- Jack Nichols (activist)
Jack Nichols (b. John Richard Nichols in
Washington, D.C. onMarch 16 ,1938 —May 2 ,2005 ) was an Americangay rights activist. He co-founded the Washington D.C. branch of theMattachine Society in 1961 withFranklin E. Kameny .Biography
Nichols was born in Washington, D.C. and came out as
gay to his parents as a teenager.citation |title=Jack Nichols, Gay Rights Pioneer, Dies at 67 |first=Margalit |last=Fox |date=2005-05-04 |accessdate=2007-09-24 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/national/04nichols.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |periodical=The New York Times ]Activism
Nichols founded the D.C. branch of the
Mattachine Society in 1961, and theFlorida branch in 1965. Beginning in 1963, he chaired the D.C. chapter's Committee on Religious Concerns, which later developed into theWashington Area Council on Religion and the Homosexual . This organization was pioneering in forging links between the gay rights movement and theNational Council of Churches .citation |title=The Washington Area Council on Religion & the Homosexual |periodical=The Rainbow History Project |url=http://www.rainbowhistory.org/DCCRH.htm |accessdate=2007-09-24 ]Nichols led the first gay rights march on the White House, in April 1965. He also successfully lobbied the
American Psychiatric Association to rescind its definition of homosexuality as a form ofmental illness .citation |date=2005-05-02 |title=Seminal GLBT Leader Jack Nichols Passes Away |url=http://www.equalityforum.com/press-20050502.cfm |periodical=Equality Forum |accessdate=2007-09-24 ]In 1969, after moving to
New York , Nichols and his partner Lige Clarke founded GAY, the first gay weekly newspaper in the US.From February 1997, Nichols was Senior Editor at www.GayToday.com, an online newsmagazine. He died on
May 2 ,2005 , of complications from cancer. [ citation | title=Jack Nichols | periodical=The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network |url=http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?A=N&ID=74 | accessdate=2007-09-24 | year=1976 | month=Jul | author=Cattan, Pe; Videla, Nn | volume=31 | issue=3-4 | pages=71–4 | issn=0365-9402 | pmid=1029476 | journal=Boletin chileno de parasitologia]Works
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