* Vernon C. Mitchell; Activist, Supporter of Gay Causes

Vernon C. Mitchell, 65, a longtime supporter of gay causes and an activist who founded the first clinic for homosexuals with sexually transmitted diseases and who was honored for that effort in 1971 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. In 1985 Mitchell and two friends were shopping in a Boys Market in Marina del Rey when someone addressed them over the loudspeaker, telling them to “get out of the market and don’t come back.” Mitchell, a retired aerospace administrator, and his friends sued the market and in 1987, as part of a settlement, the market apologized and company officials said they would update an employee handbook to forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. Mitchell also appeared in several TV documentaries about sexually transmitted diseases and had been raising funds for AIDS awareness even before he was found to have the disease. In Marina del Rey on Saturday.