Near his Miami Beach home, Gay rights activist Joe Tom Easley died at 81 years old on Feb. 13, due to complications of lung disease. Easley, who was known for his involvement in the repeal of the US military's homophobic "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, dedicated his life to LGBTQ rights.

Easley was born on Sept. 28, 1940, in Robstown Texas, and after graduating from Texas A&M University in 1963, he worked as an English teacher. He was drafted into the Vietnam War in 1966, whereupon he joined naval intelligence.

Following a year in the service, a former friend relayed to military leadership that Easley was Gay. Easley's commander in Alaska told Easley that he was required to boot him from the military, but due to his outstanding service, he would ensure that Easley received an honorable discharge with veterans' benefits (during that time, homosexuality was grounds for dishonorable discharge).

Since his commander had not stripped him of his veterans' benefits, the military paid for three years of higher education at the University of Texas Law School, where Easley also became a prominent antiwar activist.

In the late 1970s, Easley became a law professor at the American University Law School in Washington, DC, and by 1978, he also took on the role of assistant dean. From 1981 to 1983, Easley was a professor at the Antioch Law School in Washington DC (now known as the University of DC Law School), where he also served as an advisor to LGBTQ student groups.

For two years, Easley was active with the city's Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, and in 1982, he was elected president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, which was the largest local LGBTQ political group.

With his law education, in 1983 Easley began lecturing for BARBRI, the nation's largest training course and coaching program for law school graduates preparing to take state bar exams. Easley retired from BARBRI in 2013.

Also in 1983, Easley met Peter Freiberg, and in 2003 the pair traveled to Toronto to marry. Easley and Freiberg's marriage was the first same-sex wedding written up in the New York Times; shortly after their wedding, Ontario legalized same-sex marriage.

Easley served as president of the Human Rights Campaign from 1988 to 1995. Most notably, he was involved with the repeal of the US military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

On July 19, 1993, President Clinton announced the policy, which permitted LGBTQ-identifying Americans to serve in the military, if they remained closeted about their sexuality.

From 2006 to 2010, Easley served as board co-chair of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an organization that works toward ending discrimination against LGBTQ military personnel, and which led the fight to terminate the DADT policy.

In 2010, President Obama signed the repeal of the policy, so that servicemembers could openly serve in the US military.

Easley is survived by his husband.

Photo courtesy of Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections, RG 204-96, Records of the Virginia Law Weekly