Local
Housemate talks about Kameny’s home life
Gay activist’s ashes to be laid to rest in Saturday ceremony

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part report on Timothy Clark, the sole heir of Frank Kameny’s estate. Visit washingtonblade.com for more of this exclusive Blade interview.

Timothy Clark was Frank Kameny’s sole heir; the two lived together for almost 19 years in Kameny’s D.C. home, which is now on the market. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
LGBT rights leaders from D.C. and across the country are scheduled to honor the late gay movement leader Franklin E. Kameny Saturday morning, March 3, at an interment ceremony in the city’s historic Congressional Cemetery.
Among those expected to attend is Timothy Lamont Clark, 35, Kameny’s friend, housemate, and heir of his estate. Clark’s 19-year friendship with Kameny was unknown to many of Kameny’s collaborators in politics and gay activism.
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade last week, Clark said he came to know a private side of Frank Kameny as the two developed a grandfather-grandson relationship that Clark says uplifted his own life and complimented Kameny’s tireless and rough-and-tumble role as a fighter for LGBT equality for more than 50 years.
Kameny died Oct. 11 at his home in Northwest Washington at the age of 86. Several years before his death friends and associates founded the Kameny Papers Project, which arranged for the papers documenting his life’s work as a recognized architect of the gay rights movement beginning in the early 1960s to be given to the Library of Congress, where they are available to researchers and scholars.
Gay historian David Carter, author of the nationally acclaimed book “Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution,” is writing Kameny’s biography.
Clark told the Blade he has long admired Kameny’s work on the local and national stage in the struggle for gay equality. But he said he shunned the whirlwind of political and movement events and activities that Kameny relished, calling himself “a very private person.”
Clark said he met the gay rights pioneer by phone at the age of 15 when he called the Gay Information hotline that Kameny operated out of his home in 1991.
At a time when he was struggling to accept his sexual orientation coming from a strong religious upbringing, Clark said Kameny gave him support and advice through a series of phone conversations that helped him cope with coming out to his family.
“If it would not have been for Frank maybe I would have been one of those kids committing suicide because I’m gay,” Clark said.
At Kameny’s invitation, Clark said he moved into the basement apartment of Kameny’s house in Northwest Washington in 1997 at the age of 20. Clark said he moved out in 1999 to live with his boyfriend in Virginia before returning to the house between 2002 and 2003, where he remained until Kameny’s death.
Following are excerpts of Clark’s Feb. 21 conversation with the Blade.
Washington Blade: Where were you living in D.C. before you moved in with Frank Kameny?
Timothy Clark: With my grandmother.
Blade: When you met him through the gay hotline he operated, did he help you come out as gay?
Clark: Yeah. When I first called him that’s what that was about. I saw that and he just guided me through that year.
Blade: Over the years that you knew Frank Kameny, did he visit any of your relatives and family members?
Clark: Yes, yes, yes. Frank went to Christmas dinners, Thanksgiving dinners, a cookout when my cousin Milton graduated from high school. Frank was a part of my family. Frank was like a grandfather to me. My grandfather passed away when I was little, but Frank was literally like a grandfather to me. We had our ups and downs, but that’s what families do. That’s what a family does. You go through things like that.
Blade: When you moved into his house, did he make it a rent or a roommate situation?
Clark: No, that’s what I want people to understand. It was a family thing. Even when I would offer things to Frank, Frank did not accept it. We just had a bond. I remember one time that I went to the Safeway. I was shopping and I got Frank – he always ate Stouffer’s for lunch and he always ate Healthy Choice for dinner. I bought Frank the groceries and I will tell you he literally went to the ATM and he was trying to give me the money back. I don’t know what it was about me but he was always like that. He never asked anything from me. I mean I was there for him. Of course, I made his breakfasts and his dinner. And I always cooked – we had – every other Sunday he would come down for dinner with me. I would cook a big dinner. Me, him and my friend Jessica, we would eat together.
Blade: You were like a family member?
