Frank Kameny was born in New York in 1925. He served in WWII and later earned his Ph.D. in astronomy.

In the 50s, he took a civil service position with the Army. But he got fired, because at that time, the government banned employment of homosexuals. Kameny was the first to take such a case to the Supreme Court.

Although he didn't prevail, he was eventually vindicated – because in 1975, the Civil Service Commission amended its anti-gay policy. He once said, "My dismissal amounted to a declaration of war against me by the government, and I tend not to lose my wars."

In that spirit, Kameny helped found the Washington D. C. branch of the Mattachine Society, organized the first gay demonstration at the White House, and co-founded the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Frank Kameny's successes were all forged by his central thought: Gay is good.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Tom Miller.

“The Rainbow Minute” is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and can be heard every weekday at 7:59am, 12:29pm and 2:59pm on WRIR – 97.3fm in Richmond, Virginia, and webcast at wrir.org. It’s also heard internationally on over 200 stations.