Al Gordon, straight lawyer who devoted much of his career to the fight for gay rights, dead at 94

[ruggerson]

September 6, 2009

"Albert L. Gordon, an attorney who helped advance gay rights in the 1970s and '80s by challenging discriminatory practices and laws, including a successful effort to decriminalize consensual homosexual acts, died Aug. 10 in Los Angeles. He was 94.

He died of natural causes, his son Harold said.

Gordon, a heterosexual whose twin sons were gay, became a lawyer in his late 40s and devoted most of his practice to defending the rights of homosexuals and battling the bigotry of law enforcement. Often working for free, he became known as "the leading pro bono lawyer to L.A.'s gay community," historians Lillian Faderman and Stuart Timmons wrote in their 2006 book "Gay L.A."

"Before there was a straight-gay alliance in America, there was Al Gordon," the Rev. Troy Perry, a longtime activist and founder of the gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Churches, said in an interview last week. "When other people wouldn't touch us, he did. He was a hero."

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-albert-gordon6-2009sep06,0,506052.story

[dsc]

1. What an amazing story

This is why coming out is so important. Without his sons this man would have never fought for us.

[David Zephyr]

2. Kicking this up.

Thanks for posting this story, ruggerson.