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March 14, 2024

David Mixner, LGBTQ+ Rights Leader Who Pushed Politicians to Reject Homophobia, Dies at 77
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Longtime LGBTQ+ activist and political adviser David Mixner has died at
77. A friend said the cause of death was complications of long-term
COVID. David Mixner was famously close friends with Bill Clinton, on
whose presidential campaign he worked. But the relationship fractured
after Clinton walked back his promise to end discrimination against
LGBTQ people in the military, which Mixner harshly condemned. He was
arrested at a 1993 protest against Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
policy outside the White House. This is David Mixner on Democracy Now!
in 1996.

David Mixner: "And we've got to get our act together. You know, the
Christian Coalition has been organizing. They've been taking over school
boards. They've been taking over water boards. They've been taking over
taxation boards at the local level. And for years, I think, on the
progressive movement and on the left, we have accepted the criteria that
they're better than the other guy. And so, we have always been put in
that position of accepting someone just a little better than someone
worse. And I think we shouldn't accept that anymore."



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