Clark: That’s exactly what Frank and I were. It would always be to me as long as I’m here. It wasn’t a tenant. And well Frank even got – can I say it? [He looks at his lawyer, Glen Ackerman. Ackerman says to go ahead and say it.] In the last year or so in his life people were making accusations about me and saying things about me and saying that well, you should be charging him rent and who is this person? And then two cops came to the house and asked Frank was he being extorted. And Frank was really — Frank sat on that couch and said I have not worked all of my life for people in the community to treat him like that. I thought that was very disrespectful because the cops wanted to meet me. Actually, a guy from [D.C. Council member] David Catania’s office came over. He was a black guy my age. He came over and we talked. He didn’t even understand it but he said these things were going around and he wanted to talk to me to better understand that. But Frank was very, very upset by that. He felt as though that should not have taken place.
Blade: Did Frank make it clear to people that you were not a problem and he wanted you to be there?
Clark: Of course, of course.
Blade: Concerning the people who were raising concerns about you, some said they worried that Frank was supporting you financially with money he needed to meet his own household expenses.
Clark: How?
Blade: Some of his friends who didn’t know you said they wondered whether you were working and able to support yourself.
Clark: No, no, no, no. I will answer that. First, my work situation has nothing to do with anybody but me. Frank did not spend his money on Timothy. That’s one thing that I can tell you. When my grandmother passed, I was left money. You can call anyone in my family. I’ve always been well taken care of. I was in a relationship and still am sort of and have always been taken care of. And Frank knew everything about my relationship where everything was coming off.
And Frank did not take any money and spend it on me. I was living with Frank. I don’t have a passport to go out of town. I’m scared of flying. The only place I went was Myrtle Beach. I talked to Frank when I went there. Frank was not spending any money on me. Everything I got, I got through me — my computer, my bed, everything.
I can’t tell you where Frank’s money went. I do know — and he’s probably rolling in his grave — but I do know when I was into his family history and all that, but I know that Frank had money and things in stocks but when the stock market crashed a few years ago, that’s what he told me. As he always used to say, I’ve never been a financial whiz — things like that. I can’t tell you where his money went.
But I can tell you that it wasn’t to keep me because I do not sell myself to anybody. And that’s what that would have been if Frank was taking care of me. There was none of that going on. I have respect for myself. I may battle with my religion and being gay but one thing I would never do is sell myself to no man and no woman. I already have to answer for being gay but not that. I would never, ever use anybody that way because I would never want anyone to do that to me — never.
That’s the only thing that I get upset about. I would never sit back and use Frank, con Frank, do anything like that to him because I have respect for him because if it would not have been for Frank maybe I would have been one of those kids committing suicide because I’m gay. I would never have done that to him at all — at all.
Blade: Most people who knew Frank Kameny politically didn’t know you. Did you ever go to political events with him or was that always his thing?
Clark: His thing. I mean Frank always wanted me included, even one of the last events with the drag queens who gave him an award. He wanted me to go. I just — I’m not that kind of a person. I’m private. Now that he’s gone I feel bad that I never went to anything.
But it was things like when he had a birthday party this past year, his last birthday party, I think it was somewhere near Logan Circle somewhere and he wanted me to go. But I didn’t go. But when he came home like the next day I got a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I had two bottles of champagne and I made a little dinner and Frank came down with Jessica and me and celebrated.
Frank was like, he said this is what he was looking forward to. He loved my cooking. That’s why I never went to these things. Frank always said I wasn’t gay enough, that I didn’t care about the cause. He did, but that wasn’t my thing. Frank finally got me to go to the Gay Pride.
Blade: Do you mean the gay pride parade?
Clark: Yeah, the parade. That’s never been my thing. But he finally got me to go.
Blade: Do you think some of the rumors about you started because Frank Kameny was a famous person of sorts and just like other famous people, the public wants to know about the people who are part of their lives? He was known nationally as a preeminent leader for gay rights.
Clark: Right, and so was Whitney Houston.
Blade: That’s right, and everyone wants to know what her ex-husband is doing.
