notable as the first civil rights claim based on sexual orientation.[5]

Contents

Decades of D.C. activism

 

In August, 1961 Kameny and Jack Nichols co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington,[6] an organization that pressed aggressively for gay and lesbian civil rights. In 1963 the group was the subject of Congressional hearings initiated by Congressman John Dowdy over its right to solicit funds.[7]

Kameny is credited with bringing an aggressive new tone to the gay civil rights struggle.[6] Kameny and the Mattachine Society of Washington pressed for fair and equal treatment of gay employees in the federal government by fighting security clearance denials, employment restrictions and dismissals, and working with other groups to press for equality for gay citizens.[8] In 1968, Kameny, inspired by Stokely Carmichael's creation of the phrase "Black is Beautiful",[citation needed] created the slogan "Gay is Good" for the gay civil rights movement.[6]

Kameny and Nichols launched the first public protests by gays and lesbians with a picket line at the White House on April 17, 1965.[9][6] With support from New York's Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, the Mattachine Society of Washington expanded the picketing to the Pentagon, the U.S. Civil Service Commission, and to Philadelphia's Independence Hall for what became known as the Annual Reminder for gay rights.

In 1963, Kameny and Mattachine launched a campaign to overturn D.C. sodomy laws; he personally drafted a bill finally passed in 1993.[6]. He also worked to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association's manual of mental disorders.[6]

In 1971, Kameny became the first openly gay candidate for the U.S. Congress when he ran in the District of Columbia's first election for a non-voting delegate to Congress.[6] Following that election, Kameny and his campaign organization created the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Washington, D.C., an organization which continues to lobby government and press the case for equal rights.[10]

Kameny was appointed as the first openly gay member of the District of Columbia's Human Rights Commission in the 1970s. He is a U.S. Army veteran of World War II in Europe and served 20 years on the Selective Service board.[11]

Awards, Honors

In 2007, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History included Kameny's picket signs carried in front of the White House in 1965, in the Smithsonian exhibit "Treasures of American History". The Smithsonian now has 12 of the original picket signs carried by gay and lesbian Americans at this, the first ever White House demonstration.[12] The Library of Congress acquired Kameny's papers in 2006, documenting his life and leadership.[13]

Frank Kameny Way as seen on June  12, 2010
In February 2009, Kameny’s home in Washington was designated as a .D.C. Historic Landmark by the District of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Review Board.[14]

On June 29, 2009, John Berry (Director of the Office of Personnel Management) formally apologized to Kameny on behalf of the United States government.[6][15] Berry, who is openly gay, presented Kameny with the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the department’s most prestigious award.[16]

On June 10, 2010, following a unanimous vote by the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission, Washington, D. C. mayor Adrian Fenty unveiled new street signs designating 17th Street between P and R streets, N.W., as "Frank Kameny Way" in Kameny's honor.[17] At a luncheon on December 10, 2010 in the Caucus room of the Cannon House Office Building, Kameny was honored with the 2010 Cornelius R. “Neil” Alexander Humanitarian Award.[18]

Kameny is a member of Triangle Foundation's Board of Advisors.[19]

Notes

  1. ^ Bullough, Vern L. (2002), Bullough, Vern L., ed., Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context, New York: The Haworth Press, pp. 207, ISBN 1560231939
  2. ^[dead link]Chibbaro Jr., Lou (2006-10-04). "Kameny's work finds new home". Washington Blade. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
  3. ^ Johnson, David K. (2002), "Franklin E. Kameny (1925-)", in Bullough, Vern L., Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context, New York: The Haworth Press, pp. 209–218, ISBN 1560231939
  4. ^ USA Today: Gay rights epicenter named landmark
  5. ^ Gaynair, Gillian (06-08-2009). "DC pride festival honors gay rights pioneer Kameny". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-06-08.[dead link]
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Kameny, Frank (b. 1925)". glbtq, Inc. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  7. ^ Johnson, David K. (2004), The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 186, ISBN 0226404811
  8. ^ Marcus, Eric (1992). Making history : the struggle for gay and lesbian equal rights : 1945-1990. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060167084.
  9. ^ "The Gay Civil Rights Movement Turns to Public Picketing". The Rainbow History Project. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  10. ^ Slavin, Sarah (1995). U.S. women's interest groups: Institutional Profiles. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 645. ISBN 0313250731.
  11. ^ HRC, 'Franklin E. Kameny'
  12. ^ Bianco, p. 167
  13. ^ "Gay Civil Rights Pioneer Frank Kameny Presents Lifetime Papers and Historic Artifacts to the Nation" (Press release). Smithsonian National Museum of American History. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  14. ^ Petula Dvorak (February 27, 2009). "NW Home of Activist Made Historic Site". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  15. ^ Noel Brinkerhoff (June 30, 2009). "U.S. Government Formally Apologizes for 1957 Firing of Gay Astronomer". AllGov.com. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  16. ^[dead link]Kevin Naff (June 29, 2009). "Gov't apologizes to Kameny". Washington Blade.
  17. ^ Chibarro, Jr., Lou (06-08-2010). "‘Kameny Way’ ceremony highlights Capital Pride events". The Washington Blade. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  18. ^ Peter Rosenstein (Dec 10, 2010). "Kameny honored on Capitol Hill". Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  19. ^ Triangle Foundation

References

  • Bianco, David. Gay Essentials: Facts For Your Queer Brain. Los Angeles, Alyson Books, 1999. ISBN 1555835082.
  • Gambone, Philip. Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans. University of Wisconsin Press, 2010.
  • Kisseloff, Jeff. Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s. University Press of Kentucky, 2007.
  • Murdoch, Joyce and Deb Price. Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. The Supreme Court. New York, Basic Books, 2001.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Frank Kameny

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