Sad news for GLBT Americans and equality seekers: Activist, author, and editor Jack Nichols, passed away May 2 at a Florida hospital after a long illness. The gay-movement legend was 67.

Being interested in GLBT history and culture, I knew of this man before having the privilege of knowing him: Jack Nichols was a passionate progressive activist who, among many accomplishments, co-founded the Mattachine Society's District of Columbia and Florida chapters; helped organize the first-ever gay-rights protest in the nation's capital (1965) along with a slew of New York demonstrations; authored numerous books including The Gay Agenda: Talking Back to the Fundamentalists, Men's Liberation: A New Definition of Masculinity, and his last release, 2004's The Tomcat Chronicles: Erotic Adventures of a Gay Liberation Pioneer. After the New York riots that kicked off the modern GLBT movement, he amplified queer voices through his role as editor of GAY, the first national queer-focused newspaper. Prior to Stonewall, Jack spoke for those who could not do so: He was one of the first US gays to speak publicly — his venue, The Homosexuals, a 1967 CBS-TV documentary featuring journalist Mike Wallace. The doc, something along the lines of a queer-themed cross between Reefer Madness and Little Shop of Horrors, was a frightening (but de rigueur for the '60s) piece of antigay propaganda that Wallace now says he regrets having done. Still, as icky as it was, The Homosexuals offered America one of its first opportunities to hear from homos in their own words on TV.

Yes, Jack Nichols was one brave hombre.

From 1997 until its financially motivated folding last fall, Jack was senior editor of Gay Today, Florida-based web site Badpuppy's GLBT news portal. The web pub is what brought Jack and me together in 1998. I contributed a number of articles to Gay Today over the years and even interviewed him about GLBT media. As time passed, Jack became enormously helpful to me as human encyclopedia, one-man Rolodex, and talking head. We spent many hours jawing about activism and activists, the queer press, Florida politics, our mothers, philosophy... Of course we became fast friends, and I will always be grateful for it. I loved Jack so much: his fierce intelligence, his never-say-die attitude and unquenchable spirit, his delightful sense of humor and whimsy, his generosity. Plus, he knew where all the proverbial bodies were buried, which made for some fascinating and funny chats.