Donald Amador personal collection archive paperwork, for the March on Washington and other related items. All of these items are directly related to the March on Washington (March 14th, 1979). It includes hand written notes, a biography summary, and other items associated with Donald’s fight for Gay and Lesbian rights.

Donald Grace (October 23, 1942 – August 13, 1992), also known as Don Amador, was an American gay activist. LGBT and AIDS activist Cleve Jones, a friend of both Amador and Harvey Milk, portrayed Amador in the biographical film “Milk” (2008).

Beginning in 1976, Don Amador taught one of the United States’ first Gay Studies courses, at California State University. In his Gay History course, Amador argued that King David, Alexander the Great, Michelangelo Buonarotti and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky were gay and taught that Thomas Jefferson framed a Virginia bill in 1776 to make homosexuality “punishable by castration.” He also distinguished between the terms homosexuality and gay: “Homosexual is merely what you do in bed; being gay is an entire life-style on its own.”

Amador collected 14 of the best papers of his course to create a pioneering book in Gay Studies.

Don Amador was named “Official Liaison to the Gay Community” by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. In 1977, he ran for the California State Assembly, polling seventh out of 18 candidates. In 1980, he ran for the Los Angeles City Council. “I want to be a role model for gay people,” Amador said. “Someday I hope there will be equal rights for all. We shall overcome.”