Franklin E. Kameny

Dr. Franklin E. Kameny (born May 21, 1925 in New York City) is " [o] ne of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement.citation
last=Bullough
first=Vern L.
year=2002
editor-last = Bullough
editor-first = Vern L.
authorlink=Vern Bullough
title=Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context
place = New York
publisher=The Haworth Press
pages=207
isbn=1560231939] In 1957, Dr. Kameny was dismissed from his position as an astronomer in the Army Map Service in Washington, D.C. because of his homosexualitycite news
last=Chibbaro Jr.
first=Lou
title=Kameny's work finds new home
work=Washington Blade
date=2006-10-04
url=http://www.washingtonblade.com/2006/10-4/news/localnews/kameny.cfm
accessdate=2008-03-28] , 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".citation
last=Johnson
first=David K.
year=2002
contribution = Franklin E. Kameny (1925-)
editor-last = Bullough
editor-first = Vern L.
editor-link = Vern Bullough
title=Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context
place = New York
publisher=The Haworth Press
pages=209-218
isbn=1560231939]

In 1961, he and Jack Nichols co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington, an organization that pressed aggressively for gay and lesbian civil rights.

Dr. Kameny is creditedWho|date=December 2007 with bringing an aggressive new tone to the gay civil rights struggle. Dr. 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. In 1968, Dr. Kameny, inspired by Stokely Carmichael's creation of the phrase "Black is Beautiful", created the slogan "Gay is Good" for the gay civil rights movement.Fact|date=December 2007

Kameny and Nichols launched the first public protests by gays and lesbians with a picket line at the White House on April 17, 1965. 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 an Annual ReminderClarifyme|date=March 2008 for gay rights.

In 1963, Dr. Kameny and Mattachine launched a campaign to overturn sodomy laws and to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association's manual of mental disorders.

In 1971, Dr. 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. Following that election, Dr. 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.

Dr. Kameny was a panel member when John E. Fryer appeared at a 1973 American Psychiatric Association symposium on homosexuality and psychiatry as Dr H. Anonymous, a keyWho|date=December 2007 event in getting homosexuality de-listed as a mental illness.

Dr. Kameny was appointed as the first openly gay member of the District of Columbia's Human Rights Commission in the 1970s.

He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II in Europe, and served 20 years on the Selective Service board [ [http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=13210&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm HRC | Page Not Found ] ] .

Dr. Kameny is a member of Triangle Foundation's Board of Advisors [ [http://www.tri.org/about/advisors.html Triangle Foundation ] ] .

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 first ever White House demonstration.Fact|date=April 2008 The Library of Congress acquired in 2006 Dr. Kameny's papers documenting his life and leadership.cite press release
title=Gay Civil Rights Pioneer Frank Kameny Presents Lifetime Papers and Historic Artifacts to the Nation
publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of American History
date=2006-10-06
url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/news/pressrelease.cfm?key=29&newskey=404
accessdate=2008-04-04]

References

* Joyce Murdoch & Deb Price, "Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. The Supreme Court", Basic Books, 10 East 53rd Street, New York New York, 2001.
* Jeff Kisseloff, "Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s", University Press of Kentucky, 2007.

External links

* [http://www.kamenypapers.org The official website of the Smithsonian Institution Kameny Papers collection]
* [http://www.rainbowhistory.org/kameny.htm The Kameny Pages (includes links to photos, articles, soundbites, and quotations) ]
* [http://www.gaypioneers.com/soundbitesframe-kameny.cfm Biography of Kameny]
* [http://www.sodomylaws.org/strategies.htm Strategies for Sodomy Law Repeal (includes a section on Kameny's activism)]
* [http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/interview/042897in.htm Interview with Kameny]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/22/AR2005072202010.html article from the Washington Post about Kameny]
* [http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/kameny_f.html "Frank Kameny"] GLBTQ, An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Culture
* [http://www.reason.com/news/show/117116.html "A Pariah's Triumph--and America's"] 12/07/06 article by Jonathan Rauch