Frank Kameny

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Lore & Background

Kameny was born to Ashkenazi Jewish parents in New York City on May 21, 1925. He earned a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University in 1956; his doctoral thesis was titled *A Photoelectric Study of Some RV Tauri and Yellow Semiregular Variables* under professor Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. After being fired from the U.S. Army Map Service in 1957 due to his homosexuality, he formally appealed his firing by the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Although unsuccessful, the proceeding was notable as the first known civil rights claim based on sexual orientation pursued in a U.S. court. In January 1958, he was barred from future employment by the federal government. Kameny argued through written letters and eventually through the courts that the government's discrimination on the basis of sexuality is no different from discrimination based on race or religion. He eschewed conventional racial designations, consistently citing his race as "human".

Reader's Guide

Kameny's significance lies in his pioneering legal challenge against the U.S. government's discrimination based on sexual orientation. In late 1961, he co-founded the Washington D.C. branch of the Mattachine Society. In 1963, Kameny and Mattachine launched a campaign to overturn D.C. sodomy laws; he personally drafted a bill that finally passed in 1993. He also worked to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In 1965, after his tenure as MSW president came to a close, Kameny organized the first demonstration by a homophile organization—a 10-person protest outside the White House. Signs included demands: "WE WANT FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT, HONORABLE DISCHARGES, SECURITY CLEARANCES." His requirements for picketers included men wearing suits and women wearing dresses, each sign measuring twenty-two by twenty-eight inches, with the same message on both sides. In coalition with New York's Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, the picketing expanded to target the United Nations, the Pentagon, the U.S. Civil Service Commission, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia for what became known as the Annual Reminder for gay rights.

Did You Know?

• Kameny was arrested on August 26, 1956, in a San Francisco terminal bathroom after two police officers witnessed him engaging in a sexual encounter; he pleaded guilty and accepted a $55 fine and 6-months probation.
• After devoting himself to activism, Kameny never held a paid job again and was supported by friends and family for the rest of his life.
• The Baltimore Vice Squad raided a homosexual bath house on March 14, 1969, arresting Kameny along with twenty-seven other men; he hired an attorney recommended by the ACLU and served no time.
• Kameny served in the Army throughout World War II in Europe as an infantry private, and later served 20 years on the Selective Service board.
• At age 17, Kameny told his parents he was an atheist.