Franklin Kameny is a local gay rights pioneer. In the late 1950s, he was fired from his job in the Army Map Service for being gay. Petitioning the Supreme Court in 1961, he “launched Washington’s gay rights movement…with no backing other than his own brains and lung power. He declared his homosexuality a God-given blessing. He provided legal assistance to gay servicemen and women. He insisted that gay people speak for themselves and resist being pathologized by psychiatrists and entrapped by police,” according to an October 2006 article in the Washington Post.  

On Thursday, the Historic Preservation Review Board declared his home a D.C. landmark—-making it the first GLBT historic site in the city. 

Kameny, now in his mid 80s, still lives in the Palisades home at 5020 Cathedral Ave. N.W., according to the Washington Business Journal.