From Jonathan Capehart at the Washington Post:
Kameny was a pack rat who knew the value of history and his place in it. The Library of Congress took 77,000 items from Kameny’s time machine of an attic in 2006. That same year, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History took possession of 12 of Kameny’s picket signs. On display right now in the section on “The Presidency,” you can see one of the signs Kameny carried: “Homosexual Citizens Want to Serve Their Country, Too,” it reads. And right now, under glass at the “Creating the United States” exhibition at the Library of Congress sits Kameny’s original 1961 petition for certification to the Supreme Court.
Kameny sported a “Gay is Good” button back when few gay people had the courage to be out, loud and proud. By his example, perseverance and sacrifice, he showed gay men and lesbians — all Americans — what courage looked like. We are a better nation because Franklin Edward Kameny set out to make us so.
