Melvin Boozer, 41; Gay Rights Leader
Gay activist Melvin Boozer, who led national groups seeking rights for homosexuals and who was a token nominee for vice president of the United States in 1980, has died at age 41 of undisclosed causes.
Boozer had served as president of the District of Columbia Gay Activists Alliance from 1979 to 1981 and later became the district’s director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Boozer was an alternate delegate to the 1980 Democratic National Convention, where his name was placed in nomination as a candidate for vice president. He withdrew after making a brief speech, and Vice President Walter F. Mondale was renominated.
Boozer, who died Friday at Washington Hospital Center, also was on the national board of the Americans for Democratic Action.
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