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Frank Kameny

Frank Kameny, May 21, 1925 – October 11, 2011, a WWII Army veteran and Harvard-trained astronomer, had hoped to be one of America’s first astronauts. But he was fired from the Army Map Service in 1957 for being gay and blacklisted from any other government-related jobs. He was the first known gay person to appeal his firing to the United States Supreme Court which refused to hear his appeal. This radicalized him, and within a few months he cofounded the Mattachine Society of Washington DC. Related to original Mattachine mostly in name only, Frank was determined it be more militant and more open. He led the first organized gay rights group protest at the White House and other federal government buildings in 1965, and with fellow pioneer Barbara Gittings is the most responsible for the American Psychiatric Association removing homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses in 1973. Gay Yale law professor and historian William Eskridge described him as “the Rosa Parks and the Martin Luther King and the Thurgood Marshall of the gay rights movement.” His incomparable collection of gay rights movement memorabilia is now preserved by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonia.

  • Political Party: Democrat
  • Birth place: New York, New York
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