On West Village Streets, Tears for a Gay Activist
Friends and colleagues of Bob Kohler, a veteran gay rights activist who died at 81 on Wednesday, took to the streets of the West Village last evening, celebrating the life of the man they called a hero, a griot and a legend of the gay community.
With candles and signs held high, and with pill bottles and ceramic pots filled with some of Mr. Kohler’s cremated remains, dozens of his friends and admirers marched through the streets, chanting to the beat of a drummer, stories of Mr. Kohler’s courage in more than six decades of activism spilling from their lips.
Some cried as they stepped down West 13th Street, Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street to Sheridan Square, ending up at the Hudson River piers, a refuge for many gay youths in the area.
“Till the very end he struggled for us, all of us,” said Jennifer Flynn, 36, a friend and member of a group of mostly lesbian activists who helped to care for Mr. Kohler as he battled cancer in his final days. “He could have lived a comfortable life somewhere. He could have ignored everyone.”
Mr. Kohler was on the front lines of the Stonewall rebellion of 1969, the brawl between gay men and police officers at a bar in the Village that is widely viewed as the start of the American gay rights movement.
He also fought in the Navy in World War II and was a founder of the Gay Liberation Front, among other gay rights groups.
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With candles and signs held high, and with pill bottles and ceramic pots filled with some of Mr. Kohler’s cremated remains, dozens of his friends and admirers marched through the streets, chanting to the beat of a drummer, stories of Mr. Kohler’s courage in more than six decades of activism spilling from their lips.
Some cried as they stepped down West 13th Street, Seventh Avenue and Christopher Street to Sheridan Square, ending up at the Hudson River piers, a refuge for many gay youths in the area.
“Till the very end he struggled for us, all of us,” said Jennifer Flynn, 36, a friend and member of a group of mostly lesbian activists who helped to care for Mr. Kohler as he battled cancer in his final days. “He could have lived a comfortable life somewhere. He could have ignored everyone.”
Mr. Kohler was on the front lines of the Stonewall rebellion of 1969, the brawl between gay men and police officers at a bar in the Village that is widely viewed as the start of the American gay rights movement.
He also fought in the Navy in World War II and was a founder of the Gay Liberation Front, among other gay rights groups.