Early N.C. gay rights pioneer dies

http://goqnotes.com/11436/early-n-c-gay-rights-pioneer-dies/

EL PASO, Texas — North Carolina-native and longtime LGBT and Democratic Party activist Bob Bland, one of the original members of the New York Gay Liberation Front (GLF), passed away on June 7 while being treated for cancer and kidney problems at the University Medical Center in El Paso, Texas. He had become ill while driving from Bisbee, Ariz., to North Carolina to see his elderly mother. He was 64 years old.


Bob Bland
Born in North Carolina in 1947, Bland was a dedicated Democratic activist since childhood. He was first elected president of his high school’s Young Democrats in Goldsboro, N.C., and later to Rice University’s Young Democrats, where he was largely responsible for getting the Texas Young Democrats to oppose the Vietnam War in 1967.

From 1970-71 Bland was an active member of New York GLF and part of the 17th Street Collective household and Gay Flames, a GLF publication. In 1972, he returned to North Carolina and founded the Triangle Gay Alliance, the first LGBT organization in the state. He was the first openly gay person to be elected delegate to a Democratic county convention.

Bland later moved to Atlanta where he became involved in Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. After Carter’s victory in 1976, Bland moved to Washington and joined the staff of the Democratic National Committee as a direct response fundraiser.