????????Norton Introduces Congressional Record Statement on Human Rights Leader Frank Kameny????

Norton Introduces Congressional Record Statement on Human Rights Leader Frank Kameny

November 29,2011

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced a congressional record statement honoring her friend Frank Kameny, a leader of the national and local LGBT community who passed away last month. Norton spoke at both his Capitol Hill memorial service on Nov. 15 and at a District of Columbia memorial service on Nov. 3. "Frank Kameny brought honor to his country through his service in World War II, but his country dishonored him with discrimination when he was fired from his federal job because of his sexual orientation," Norton said. "Frank later received an official apology from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. It is also appropriate to honor Frank Kameny in the official pages of the U.S. Congress to remind Washington of milestones that he helped achieve and of the miles to go before Congress finishes what Frank Kameny started."

Remarks of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton in Honor of Frank Kameny

Ms. Norton. Mr. Speaker.

Before he died, Frank Kameny had already won a place reserved for Americans who make personal sacrifices for human rights. There can be no doubt that Frank's pioneering sacrifices for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community place him alongside the nation's human rights heroes. What exactly did Frank do? At a time when it was unthinkable, Frank refused to suppress who he was to keep his job with the federal government. A World War II veteran with a Harvard Ph.D., Frank had everything going for him except, of course, his identity and, thus, his legitimacy. It was being forced out, not coming out, that was the issue, and Frank took his dismissal from the federal service (for which he later received an apology) as a badge of honor. As we in the Civil Rights Movement began wearing our hair natural, i.e., nappy, to show that "black is beautiful," Frank coined "gay is good."

But it was Frank's lonely act of defiance, without reward, that sets him apart. Frank no more set out to sacrifice his livelihood when he refused to deny his sexual orientation to federal authorities than Rosa Parks intended to give up her work as a seamstress when she refused to move to the back of the bus. Rosa Parks got tired of suppressing her full identity and dignity, and so did Frank. Frank did not put in those years of hard work for his Ph.D. in order to come out as a gay man. Like Rosa Parks, Frank wanted the same kind of life as the rest of us. But at a moment of reckoning, Frank summoned something few of us have: raw, pure courage. It is a brand of courage that is the opposite of self-preservation.

Long before there was a LGBT movement, Frank lost his job and his livelihood for the rest of his life. Yet Frank lived to see historic advances that bear his signature, including security clearances for gays in the federal government and the admission of gays into the United States armed services.

We honor those who fight for human rights. We revere those who make sacrifices for human rights. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose memorial we dedicated in October after he sacrificed his life. Anita Hill, whose fearless testimony 20 years ago brought her controversy, while she brought record numbers of women to the House and Senate.

As we honor Frank, in a place that is part of the government that dishonored him, we remember that it is one thing to join a movement; it is quite another to start one. We revere Frank because his life tells us that great human rights victories often begin with the courage of a single individual like Rosa Parks and, yes, Frank Kameny.