How Eric Cervini Realized Frank Kameny’s Importance To Gay History

Historian Eric Cervini wrote The Deviant’s War:The Homosexual vs. The United States of America the first in-depth book about Frank Kameny, a rising and talented astronomer at the U.S. Defense Department who was fired for being gay.

Cervini’s book was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in history and a New York Times best seller.’

But Cervini tells The Advocate that his interest in queer history began when he saw the film Milk:

“I watched the film Milk about Harvey Milk, and I was shocked that I knew nothing about this story. That’s where my interest in queer history began.”

He says of Kameny:

“Kameny was working in Hawaii and was sent to Washington, D.C., in 1957 and ordered to report to the Pentagon, because the Defense Department had reason to believe he was gay. And after a series of really humiliating interviews, Kameny, like countless other gay men and women before him, was dismissed from his government job; however, unlike others, Kameny fought back. Kameny has often been called the grandfather of gay rights. The Deviant’s War follows all that Kameny did, particularly through the 1960s, when he was one [of] the founders [of] the Mattachine Society of Washington, which became the first organization to protest the systematic persecution of gay federal employees. Rather than go out quietly, he fought his dismissal from the Defense Department in court for many years. He was one of the first in the 1960s that began picketing outside the White House, calling for equal rights for gays and lesbians. He was brave, courageous, and fearless.”

Amazon Studios and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment are developing a limited series based on the book written by Matthew López.

In 2006 Frank Kameny accepted the National Capitol Area Leadership award.

Watch his speech below.