This morning, DC's mayor Adrian Fenty is at a ceremony officially renaming a popular block of 17th St. Frank Kameny Way in honor of the pioneering gay rights leader. Fifty-three years ago in 1957 Kameny (2nd from left, below) was fired from his astronomy job with the Army Map Service because he is homosexual, unleashing a one-man starburst galaxy of indignation, outrage, and action for gay equality. Last month he turned 85 and he's still at it. My partner has edited an absolutely awesome book of Kameny's papers, Gay Is Good, currently in publishing limbo because of the problems at Alyson. Even more troubling, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which lobbied hard to get their twelve original pickets that Kameny, Barbara Gittings, and other early members of the Mattachine Society used to protest outside the White House in 1965, continues to refuse to display these historic signs. (One picket sign appeared in a temporary installation of new acquisitions, shown in the Air & Space Museum, while the NMAH was renovated. The total number of complaints from the public about displaying a pro-gay sign was zero.) At no point in the entire museum devoted the sweep of the nation's history can visitors find any mention that lgbt Americans have ever participated in democracy or even existed. Frank's work isn't over.
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