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Pioneering Gay Activist Barbara Gittings Dies
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: February 19, 2007 - 12:01 am ET

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Gay rights pioneer Barbara Gittings has died at the age of 75 from a lengthy and brave battle with breast cancer.

Gittings death was announced Sunday by fellow activist and Philadelphia Gay News publisher and friend Mark Segal announced today.

Gittings first came to the public spotlight in 1965 when she and a handful of gay men and lesbians held demonstrations outside the White House and Independence Hall seeking equal rights for homosexuals.

"These were the first such demonstrations in American history and began an era of gays coming out of the closet. Gitting involvement in the gay rights movement started in the late 1950s when she helped organize the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis," said Segal.

It was there she met her life partner Kay Lahusen, who has been by her side for 46 years.

Gittings other accomplishments include head of the American Library Association's Gay Task Force.

In 2003 The American Library Association presented Gittings with it's highest honor, a lifetime membership.

She was an active cornerstone in the campaign that led to the American Psychiatric Association dropping its categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973.

Gittings was an early community journalist. She edited the D.O.B. publication "The Ladder" from 1963-66 and worked with Lahusen on her 1973 book "The Gay Crusaders."

On July 2, 2005 Gittings and Lahusen attended the unveiling of the first official historic marker in the nation recognizing the Gay Rights Struggle. The marker, placed by the Pennsylvania Historic Commission, is located directly across the street from Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Gittings continued to make appearances, even accepting an award from the American Psychiatric Association this past fall, but ill health finally led her and Lahusen to an Assisted Living Facility in Kennet Square, PA, where she went into a coma Sunday morning.

Sunday night she passed away with Kay at her side.

Along with Lahusen, Gittings is survived by her sister Eleanor Gittings Taylor of San Diego, California.

Lahusen has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Barbara's memory to Lambda Legal Defense Fund.

A memorial is currently being planned and details will be announced at a later date.

©365Gay.com 2007