Actualizado 02/06/2021 - 15:59

June is here and that means that Pride Month has begun. To celebrate, the Google Doodle for Tuesday was of LGBTQ+ rights activist Franklin Edward Kameny, who was well-known for his activism and for challenging a dismissal from the US army.

Here we take a look at what he achieved in his life, before passing away in 2011 at the age of 86. Kameny remains an important figure in the LGBTQ+ community and several of his most famous quotes and ideas are brought up time and time again, even to this day.

Who was Frank Kameny and what did he do?

Born in New York City in 1925, Kameny served in the US army in World War II and later returned to the military in later life to work for the US Army Map Service, having collected degrees in physics and astronomy.

When his employment was terminated, essentially because he was gay, Kameny challenged the US government in the supreme court. Although that was denied, he then devoted his life to activism and never held a paid job again.

He was involved in putting together some of the first gay rights advocacy groups in the USA, while some credit him as being the very first to hold an LGBTQ+ rights protest. In 1971, Kameny was the first openly gay candidate for the United States Congress, although he lost that race.

Apologies and tributes

Kameny's activism inspired many and this led to real change in the USA's equal rights policies. It may have taken a long, long time, but he did eventually receive a format apology from the US government for his firing from the military, with this apology coming in 2009, 51 years later.

In 2010, Washington DC named a small street after him, calling it Frank Kameny Way is his honour.

Then, he passed away due to heart complications at the age of 86 on October 11, 2011. That was actually on National Coming Out Day.

Frank Kameny's most famous quotes

There were various famous comments and statements made by Kameny over the years, some of the most famous of which were as follows.

• "We are interested in obtaining rights for our respective minorities."
• "Not only is homosexuality, whether by inclination or overt act, not immoral, but homosexual acts engaged in by consenting adults are moral, in a positive and real sense."
• "The person who really needs psychotherapy is not the homosexual youngster who gets dragged to the psychiatrist's office by his mother, but the mother, to relieve her anxieties about his homosexuality."
• "If I disagree with someone, I give them a chance to convince me they are right. And if they fail, then I am right and they are wrong and I will just have to fight them until they change."