A pioneer of the gay rights movement and World War II veteran died Tuesday evening in his Washington home. Frank Kameny, 86, was a crucial force to the gay rights movement, modeling it after the civil rights movement. He was discharged from the Army Map Service in 1957 for his sexual orientation, and led a demonstration at the Pentagon in 1965. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said in a statement that Kameny lived “an extraordinary life marked by heroic activism,” leading to the modern LGBT civil rights movement. "From his early days fighting institutionalized discrimination in the federal workforce, Dr. Kameny taught us all that 'Gay is Good.'” Kamany was one the first weddings when gay marriage became legal in Washington in 2010.
