David Mixner Dies: LGBTQ Activist Who Pressed And Persuaded Ronald Reagan And Bill Clinton On Civil Rights Was 77
David Mixner, the activist and political strategist who lobbied — and protested — political figures in the movement for LGBTQ equality, died on Monday.
He was 77. Mixner suffered from complications from long Covid, a friend, Steven Guy, told The New York Times. Mixner also was a playwright, having recounted his decades of activism in a series of plays, including Oh Hell No!, which he performed in New York, Los Angeles and other cities in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and later 1969 and Who Fell Into the Outhouse?
The stagings, benefitting major LGBTQ organizations, featured Mixner recalling his early years of rural poverty, his involvement in protests of the Vietnam war, his experiences coming out, living through the AIDS crisis and his support and break with longtime friend Bill Clinton when the then-president failed to end a prohibition on gays and lesbians in the military.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement, “David Mixner changed the world forever and equality would not be where it is today without his leadership, passion, and immense heart and humor.
