show menu

A compendium of queer people in the 19th and 20th centuries // Drawn and written by Michele Rosenthal

Frank  Kameny

Frank Kameny 1925to –2011

American activist, and pivotal figure in the pre-Stonewall gay rights movement. He was born to a Jewish family in New York City, and proved himself intelligent at a young age. He went to college at 16, which was interrupted when he was drafted for World War II. He eventually earned his doctorate in astronomy from Harvard in 1956, and the following year he began work at the United States Army Map Service. He was only there a short time before his superiors called him in and began questioning him about his sexual orientation, but he refused to answer. He was first fired from his position, and then banned from all future government work. Kameny, who was a fairly conventional person up to that point, saw this as a declaration of war from the U.S. against himself, and vowed to fight back. He became the first to pursue a sexual orientation civil rights case in the U.S. courts. Though it failed before reaching the Supreme Court, the Civil Service Commission was inspired to change their policy in 1975. Kameny, who was loud, passionate, and stubborn, was disappointed with the gay rights groups at the time who focused on civility, and in 1961 he formed a Washington, D.C. branch of The Mattachine Society with a more radical and confrontational agenda. (They would regularly send their newsletter to F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover, even after requested to stop.) In 1965, he organized the first ever gay and lesbian demonstration in front of the White House, signs from which are currently housed at the Smithsonian. In 1971, he became the first openly gay candidate for Congress. One of his biggest victories came the following year, when he and Barbara Gittings convinced the American Psychiatric Association to hold a debate called “Psychiatry: Friend or Foe to the Homosexual?” and even convinced one gay psychiatrist to testify behind a disguise. As a direct result, homosexuality was removed from the list of psychiatric mental disorders in 1973. Kameny also worked to allow gays in the military, drafted the bill that eventually repealed D.C.’s sodomy laws in 1993, and coined the rallying cry “Gay is Good.” In later years, Kameny was given much recognition for his work as a gay rights pioneer, meeting President Obama during the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, having his home designated a D.C. Historic Landmark, and even having an asteroid named after him.

Purchase a print