Voeller was in the forefront of the fight against AIDS. It was he who suggested the name Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome instead of GRID, "Gay-Related Immune Deficiency," which he considered both stigmatizing and inaccurate.

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In addition to publishing many articles on HIV and AIDS and co-editing AIDS and Sex: An Integrated Biomedical and Behavioral Approach (1991, with June M. Reinisch and Michael Gottlieb) for the Kinsey Institute Series, Voeller testified at congressional hearings on AIDS and lent his expertise to numerous federal, state, and local organizations working to fight AIDS.

Voeller lost his own battle with the disease on February 13, 1994. He died at his Topanga, California, home surrounded by his family--his life partner Richard Lucik, his sons Jon and Christopher Voeller, his daughter Suzanne Sundheim, and his sister Nancy Petron.

In 1988 Voeller had contributed the Mariposa archives, a valuable collection of historical documents on the gay and lesbian rights movement, to Cornell University, where they are now part of the Human Sexuality Collection. Following Voeller's death, Lucik undertook Mariposa's final project, commissioning artist Don Bachardy to make portraits of twelve gay and lesbian rights leaders. The subjects included Voeller, Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin, Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings, Troy Perry, and Jean O'Leary. Lucik presented the portrait series to the Human Sexuality Collection in 1995.

In the United States, glbtq people have played an integral and often leading role in AIDS activism, greatly influencing AIDS treatment and advocacy.

The U.S. gay rights movement has made significant progress toward achieving equality for glbtq Americans, and in the process has become more inclusive and diverse, but much remains to be done.

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

The site of contentious battles for glbtq rights, Miami is home to a vibrant glbtq community; as is Key West, which has a long tradition of celebrating diversity.

Patronage--the sponsorship of artists and the commissioning of works from them--has remained a significant factor in the creation of queer visual culture in the modern era.

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.

Political activist Midge Costanza had a long and distinguished record as a champion of gay and women's rights.

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

An important organization of the early post-Stonewall era, the Gay Activists Alliance, which flourished from 1969 to 1974, strove to give gay men and lesbians visibility in American politics.

A pioneer in the American gay rights movement, Barbara Gittings worked tirelessly within the American Library Association to make material with glbtq content more accessible to the reading public.

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

One of the founding fathers of the American gay rights movement, Frank Kameny helped radicalize the homophile movement, preparing the way for the mass movement for equality initiated by the Stonewall Riots of 1969.

The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, established by Alfred Kinsey in 1947, has pioneered in the study of American sexual behavior.

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were among the founders of a lesbian liberation movement that developed and enlarged the very definition of lesbianism.

The oldest continuously operating national glbtq interest group, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has played a significant role in the development of the glbtq movement for equal rights.

The National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals exists to empower glbtq careerists and students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

Jean O'Leary devoted her life to activism for gay and lesbian rights.

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.

Pop sculptor George Segal's "Gay Liberation" (1980) was the first piece of public art commemorating the struggle of glbtq people for equality.

The confrontations between police and demonstrators at the Stonewall Inn in New York City the weekend of June 27-29, 1969 mark the beginning of the modern glbtq movement for equal rights.