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The Office
of communications and marketing
Boise State University
1910 University Drive
Education Building, #726
Boise Idaho 83725-1030
208-426-1577
(fax)208-426-4001
email newsservices@boisestate.edu
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bmcdiarm@boisestate.edu
May 15, 2003
Boise State's BGLAD to Host Major Gay-Rights Speaker Frank Kameny
Boise State University's Bisexuals, Gays, Lesbians and Allies for Diversity (BGLAD) will bring one of the founders of the modern gay rights movement to campus in June for Idaho Pride Week.
Frank Kameny will speak at the Special Events Center at 7 p.m. Friday, June 13. The event is free and open to the public and free parking will be provided behind the Student Union Building. The event is co-sponsored by Your Family, Friends and Neighbors, a local gay rights group.
After serving in World War II in the Eighth Army Division as a mortar corpsman (fighting on the frontlines in Germany), Kameny, now 77, earned a Ph.D from Harvard University in 1956.
Arrested that same year on morals charges, he was eventually fired from his job. He filed his own petition to the Supreme Court in January 1961, but his case was denied. It was the first gay rights legal case in the country.
In 1961, Kameny and Jack Nichols formed a Washington D.C. branch of the Mattachine Society, one of the earliest gay rights organizations in the country.
In May 1971 he lead an invasion of the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association and took the microphone to accuse the psychiatrists of victimizing homosexuals. In 1973, thanks to Kameny-led efforts, the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
Also in 1971, Kameny was the first openly gay person to run for Congress (he came in fourth). In 1975 became the first openly gay person to receive a mayoral appointment in Washington D.C.
Kameny helped found and then served for 10 years on the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force board. He was also involved in the formation of the Gay Rights National Lobby and served on its board. It eventually metamorphosed into the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT organization in America.
Still active in gay and lesbian politics, Kameny is the national authority on security clearances for gays and lesbians. Although not a lawyer, he was invited to serve on an American Bar Association committee on security clearances, which resulted in the Clinton executive order baring discrimination against gays and lesbians in federal employment in 1994.
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Contact
Autumn Haynes
Student Activities Program Coordinator
208 426-1223
Media Contact
Kathleen Craven
communications and marketing
208 426-3275
Last reviewed on Thursday, July 21, 2005