Richard Adams, who used both the altar and the courtroom to help begin the push for gay marriage four decades before it reached the center of the national consciousness, has died at age 65.
After a brief illness, Adams passed away December 17 in the Hollywood home he shared with Tony Sullivan, his life partner of 43 years, according to his attorney, Lavi Soloway.
Adams and Sullivan met at a Los Angeles gay bar called The Closet in 1971, but their life and relationship would soon be on display for a worldwide audience.
They were granted a marriage license in 1975, but for years fought in vain to see it recognized by governments and a population for whom the idea of two married men was still strange and foreign. They were subjected to anti-gay slurs even from government agencies.
(Agencies)