Florida Agenda

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An asteroid has been named for American LGBT rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who was fired during the 1950s by the U.S. Army for being gay. Kameny, who died last year in Washington, D.C., earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at Harvard University, and worked for the U.S. Army Map Service during the early days of the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

After being “outed” and fired, Kameny, who was 86 when he died, took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Homosexuality was viewed at the time as a national security risk, as it was claimed that gays in sensitive military and government positions were subject to blackmail, or to being “turned” by a foreign power.)

He later organized the first historic gay rights protests outside the White House and the Pentagon in the 1960s. Astronomer Gary Billings read Kameny’s obituary last year, and submitted a citation to the International Astronomical Union in Paris, and the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Minor Planet Center, hoping to designate “Minor Planet 40463” as “Frankkameny.”

The celestial body—which is located in the asteroid belt, with an orbit between Mars and Jupiter—was first discovered in 1999 using longexposure photography, and is visible through a telescope. The published citation officially naming the asteroid reads, “Frank E. Kameny (1925-2011) trained as a variable star astronomer in the 1950s, but joined the Civil Rights struggle.

His contributions included removing homosexuality from being termed a mental disorder in 1973 and shepherding passage of the District of Columbia marriage equality law in 2009.”

By Richard Hack

Photo Courtesy Getty Images: President Obama shakes hands with gay rights activist Frank Kameny after signing a memorandum on federal benefits as Vice President Joe Biden (from left), Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Joe Lieberman (independent-Conn.) look on.

Frank Kameny, a pioneer in the gay-rights movement, and the father of gay-activism, died October 11 from natural causes in his Washington, DC home. He was 86.

“Frank Kameny led an extraordinary life marked by heroic activism that set a path for the modern LGBT civil rights movement,” Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solomese stated. “From his early days fighting institutionalized discrimination in the federal workforce, Dr. Kameny taught us all that ‘Gay Is Good.’”

After serving in the Army in World War II, and earning a PhD from Harvard University, Kameny took a civil service position with the U.S. Army Map Service in Washington. Soon thereafter, he was questioned about his homosexuality and judged unfit for federal employment.

Determined to fight what he saw as discrimination, he argued his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where, in 1961, he brought the first civil rights claim in a U.S. court based on sexual orientation. While Kameny lost the petition, he never stopped fighting for the rights of homosexuals, both in the military and in the workplace.

In the same year, Kameny joined Jack Nichols to form the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC. In 1965, he led the first pro-gay demonstration in front of the White House. Hand-painted signs used in the protest for equal rights now hang in the Smithsonian Institution.

Frank Kameny 1925 - 2011

Coining the phrase “Gay is Good,” Kameny demanded and received the right to speak at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in 1971, challenging the association’s theory that homosexuality was a sickness. The same year, he founded the Gay Activists Alliance (now the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance). Kameny was also the co-founder of the National Gay Task Force and the National Gay Rights Lobby.

“As we say goodbye to a trailblazer on National Coming Out Day,” Solmonese said, “we remember the remarkable power we all have to change the world by living our lives like Frank – openly, honestly and authentically.”

In a life full of proud moments, Kameny never stood taller than when, from his wheelchair, he took his place in the front row at the White House as President Barack Obama signed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act” into law in December 2010.

Kameny is survived by his sister, Edna Kameny Lavey.