Clark: Yeah, her ex-husband. Frank and I were not lovers. Let’s get that straight… Let me just say something. I think what it is — when those people wanted to meet me — I do not talk about Timothy. I can give you my mother’s telephone number right now and you can ask her things about me. I do not talk about my personal business with anybody. And I think that’s what upset a lot of them.
Blade: Your lawyer has said you will be selling Frank Kameny’s house that you’ve inherited. What are your plans after that? Once the house is sold and this probate process is completed, are you planning on staying in this area? Have you made any decisions on that?
Clark: I’m going to Charlotte. I’m getting away. I’m moving away so I have time to really grieve and really have time to think about the memories I have of Frank. I have not been able to do that.
Blade: What are some of the things you remember of Frank Kameny?
Clark: I will never forget the last time I went to Myrtle Beach and Frank said what are you getting ready to do? Frank had called me because we always talked at 12 o’clock. I said, ‘Frank I’m paying my tab. I’m at the club.’ He said, ‘Timothy, you get back to your hotel. You don’t know those people down there — drinking and galloping around.’ I said, ‘Frank, I am 35 years old.’ I said, ‘Don’t you call me long distance telling me what to do.’ And that was one of my last fun memories of Frank.
Blade: Are you saying he obviously cared for you?
Clark: Yeah, and he fed my dog for me. He called me and said the dog has been fed. You see Frank and me we really got a kick out of each other. That’s what I can talk about. I got a kick out of Frank. I loved him to pieces.
Blade: Did you mention earlier that you did things together but they were non-political going back to when you first got to know him?
Clark: It was way back and I was still living with my grandmother. My aunt knew somebody at Ticketmaster and she got four tickets to see Patti LaBelle. I said Frank we’re going to see Patti LaBelle. He said I’ve heard of her, but Frank was into Mozart. I said Frank I want you to come. I was sitting here and Frank was sitting here and my aunt was sitting there. I took him to see his first Patti LaBelle concert. And it was so amazing.
So we went to see Patti LaBelle a couple of times. He and I went to Blue’s Alley in Georgetown. Me, him and Jessica, we went to see Eartha Kitt. And then after the show you could go upstairs and Eartha Kitt was there and she said to him, nice to meet you. And he said I’m Frank Kameny, gay activist. I said, ‘Frank not here. She’s not interested in that.’ We just laughed. So he got to shake Eartha Kitt’s hand. Frank and I did things together. The only thing he would not take part in was my gospel concerts. Other than that — he didn’t believe in that — but other than that, me and Frank did a lot of things together.
Me and Frank really shared things together. I know how Frank liked his food, his coffee — full sugar cubes; fill the coffee thing right up here and all the milk. I would make his food about 12 o’clock so about 1 o’clock it was near cold — but we shared things together.
Now, like I told you, we talked about political things, too, like about Obama, how he felt about living to see Obama be president, even though I wasn’t an Obama supporter — I was for Hillary — and things like that. That was us. We would argue about things, about the marriage thing. I said you know Frank sometimes gays want too much. I said we’re getting that much but let’s just let Obama get in and do things. And he argued me down about it but that was us. We shared.
Frank would come down in the basement because I wouldn’t come upstairs — it was a mess he wouldn’t allow me to clean up. I cleaned up and he would get mad. He said it was a mess but it was his mess and he knew where things are. But he would come downstairs and we would watch TV.
Blade: Glen Ackerman, your lawyer, mentioned that you recently moved out of the house after Frank’s death. Was there some kind of problem?
Clark: I had never witnessed anything like that day when Frank passed away. It just scares the living crap out of me. And it’s like just to be there — even though the memories are good, there’s nothing bad, but it’s the fact that I found him like that. It just breaks my heart. I don’t know. It doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t feel like home anymore. You know what I mean? There’s no peace any more.
Blade: Your lawyer said you were also troubled over a letter that someone hand-delivered to the house. Was it an anonymous letter?
Clark: Yeah. It was pushed through the thing [mail slot on front door]. It was just right there. And that’s just horrible for anybody to say, no matter what your opinion is, to say that. It said, ‘The nigger got everything.’
