Kameny, Frank, 1925-2011

Frank Kameny (b. May 21, 1925, New York, N.Y.-d. October 11, 2011, Washington, D.C.) was an American gay rights activist. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II with combat duty in Germany and recieved a Ph.D in astronomy from Harvard University in 1956. In 1957 he was dismissed from the U.S. Army Map Service on charges of homosexual activity and appealed the dismissal through government review boards and the federal courts, all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court which declined his appeal for review. In 1961 he founded the Mattachine Society of Washington and through the 1990s he served as counsel or representative for applicants charged with homosexual activity before a variety of federal administrative review boards, specializing in federal employment, security clearance, and military discharge cases. He also campaigned for the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual of mental disorders, the reversal of the U.S. Civil Service Commission's exclusion of homosexuals from federal employment, the revocation of the District of Columbia's sodomy laws, and the retraction of policies denying national security clearances to homosexuals. In 1965, Kameny led the first public protests for gay rights at the White House.