Subject: INLGO Founder Dies

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 1995 15:23:12 -0400

One of the founders and past co-chair of the International Network of Lesbian
and Gay Officials, and a highly respected member of the Washington State
legislature died following a lengthy struggle with HIV-related illnesses.
 Senator Cal Anderson was known and loved by activists from around North
America and beyond.  He was a cheerful and effective leader in civil rights
and progressive issues in Washington and in the broader gay and lesbian
rights movement.  His charm and gentle nature will be sorely missed by those
who knew him.

The following article is reprinted from his home town newspaper:

SEATTLE TIMES
Saturday, August 5, 1995
by Carole Beers, Anne Koch, and Dee Norton
   Cal Anderson, the Legislature's first openly gay member, died yesterday,
ending his battle with AIDS.
   Secretary of the Senate Marty Brown said Anderson was found dead by his
partner, Eric Ishino, at their Seattle home when Ishino came home from work.
   Anderson, a Democratic senator from Seattle's 43rd District, was absent
for most of the 1995 legislative session, battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma, an
AIDS-related cancer.
   In April, Anderson announced that chemotherapy had eradicated the
lymphoma, but he was left weakened and susceptible to more illnesses. In
June, he missed being grand marshall of Seattle's gay-pride parade because of
blood clots in his legs and lungs.
   Before entering the Legislature, Anderson served in Vietnam, winning two
Bronze Stars and two Army Commendation Medals.
   Anderson, 47, was appointed to the House in 1987 and won subsequent House
elections, until he captured an open Senate seat in 1994 with 81 percent of
the vote. He took an interest in civil rights, the environment and
legislation dealing with elections, ethics and state government.
   For years, Anderson waged an unsuccessful battle to have the Legislature
adopt a gay-rights bill. He was a major force in fighting anti-gay rights
initiatives in 1994.
   In an interview last month, Anderson looked ahead: "One of my dreams is to
go back to Olympia next year and say 'I'm still here.' AIDS isn't the death
sentence you all think it is."
   Anderson declined to resign from the Senate because he loved the work and
was still able to do it.
   While he was diagnosed HIV positive before he was first elected, Anderson
declined to publicly reveal it: "What would have happened is I would have
become the poster child for AIDS, not a legislator."
   Anderson called himself "a Democrat who happens to be gay."
   A $2.6 million, 24-unit apartment complex for low-income people with AIDS
was dedicated to Anderson last month.