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Cheryl Spector, a longtime gay and AIDS activist in the Washington area, died this week. In January, she posed for this photo for a Blade story on her life’s work. (Blade photo by Adam Cuthbert)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: ELIZABETH PERRY and JOEY DiGUGLIELMO COMMENTS
 
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in the late ’80s with Oppression Under Target, an early AIDS activism group she co-founded. In 1990 she worked with ACT UP to prevent the spread of HIV through infected drug needles.
Rea Carey, now deputy executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, worked with Spector in the late ’80s as an activist with OUT and ACT UP. She called Spector a strategist, provocateur and motivator who seemed to be able to be a number of different places at the same time, participating or documenting events.
“Activists in the D.C. metro area now hold the collective and heavy responsibility to keep the history of our AIDS activism, our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender activism, our drag performances and our political persistence alive,” Carey said. “It will take hundreds of us to hold this history, these memories and the witness that Cheryl once singularly held.”
Spector’s death comes almost three months after the June 6 fire that heavily damaged her Arlington apartment and her meticulous archive of gay history videotapes, news clippings and photos. Kameny said she was always taking pictures and interviewing him at various events.
“Her legacy will depend on how much of all her films and tapes are recovered,” he said.
Washington City Councilmember Jim Graham said he knew her as a “historian and recorder of events” since the beginning and that there would be no replacing her. He said she was aware of the historical importance of her work and that he was too.
“Her presence at events of all sorts was something that could be counted upon,” he said. “Indeed, it was truly remarkable when she was not there with her camera.”
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese called Spector an “extraordinary GLBT hero” who helped to make gays visible through her work.
“She truly cared about the well being of her GLBT brothers and sisters and this could be seen throughout her multiple involvements as a community activist,” he said. “Her presence in the D.C. community will be missed and it is a great loss for us all.”
Spector was raised Jewish, later baptized as a Christian, but continued to celebrate both faiths and attended services at both Metropolitan Community Church of Washington and Bet Mishpachah, both welcoming religious communities for gays. Rev. Candace Schultis, senior pastor of MCC, and Rabbi Bob Saks of Bet Mishpachah, said Spector was someone who loved her church and her synagogue.
Schultis said Spector made a point of watching over an elderly lesbian, Eleanor, who attended services at MCC for years but died just two weeks before Spector, who often maneuvered Eleanor’s wheelchair so she was able to receive communion.
“She was a sweetheart, but she hated to be called that,” Schultis sa
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