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My heart is shattered.
Mary Travers - a member of the hugely popular 1960s US folk group Peter, Paul and Mary - has died aged 72. …
More: BBC.
My. Heart. Is. Shattered.
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Well, yesterday, actually, but we found out today.
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Albert L. Gordon dies at 94; attorney fought for gay rights Albert L. Gordon, an attorney who helped advance gay rights in the 1970s and ’80s by challenging discriminatory practices and laws, including a successful effort to decriminalize consensual homosexual acts, died Aug. 10 in Los Angeles. He was 94.
He died of natural causes, his son Harold said.
Gordon, a heterosexual whose twin sons were gay, became a lawyer in his late 40s and devoted most of his practice to defending the rights of homosexuals and battling the bigotry of law enforcement. Often working for free, he became known as “the leading pro bono lawyer to L.A.’s gay community,” historians Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons wrote in their 2006 book “Gay L.A.”
“Before there was a straight-gay alliance in America, there was Al Gordon,” the Rev. Troy Perry, a longtime activist and founder of the gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Churches, said in an interview last week. “When other people wouldn’t touch us, he did. He was a hero.” …
Much more at the link. You should really go there and read the whole article — Gordon was a homophobe who saw the light, and… well, he became our dad — his boys’, ours, yours.
Goodnight, Albert. And thank you for everything.
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PHILADELPHIA — August 30, 2009 — It is with great sadness that the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania marks the passing of Larry Frankel, who served as Legislative Director to the organization from 1992 through 2008 and Executive Director from 1996 to 2001. At the time of his death, Larry was the State Legislative Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in its Washington Legislative Office.
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One source, and one source only for this story — but that source is Pennsylvania Rep. Mark Cohen:
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Mass. Sen. Ted Kennedy Dies at 77,
After Cancer BattleEdward M. Kennedy, one of the most powerful and influential senators in American history and one of three brothers whose political triumphs and personal tragedies captivated the nation for decades, died at 77.
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was the last survivor of a privileged and charismatic family that in the 1960s dominated American politics and attracted worldwide attention. As heir through tragedy to his accomplished older brothers — President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), both of whom were assassinated — Edward Kennedy became the patriarch of his clan and a towering figure in the U.S. Senate to a degree neither of his siblings had been. …
More… everywhere. Google. Blogs. TV. Everywhere.
Man, this hurts. Bad.
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We grieve only for our own loss, and we thank you, Ms. Wilson, for everything:
Margaret Bush Wilson, who died Tuesday at age 90, was remembered by her family as an woman whose unassuming manner belied a strong passion for social justice and lifelong love for bridge and books. She was the first woman to head the board of the national NAACP and held that post for nine terms, starting in 1975. Among the many tributes to Mrs. Wilson, U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, summed it up when he called her “a giant” and “a dear friend.”
Full biography and obituary at the St. Louis Beacon.
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Related:
My Cousin Participates in the Special Olympics
March 19, 2009
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Gay leader Allen Thornell passes away Longtime gay political activist and volunteer Allen Thornell died this morning after suffering a stroke yesterday. He was 38.
Thornell’s family and friends released a statement at 12:23 p.m. confirming his death. …
“He was surrounded by his loving partner, Chad Prosser, and friends during his final moments. His death is a tragedy of tremendous magnitude. …
Thornell’s Facebook page has become a makeshift memorial, and community organizations reacted with shock and sorrow in press releases throughout the day. …
More at the link.
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Corazon Aquino dies at 76; restored democracy to the Philippines The charismatic widow of assassinated opposition leader drove dictator from office, but the head of the ‘people power’ movement left a mixed legacy of political and natural disasters. …
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“In 1991, I helped E. Lynn and he helped me. I had my own magazine ‘SBC’ that was widely distributed for the LGBT community and when he came out with his first novel, ‘Invisible Life,’ I said let’s do some stories on him because the stories he’s telling about our community is groundbreaking. … I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for E. Lynn Harris.”— Stanley Bennett Clay
What a loss. What a terrible loss.
The obituary from Essence downplays his gayness (even in the linked article, “E. Lynn Harris’s personal side”), but Harris’s contemporaries, at least, don’t mince words in the buried piece, “Black Writers Remember Author E. Lynn Harris.”
You might also want to check out ELynnHarris.com.
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“Gottlieb received most of the credit for identifying the disease, but Dr. Weisman ‘contributed his open eyes. He felt right away he was observing something that was never seen before.’”
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Another side of Walter Cronkite few people knew:
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Front page of the New York Times — no other info yet:
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Hey, that was the nicest headline I could come up with. He was not a good guy — even if he did figure out later that he screwed up, big-time… Radio City Music Hall big-time. No amount of hindsight or regret brings millions of men, women, and children back from the dead, or begins to compensate for the way the “national social fabric” of the United States was, indeed, “torn asunder.” We haven’t recovered from Vietnam yet (and we may never), we haven’t learned a damned thing from it (and we may never), and there are still kids stumbling over old mines and getting their legs blown off.
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“We can build the dream with love…”
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Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and “Charlie’s Angels” stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62. …
Fawcett, who checked into a hospital in early April, had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years. …
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I know he was Muslim, but he was also Bangladeshi — and when it comes right down to it, death— er, being absorbed into the absolute — is The Great Equalizer, so who cares in the end if I don’t know which language to use? All that matters is, he was brilliant, and his music inspirational beyond words.
So here’s a rough (very rough) translation to Sanskrit:
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I’m not a man. I write poetry.
I’m not a man. I meditate on peace and love.
I’m not a man. I don’t want to destroy you.
Harold Norse dies at 92; Beat poet was a literary beacon in the gay community A pioneer of poetry written in plain American English, Norse was mentor or peer to great talents in 20th century American literature, including Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin and Allen Ginsberg.
Harold Norse, a San Francisco poet often associated with the Beats, who was mentor or peer to many of the greatest talents in 20th century American literature, including Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski, has died. He was 92.
Norse died of natural causes Monday at an assisted-living facility in San Francisco, according to his conservator, attorney Mark Vermeulen. …
More at the link, including a gorgeous portrait.
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Found hanged in his Bangkok hotel room.
Foul play not suspected — nor, at this point, is suicide.
We won’t speculate. We’ll just say:
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