Gay Rights Pioneer Frank Kameny to Lie in State on November 3

Gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who died last week at the age of 86, wil lie in state at the Carnegie Library on November 3:

"All are welcome to visit and say goodbye to our fellow citizen, neighbor, friend, advocate and civil rights champion, Frank Kameny. This farewell viewing, to be held over several hours on November 3 to allow many friends to visit at their convenience, was made possible through our Mayor, the Honorable Vincent Gray, and with the endorsement of Members of the D.C. Council, as well as many friends and allies of the late Dr. Kameny...This will not be a formal program or a funeral service conducted during this viewing period. However, informal remarks by civic leaders and choral presentations may be made during the 5 hours set aside for viewing."

The Smithsonian is also opening an exhibit of Kameny's picket signs in memory of his life. It opens today.

Details, AFTER THE JUMP...

Rachel Maddow Honors Frank Kameny: VIDEO

Have some hero for breakfast and watch this Rachel Maddow segment on the late civil rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who was lost to us this week.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Gay Rights Pioneer Frank Kameny Dead at 86

The LGBT rights movement has lost one of its civil rights heroes and bravest champions. Frank Kameny was found dead at his home today in Washington D.C. He was 86, the Washington Post reports:

His death...on National Coming Out Day, came in a year when gay people were accorded the right to serve openly in the armed forces, and D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large) noted this Tuesday night.

In his efforts throughout the years, Mr. Kameny was one of the fathers of that achievement, said Catania, the first openly gay man elected to the D.C. Council...

...Mr. Kameny was generally credited as an originator of the slogan “Gay Is Good.” Those words symbolized not only his skill at advoacy, but they also the beliefs that he championed.

In numerous ways over the years, starting at a time when those openly asserting their homosexuality could place themselves in physical jeopardy, Mr. Kameny worked to increase the acceptance of gay people in mainstream American society and to recognize their rights.

Among many other things, Kameny helped organize the first gay rights protest in front of the White House in 1965 and founded the Mattachine Society, one of the nation's first gay rights groups.

Kameny, a World War II vet, was fired from his job with the U.S. Government in 1957 for being gay. Upon having his papers accepted, he said: "Nearly fifty years ago, the United States Government banned me from employment in public service because I am a homosexual. This archive is not simply my story; it also shows how gay and lesbian Americans have joined the American mainstream story of expanded civil liberties in the 20th century. Today, by accepting these papers, the nation preserves not only our history but marks how far gay and lesbian Americans have traveled on the road to civil equality."

In 2007, Kameny called for mercy for then Idaho Senator Larry Craig, who was caught soliciting sex in a bathroom stall by a Minneapolis police officer. Said Kameny: "Fair is fair. [Craig] was the victim of a false arrest and a malfeasant prosecution."

Kameny's home was declared a historic landmark in 2009, "...not because of its gabled roof or side-hall plan, but because, for 13 fiery years, it was the epicenter of the gay rights movement in the nation's capital," wrote the Washington Post.

Later that year, he received an official apology from White House Office of Personnel Management head, openly gay John Berry, for firing Kameny in 1957 because he was gay.

In June 2010, two blocks of 17th Street NW were renamed 'Frank Kameny Way'.

In December last year, Kameny was seated in the front row as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal was signed into law, and last May, his papers went on display at the Library of Congress for the first time.

Kameny came out at a time when it was not only extremely brave, but dangerous, and sacrificed much in the process. May he rest in peace.

Watch Kameny talk to AARP and the Washington Blade about activism and his role in the beginning of the gay rights movement, AFTER THE JUMP...

'The Lavender Scare' Documents Government's Witch Hunt Against Gays in the 50's and 60's: TRAILER

A new documentary in production documents the government's 'witch hunts' of the 50's and 60's and efforts by early gay activists like Frank Kameny to put a stop to them.

Write the filmmakers:

The Lavender Scare is the first feature-length documentary film to tell the story of the U.S. government's ruthless campaign in the 1950s and '60s to hunt down and fire every Federal employee it suspected was gay.

While the McCarthy Era is remembered as the time of the Red Scare, the headline-grabbing hunt for Communists in the United States, it was the Lavender Scare, a vicious and vehement purge of homosexuals, which lasted longer and ruined many more lives.

Before it was over, more than 10,000 Federal employees lost their jobs. Based on the award-winning book by historian David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare shines a light on a chapter of American history that has never received the attention it deserves.

It examines the tactics used by the government to identify homosexuals, and takes audiences inside interrogation rooms where gay men and women were subjected to grueling questioning. These stories are told through the first-hand accounts of the people who experienced them.

Watch a first trailer, AFTER THE JUMP...

Frank Kameny Papers on Display for First Time at Library of Congress

If you are in D.C. you may want to swing by the Library of Congress, as a few papers from the collection of gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny have gone on display there, the AP reports:

The library is showing Kameny's 1961 petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, contesting his firing. Though it was denied, Kameny's was the first petition to the high court for a violation of civil rights based on sexual orientation.

The library also is displaying a 1966 letter from the head of the U.S. Civil Service Commission justifying the firing based on the "revulsion of other employees." It was introduced last year as evidence in the battle over gay rights in California.

Also in the Library's possession are papers related to the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 removal of homosexuality from its list of mental disorders and the landmark 1974 federal decision to grant an openly gay man a Pentagon security clearance, as well as materials Kameny used in marches and protests from 1965–1969.

No word on how much of it is on display.

(image wapo)

Frank Kameny In Front Row During Signing OF DADT Repeal Into Law

Brave gay rights activist Frank Kameny was front and center when President Obama signed the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" into law last week. CNN runs down on what Kameny has done for the gay rights movement over the last several decades.

A seat at the front of the audience was reserved for 85-year-old Frank Kameny, who attended wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge that he was awarded for his service in World War II. Kameny recalls his service fighting in the wake of the Battle of the Bulge by saying, "I dug my way across Europe slit trench by slit trench, practically."

But Kameny was not invited because of any heroism he demonstrated in World War II, but rather for a much greater act of courage than even that conflict had demanded of him. He was invited because it was Kameny who began the assault on the military policy of discharging homosexuals by leading a demonstration at the Pentagon in 1965.

Kameny succeeded to an astonishing degree. He led the fight for tactics such as public demonstrations, went on the attack against the Civil Service Commission for its policy of firing homosexuals and spearheaded an effort to get the homophile movement to take the position that homosexuality was not only not a mental illness but was on a par with heterosexuality. In 1968, he got the only existing national association of gay rights organizations to adopt as its slogan a phrase that Kameny had coined, "Gay Is Good." Kameny himself had been discharged from the Army Map Service in 1957 for being gay.

Last year, Kameny received an official apology from the White House Office of Personnel Management for firing him in 1957 because he was gay.

He's also received some much-deserved recognition from the city of Washington, DC. His home in that city has been declared an historic landmark and 17th Street has since been renamed Frank Kameny Way in his honor.