Kight, who had suffered several strokes in his last years, was hospitalized in December 2002 because of various health problems including cancer and heart trouble. He spent his final weeks at the Carl Bean House, a hospice of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which donated its services in recognition of Kight's many years of support for the organization.

Sponsor Message.

Kight died peacefully in his sleep on January 19, 2003. He was survived by his companion of twenty-five years, Roy Zucheran.

A tireless worker but something of a maverick, Kight never achieved the leadership role in the glbtq rights movement that he undoubtedly would have wanted. As he grew older he was somewhat eclipsed by new generations of leaders who used different tactics to gain equal rights. Toward the end of his life, however, he was "rediscovered" by younger glbtq rights supporters, who appropriately honored him for the pioneering work on which they are now able to build.

Boycotts, the refusal to patronize companies or institutions, have in recent decades been organized by glbtq rights advocates to protest discriminatory practices and policies.

The glbtq history of Los Angeles, the U.S.'s second largest metropolis, is replete with cultural, social, and political firsts.

Both parades and marches have served to render the glbtq community visible; whereas marches typically attempt to effect political change, parades and pride events affirm identity and community.

American artist Don Bachardy, the long-time companion of novelist Christopher Isherwood, has achieved renown in his own right for his nudes and celebrity portraits, which honestly convey the personalities of his sitters.

Carl Bean, founder of Unity Fellowship Church, gave up a promising entertainment career to pursue his vocation as a clergyman to minister to glbtq Christians of color.

The American glbtq movement for equality has largely allied itself with the Democratic Party.

Formed soon after the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the short-lived but influential Gay Liberation Front brought a new militancy to the movement that became known as gay liberation.

Publisher David Goodstein transformed The Advocate into the leading American gay newsmagazine.

Liberace was for many the epitome of flamboyant camp, yet he was also a gay man who steadfastly refused to acknowledge publicly his sexual identity.

One of the earliest American gay movement organizations, the Mattachine Society was dedicated to the cultural and political liberation of homosexuals; but in the face of McCarthyism, it adopted conservative policies of accommodationism.

Troy Perry is the founder of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Protestant denomination devoted to ministering to the spiritual needs of glbtq people.

Matthew Shepard led an unremarkable life, but his shocking death transformed him into an icon of the glbtq movement for equality.

Randy Shilts pioneered as an openly gay journalist in the 1970s and 1980s and was an astute interpreter of the various issues affecting American gay men and lesbians.