OBITS: Gay Rights Champion Rodger McFarlane
After battling debilitating heart and back problems, Rodger McFarlane (seen here at an Outrage panel with Michelangelo Signorile, Larry Kramer and Kirby Dick in May), the former executive director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and the Gill Foundation, and a superstar among GLBT and HIV/AIDS activists, took his own life last Friday. GLAAD: “In a letter found with his remains, Rodger explained that he was unwilling to allow compounding heart and back problems to become even worse and result in total debilitation. We know that Rodger was in a great deal of pain. Already disabled in his own mind, he could no longer work out or do all the outdoor activities he so loved. He was also now faced with the realization that he could literally not travel, making employment increasingly difficult. As his friends and family, we thought it was important that we communicate to the world that it has lost an amazingly wonderful individual who contributed so mightily to our humanity.”
We’ll always remember McFarlane for soundbite bombs like this one, directed at Larry Kramer: “When it comes to being an asshole, Larry is a virtuoso with no peer. Nobody can alienate people quicker, better, or more completely.” You’ll be missed, Rodger.
wow. i saw outrage a few days ago and remember thinking “why haven’t i seen more of this guy?” instead of the insipid leaders that we have today. must’ve been really difficult for him. requiescat in pace.
He was in “Gay Sex in the 70′s”
The full statement from his friends and family is republished here: http://www.outinnyc.com/home/n.....leid=33263
The world will surely miss Rodger…
Sadly I expect the same few number of comments in his article as were in Jack Wranglers’ and for the same reason. So few are still around who would remember him.
I am reminded once again of the devasting loss of friends throughout the 80′s and early 90′s because of AIDS. It wiped out entire neighborhoods in many a city across the US and with it gay historians who were there and made it happen.