Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a TimeISBN-13: 978-1500563325 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1500563323
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They met in 1969 and remained friends/lovers until Doerr’s death: 18 years.
Martin Robinson (1943 - 1992) & Thomas Doerr (1947 – 1987)
Thomas L. "Tom" Doerr (1947 – August 2, 1987) was an American gay activist. He introduced the lambda symbol into the gay movement. Originally the lambda sign referred to the political work of the Gay Activists Alliance and "it was only later that it became a sign for gay liberation in general".<ref name="crwflags" />
Early life
Thomas L. Doerr was born in 1947 to Charles W. Doerr (1922–2002) and Elizabeth F. Doerr (1922–1994).Citation needed|date=September 2017Career
thumb|Tom Doerr's lambdaIn the days after the Stonewall riots in 1969, Doerr became known as an activist who helped others understand the political implications of their actions.<ref name="Obituary" />
He was a founding member of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) in New York. He introduced the lambda symbol for the gay movement.<ref name="Clendinen">cite book|last1=Clendinen|first1=Dudley|last2=Nagourney|first2=Adam|title=Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America|date=2001|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=56|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zRFBGTSgoUC&pg=PA56|accessdate=10 September 2017</ref> He meant the lambda to symbolize the liberation that was achievable through activism, the link due to the fact that in chemistry the lambda is a sign for a catalyst and in Doerr's concept it symbolized an "exchange of energy".<ref name="Schiavi" /><ref name="Clendinen"/> Originally the sign was colored chrome yellow – a reference to the Aldous Huxley novel ''Crome Yellow'' – on a dark blue field.<ref name="Obituary" /><ref name="crwflags">cite web|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-lbd.html|title=Lambda flags (gay pride)|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=CRW Flags Inc.|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|accessdate=8 September 2017</ref>
In 1970 ten GAA members occupied the Republican State Committee headquarters to demand Governor Nelson Rockefeller support gay rights.<ref name="Schiavi" /> A Kay Lahusen photo shows Marty Robinson and Tom Doerr snuggling under an American flag.[1]
Personal life
Tom Doerr was a lover of Martin "Marty" Robinson (1943–1992). Born in Brooklyn, Robinson attended New York University and worked as a union carpenter.[2] Robinson, writing Doerr's obituary, said: <blockquote>Anything that I had been able to contribute towards human liberation (self-acceptance) came from his love. I and many of your friends, Tom, will find it much harder to stumble on without you. A somewhat reticent, gentle prophet died this week... We are crushed at losing you... Fortified in having known you.<ref name="Obituary">cite journal|last=|first=|date=|title=Doerr, Thomas 13 Aug 1987|url=http://obit.glbthistory.org/olo/imagedb/1987/08/13/19870813_Doerr_Thomas/m19870813_0.jpg|journal=|publisher=GLBT Historical Society|volume=|pages=|accessdate=8 September 2017|via=</ref></blockquote>Doerr died on August 2, 1987, and is buried with his parents at Centre County Memorial Park, State College, Pennsylvania.<ref name="Obituary" />
Vito Russo designed the panel honoring Tom Doerr for the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, a blue shirt with the lambda yellow sign and underneath it the words: "In memory of Tom Doerr, Who designed the Lambda as the symbol of the Gay Liberation Movement".<ref name="Schiavi">cite book|last1=Schiavi|first1=Michael|title=Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo|date=2011|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|page=249|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DMs06LSC42sC&pg=PA249|accessdate=10 September 2017</ref>[3]
References
reflist|30emExternal links
*Find a Grave|id=125885921*[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=Tom+Doerr# Tom Doerr photos at The New York Public Library Digital Collections]
Authority control
DEFAULTSORT:Doerr, Tom
Category/1947 births
Category/1987 deaths
Category/Gay men
Category/AIDS-related deaths in New York (state)
Category/People from State College, Pennsylvania
- ^ cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-57d7-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|title=Tom Doerr and Marty Robinson during Gay Activists Alliance sit-in.|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=New York Public Library|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|accessdate=10 September 2017
- ^ cite journal|last1=Lambert|first1=Bruce|title=Martin Robinson, Leader of Protests For Gay Rights, 49|journal=The New York Times|date=1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/23/nyregion/martin-robinson-leader-of-protests-for-gay-rights-49.html|accessdate=8 September 2017
- ^ cite web|title=Search the Quilt|url=http://98.252.165.190:591/FMRes/FMPro?-db=search%20the%20quilt.fp5&key=33405&-img|website=The AIDS Memorial Quilt|accessdate=25 September 2017
