WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia home of the late gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, designated a historic landmark, has been sold, The Washington Blade reports.
Kameny, who died in October at age 86, lived at 5020 Cathedral Avenue NW in the Palisades, a neighborhood upriver from Georgetown.
The modest brick house, which served as Kameny's office and housed his papers, sold for $725,000. The Blade reports that although there had once been plans to turn the house into a LGBT history center before Kameny's death, "no serious effort" materialized:
Under the city’s and federal government’s historic designation, the new owner of the house is prohibited from demolishing it or making major external changes. Under D.C. regulations, some external change could be made upon approval by the city.
Kameny had been an astronomer with the U.S. Army Map Service when he was fired in 1957 after it was discovered he was gay. Kameny protested his firing and his case became what's believed to be the first civil rights case based on sexual orientation brought to the U.S. Supreme Court, though his case was ultimately unsuccessful.
The Office of Personnel Management offered an official apology to Kameny in 2009.
Kameny is widely regarded as laying the foundation for the modern gay rights movement a decade before the Stonewall riots in New York City.
Kameny's papers were given to the Library of Congress following his death.