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Veterans Administration To Honor Gay Rights Pioneer Frank Kameny On Veterans Day

Kameny will receive a memorial headstone from the VA nearly 60 years after being dismissed from the Army.

Frank Kameny’s lifelong legacy of fighting for LGBT rights began in 1957, when he was fired from his position as an Army astronomer for being a homosexual.

On Veterans Day, the Veterans Administration will honor Kameny, who served in WWII, with a memorial headstone.

The marker, along with a footstone reading “Gay is Good” (Kameny’s motto), will be located in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery near the grave of Air Force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich.

In 1975, Matlovich became the first active-duty service member to challenge the military’s ban on homosexuals. Kameny, who had fought the ban since the early 1960s, was pivotal in helping Matlovich on his coming-out strategy.

Paul Williams, president of Congressional Cemetery, says Kameny's memorial and Matlovich's grave are located in a section of the cemetery known as the “LGBT corner.”

“It is the only known gay section of a cemetery anywhere in the world," said Williams.

"His site and other LGBT pioneers such as Barbara Gittings will serve as a visual reminder to the youth of today and the future that the struggle for gay rights was fought hard and early by these distinguished individuals.”

Gordon Tanner, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of the Air Force and the first out gay military veteran confirmed by the Senate, will speak at the unveiling ceremony, where the D.C. Gay Men’s Chorus will perform as well.

Kameny died on October 11, 2011.

The LGBT Veterans Day event takes place November 11 at 11am at the Matlovich gravesite in the Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St., S.E.

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