Richard Adams, an early pioneer for gay marriage has passed away at the age of 65. The Associated Press reported that Adams died after a brief illness on Dec. 17 in his Hollywood home that he lived in with his partner of 43 years, Tony Sullivan.
In 1975 Adams and Sullivan were granted a marriage license and fought for years to see it recognized by the government. This was at a time where gay marriage was not widely accepted
"They felt that in the end, the most important thing was their love for each other, and in that respect they won," Attorney Lavi Soloway said to The AP. "No government or no law was ever able to keep them apart."
They gained the marriage license from a county clerk in Boulder, Colorado named Clela Rorex who gave marriage licenses to gay couples even though in Colorado law it was illegal.
The AP reported that one of Adams and Sullivan's primary goals of marriage was get permanent U.S. residency status for Sullivan who is a native Australian. When they put in an application with the "Immigration and Naturalization Service," they received a homophobic denial letter that stated, "You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots."
Adam attempted to overturn the denial and it became the first federal lawsuit seeking gay marriage recognition, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"Despite reaching the highest federal appeals courts, he was met only with rejections. The couple did became a hot topic, especially as Sullivan's deportation became likely in the mid-1980s, and they appeared on the "Today" show and "The Phil Donahue Show," giving some of the first national attention to gay marriage when it was considered an oddity even by future supporters," reported the AP.
The Los Angeles times reported that Adams immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1947 when he was 12. By 1971 he moved to Los Angeles where he met Sullivan.
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