LGBT pioneer Bill Beardemphl
Posted: Saturday, March 2nd, 2002 11:09 pmBill Beardemphl, founder of one of San Francisco’s earliest gay rights organizations, has died at the age of 75.
He passed away on Feb. 13, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, after suffering for more than a year from prostate cancer.
Beardemphl trained as a chef in New York before moving to San Francisco in 1962 with his longtime partner, John DeLeon, a professional dancer. Dismayed by the then-repressive nature of the city’s laws, he formed the Society for Individual Rights in 1964 with friend Bob Ross, publisher of the gay Bay Area Reporter newspaper. The group enlisted more than 1,000 members nationally.
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His activism continued through the 1970s, when he wrote a regular column, “From the Left,” for the Bay Area Reporter and started another local gay newspaper, The Sentinel. … Read full obituary
