Pittsburgh
Activist Randal Forrester Dies

Randal "Randy" Forrester, a leading gay rights activist in Pittsburgh, died Wednesday of cancer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday. He was 60.

In 1969 he founded the now-defunct Western Pennsylvania Mattachine, the region's first gay rights organization. Forrester cofounded the Pittsburgh Persad Center, a counseling center for the LGBT community, in 1972 with partner James Huggins. He retired as the center's executive director in 2001, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which honored him as the "Civil Libertarian of the Year" in 2006.

He was also named one of the city's 100 most influential residents of the 20th century by Pittsburgh Magazine. (The Advocate)