Kameny challenged his dismissal through legal channels before the Supreme Court refused to hear his case in 1961.Ĭoupled with the government's dismissal, the court's decision not to review his case radicalized Kameny, he told Eric Marcus, who interviewed him for the 1992 book Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights, 1945-1990. Thousands of federal employees were fired because of the order, which was signed in 1953 by President Dwight D. At the time, under Executive Order 10450, "sexual perversion" was considered a security risk and thus grounds for dismissal from federal employment. He went on to take a job in 1957 at the US Army Map Service but was soon fired after his supervisors learned he was gay. But his studies were interrupted when he was drafted by the US Army during World War II.Īfter serving in Europe throughout the war, he returned to Queens College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in physics before moving on to Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree and a doctorate in astronomy. Long before the Stonewall uprising, Kameny was at the forefront of a movement to change the public's perception of gay people.īorn in Queens, New York, in 1925, Kameny was a bright student and enrolled at Queens College at 16 to study physics. Wednesday's Google Doodle kicks off the start of Pride month by honoring gay rights activist Frank Kameny, considered one of the most significant figures of the LGBTQ movement in the US.