Blade: Did it have your name on it?
Clark: No, but whoever it was must have known that situation what’s going on.
District of Columbia
Adams Morgan queer bar broken into and vandalized
Sinners and Saints targeted Thursday night

On Thursday night, Sinners and Saints, a popular queer bar in Adams Morgan and the only QTBIPOC (queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and people of color) bar in D.C., was broken into and vandalized with homophobic slurs, according to a recent Instagram post from the establishment.

“Last night, our bar — the only QTBIPOC bar in DC — was broken into and hate-crimed during DC Black Pride, a time meant for celebration, resilience, and joy — and on the eve of WorldPride 2025. We are heartbroken, but we are not broken,” the post read.
The statement was accompanied by a slideshow showing the damage: the front iron gate door and its glass counterpart shattered, glass strewn across the floor, and the word “FAGGOT” scrawled in black ink on the wall.
“This space exists to protect and celebrate queer and trans BIPOC communities, and this attack only strengthens our resolve,” the post continued. “We will NOT be silenced. We will NOT be intimidated. We will NOT back down.”
“To those who tried to harm us: hate fuels our defiance. To our community: we see you, we love you, and we will continue fighting for you. Sinners and Saints is resistance. We will rebuild. We will STAY OPEN. And we will keep our doors — and hearts — wide open for all who need refuge.”
They ended the message with a call to action: “Stand with us. Share this. Show up. We keep us safe.”
“What happened was truly disheartening, but we won’t be silenced,” co-owner Fazeel Ashraf told the Washington Blade. “QTBIPOC spaces are so important in this current political climate. I’d love to do a phone interview with one of my fellow partners.”
Despite the heartbreak surrounding the break-in and what Ashraf described as “a hate crime,” the LGBTQ community quickly rallied in the comments, offering support and assistance.
“Please let us know how we can help!” wrote Nik Battaglia. “I’m a handy queer with handy queer friends — I can fix shit, paint shit, and am happy to stand guard outside.”
Even national figures chimed in.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Laganja Estranja commented, “Incredible response! I believe in you. Sending so much love and strength.”
The Blade reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department regarding the break-in but has not received a response.
To view the damage, and some of the LGBTQ community’s supportive statements, visit the Sinners and Saints’s Instagram page.

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Raffi Freedman-Gurspan on being appointed Associate Director, Federal Funding & Infrastructure Office, at the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration & Finance. Freedman-Gurspan will be returning to her hometown of Boston and joining Gov. Maura Healey’s Administration. Freedman-Gurspan served in both the Obama and Biden administrations as well as worked in LGBTQ and redistricting advocacy during her 11 years in D.C.
Freedman-Gurspan was the first openly transgender person on the White House staff when she worked for President Obama. She most recently served at the U.S. Department of Transportation in former Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s office, as Deputy Director of Public Engagement. Previously she worked with the National Redistricting Action Fund/The All On The Line Campaign, as Deputy States Director. She worked for the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) as Director of External Relations. In the Obama White House, she worked in the Office of Public Engagement, as Senior Associate Director. She was the White House Liaison to the LGBTQ community responsible for management of all public inquiries on matters regarding LGBTQ people, including recommending public responses to senior leadership, assisting in drafting administration talking points, and coordinating stakeholder engagement with the White House offices. She worked with the White House, Presidential Personnel Office (PPO), as Outreach and Recruitment Director.
Prior to that she was on the staff of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, House of Representatives Office of State Rep. Carl Sciortino, as legislative director, and worked for the City of Somerville, Health Department, Office of Commissions, Somerville, Mass., as LGBTQ Liaison.
Freedman-Gurspan served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the Presidentially Appointed Council; and as a member, and Board Member, Boston University, College of Arts and Sciences, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Norwegian, concentration in Nordic Studies, from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
District of Columbia
Murdered Israeli embassy officials were supporters of D.C.’s LGBTQ synagogue
Bet Mishpachah calls fatal shooting outside Capital Jewish Museum ‘devastating’

The two Israeli embassy officials who were shot to death outside D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday evening, May 21, were strong supporters of Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ supportive synagogue, according to a statement it released.
