Frank E. Kameny, Ph.D.

Franklin Kameny was a pioneering gay rights activist whose work helped transform the fight for LGBTQ+ equality in the United States. After being dismissed from his federal job because he was gay, Kameny became a leading advocate for civil rights, representing individuals in cases involving military service, civil service employment, and security clearances. He founded the gay rights movement in Washington, D.C., and in 1968 coined the slogan “Gay is Good.” Kameny played an important role in campaigns that helped lead to the removal of homosexuality from the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973 and supported passage of the D.C. Human Rights Law, in the same year, was one of the first laws in the nation to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians. He also ran for Congress from Washington, D.C., became the first openly gay candidate for national office and later served as a commissioner on the D.C. Commission on Human Rights.