Pride Month: Google Doodle Honours Gay Rights Activist Dr Kameny

Pride Month: Dr Frank Kameny filed the first gay rights appeal in the US Supreme Court in the year 1961.

Pride Month: Google Doodle celebrates American Gay rights activist Frank Kameny.

(Photo: Google.com)

Google Doodle on Wednesday, 2 June, celebrated American gay rights activist, veteran, and astronomer Dr Frank Kameny.

To celebrate Pride Month, Google Doodle paid its tribute to Dr Kameny, who is widely hailed as one of the most prominent figures of the US LGBTQ rights movement.

Who Is Dr Frank Kameny?

Franklin Edward Kameny was born on 21 May 1925, in Queens, New York. He became a pupil at Queens College to study physics at a young age of 15. After returning to the US, he obtained a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University.

Dr Frank Kameny then took a job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service in the year 1957. However, he was fired just few month after his joining, because of an executive order, which effectively barred members of the LGBTQ community from federal employment.

Dr Kameny sued the federal government in response to his termination, and filed the first gay rights appeal in the US Supreme Court in 1961.

Google blog also mentions that years before the Stonewall Riots, Dr Frank Kameny organised one of the US' first gay rights advocacy groups. He also went ahead to challenge the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, in early 1970s.

The continuous struggle eventually led the Civil Service Commission to lift its ban on LGBTQ employees in the year 1975.

Why Is Google Doodle Celebrating Dr Frank Kameny?

Google always celebrates achievements from around the world by putting up doodles on its home page. This time, it is celebrating Pride Month and as mentioned above, Dr Frank Kameny played a very important role in the US LGBTQ rights movement. The doodle is a way of honoring his struggle and spreading awareness about his legacy.

The blog also mentions that in the year 2009, Dr Kameny received a formal apology from the US government. In June 2010, Washington DC named a stretch of 17th Street NW near Dupont Circle “Frank Kameny Way” in his honor.