“We are especially devastated by the loss of our dear colleague and friend of Bet Mishpachah, Sarah Milgram, and her soon to be fiancé, Yaron Lischinsky,” the LGBTQ synagogue said in a May 22 statement.
“Sarah was the liaison between Bet Mishpachah and the Israeli Embassy, working closely with our staff and clergy,” the statement says. “Her warmth, professionalism, and deep commitment to building bridges within the Jewish community made her not only a trusted partner but a beloved part of our extended congregational family,” according to the statement.
A statement also released on May 22 by the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia says Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, 30, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder along with other weapons related charges in connection with the shooting deaths of Milgram and Lischinsky.
Officials with the D.C. police and the FBI, which has joined D.C. police in continuing to investigate the case, have said Rodriquez arrived in D.C. from Chicago one day prior to the shooting and appears to have targeted an event taking place at the Capital Jewish Museum for violence at the time it was hosting an event called “Young Diplomats Reception,” in which Israeli Embassy officials were in attendance.
Police and FBI officials have said Rodriguez allegedly shot Milgrim and Lischinsky after they left the Capital Jewish Museum at the conclusion of the event. The museum is located at 575 3rd Street, N.W.
“Surveillance footage reportedly shows Rodriquez walking past the victims before turning and firing multiple rounds,” the U.S. Attorney’s statement says. “After the victims fell, he allegedly continued firing at close range, including as one attempted to crawl away,” it says, adding, “Investigators recovered a 9 mm handgun and 21 spent shell casings at the scene.”
Police have said Rodriguez walked into the Capital Jewish Museum after the shooting and was detained by security guards until D.C. police arrived. Witnesses said he began to shout, “free, free Palestine” before police took him into custody.
“Make no mistake, this attack was targeted, antisemitic violence,” said Steven Jenson, an FBI assistant director working on the investigation. “The FBI will continue to pursue all leads and use all available resources to investigate this heinous murder,” he said in the statement.
The fatal shooting took place five days after the Capital Jewish Museum opened a special exhibition called “LGBT Jews in the Federal City” on May 16. “This landmark exhibition explores a turbulent century of celebrations, activism, and change in the nation’s capital by D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community,” the museum said in a statement announcing the exhibition.
Photos and documents related to Bet Mishpachah make up a prominent part of the exhibition.
During a May 22 press conference organized by the U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, to provide an update on the investigation into the two murders, Pirro and FBI official Jensen referred to the two murders as a hate crime and terrorist act.
In response to a question from the Washington Blade asking if investigators were looking into whether the LGBTQ exhibition at the Capital Jewish Museum might have played some role in Gonzales’s motive for targeting the museum, Pirro responded to the question.
“So, we are looking into absolutely everything,” she said. “There is so much information we’re looking at. And I must tell you, coming from New York, I’ve never seen the cooperation and coordination that I’m seeing here. It was immediate. It was instant. It was coordinated. And my hat’s off to this area. We’re going to clean it up, thank you,” she said in ending the press conference.
Josh Maxey, Bet Mishpachah’s executive director, said he and Israeli Embassy official Milgram became friends during their two-and-a-half-year interaction working on joint events between the embassy and Bet Mishpachah.
“This became a wonderful two and a half years journey of putting events together, of hosting events together, doing different programs for the community,” Maxey told the Blade. Among the activities the two worked on, he said, was the embassy’s annual LGBTQ Pride event.
Maxie said his own grieving over the death of Milgram and her boyfriend Lischinsky was heightened by the fact that he spoke with her by phone on the day of the shooting shortly before she arrived at the Jewish Museum over plans about this year’s LGBTQ Pride events.
“Sarah really championed us to be included in Israeli events,” Maxey said. “And so, I am just devastated that this true embodiment of an ally was so viciously and violently taken away from us.”