5/14/2008

First openly gay State Rep. Larry McKeon dead at 63

Word is coming in that former uptown Chicago State Rep. Larry McKeon, the Illinois legislatures' first openly gay member, has passed away at the age of 63. Cause of death is said to be a stroke:

Former state Rep. Larry McKeon, the first openly gay member of the Illinois General Assembly, died Tuesday, House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie announced Wednesday on the state House floor.

McKeon, 63, a Chicago Democrat, did not seek re-election in 2006 because of health struggles that included cancer and an AIDS-related digestive illness.

An Army veteran and former lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, McKeon came to Chicago in the 1980s to pursue a degree in social service administration.

He worked as a director at United Charities and became involved with gay activist groups, leading to his run for political office. In 1992, he was hired as executive director of the Chicago Human Rights Commission's Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian Issues.

McKeon was elected to the House in 1996 by voters in what was then the North Side's 34th District. During that campaign, he acknowledged being HIV-positive.

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Filed Under: Illinois Politics

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