Kiyoshi Kuromiya

born: May 9, 1943
died: May 10, 2000

“I really believe that activism is therapeutic.”
-Kiyoshi Kuromiya

Kiyoshi Kuromiya is an official honoree today for GLBT History Month 2010.

Kuromiya was born in a Japanese internment camp in rural Wyoming during World War II.

He participated with Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings and others in the first organized LGBT civil rights demonstrations.

Diagnosed with AIDS in 1989, Kuromiya became a self-taught expert on the disease. He helped found ACT UP Philadelphia.

He was the lead plaintiff in a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of patients seeking permission to use medical marijuana.

Kuromiya died from AIDS-related complications at age 57.

Kuromiya was on the February/March 1996 cover of POZ. Click here to read his POZ story.

Click here for more about Kuromiya at the Equality Forum, which sponsors GLBT History Month.


P.S. Today is also National Coming Out Day. If you can, I strongly encourage you to come out, not only about being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, but also about your HIV status. It helps you and others conquer stigma and discrimination!

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