# Tom Doerr

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{{Infobox person
| name          = <!-- include middle initial, if not specified in birth_name -->
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| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Thomas L. Doerr
| birth_date    = 1947
| birth_place   = 
| death_date    = August 2, {{Death year and age|1987|1947}}
| death_place   =
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| partner       = Marty Robinson 
| known_for     = Introducing the [lambda](/source/lambda) symbol into the [gay movement](/source/LGBT_social_movements)
| notable_works = 
}}
'''Thomas L. Doerr''' (1947 – August 2, 1987) was an American gay activist. In 1970, he introduced the [lambda](/source/Lambda) symbol into the [gay rights movement](/source/LGBT_social_movements) when the image was used to represent the political work of the [Gay Activists Alliance](/source/Gay_Activists_Alliance).<ref>{{cite web|title=1969, The Year of Gay Liberation|url=http://web-static.nypl.org/exhibitions/1969/ref/1696848.html|website=[The New York Public Library](/source/The_New_York_Public_Library)|date=June 2009|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Rapp|first1=Linda|title=Symbols|url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/symbols_A.pdf|website=[glbtq.com](/source/glbtq.com)|date=2003|access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref> The lambda became "a sign for [gay liberation](/source/gay_liberation) in general".<ref name="crwflags" />

== Early life ==
Thomas L. Doerr was born in 1947 to Charles W. Doerr (1922–2002) and Elizabeth F. Doerr (1922–1994).{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

==Career==
thumb|Tom Doerr's lambda
In the days after the [Stonewall riots](/source/Stonewall_riots) in 1969, Doerr became known as an activist who helped others understand the political implications of their actions.<ref name="Obituary" />

He was a founding member of the [Gay Activists Alliance](/source/Gay_Activists_Alliance) (GAA) in New York. He introduced the lambda symbol for the gay movement.<ref name="Clendinen">{{cite book|last1=Clendinen|first1=Dudley|last2=Nagourney|first2=Adam|title=Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America|date=2001|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=56|isbn=9780684867434|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zRFBGTSgoUC&pg=PA56|access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref> He meant the lambda to symbolize the liberation achievable through activism, the link because in chemistry, the lambda is a sign for a [catalyst](/source/Catalysis) and in Doerr's concept, it symbolized an "exchange of energy."<ref name="Schiavi" /><ref name="Clendinen"/> Originally, the sign was colored [chrome yellow](/source/chrome_yellow) – a reference to the [Aldous Huxley](/source/Aldous_Huxley) novel ''[Crome Yellow](/source/Crome_Yellow)'' – on a dark blue field.<ref name="Obituary" /><ref name="crwflags">{{cite web|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-lbd.html|title=Lambda flags (gay pride)|publisher=CRW Flags Inc.|access-date=8 September 2017}}</ref>

In 1970, ten GAA members occupied the Republican State Committee headquarters to demand that Governor [Nelson Rockefeller](/source/Nelson_Rockefeller) support gay rights.<ref name="Schiavi" /> A [Kay Lahusen](/source/Kay_Lahusen) photo shows Marty Robinson and Tom Doerr snuggling under an American flag.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-57d7-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99|title=Tom Doerr and Marty Robinson during Gay Activists Alliance sit-in.|publisher=[New York Public Library](/source/New_York_Public_Library)|access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Tom Doerr was a lover of Martin "Marty" Robinson (1943–1992). Born in Brooklyn, Robinson attended [New York University](/source/New_York_University) and worked as a union carpenter.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lambert|first1=Bruce|title=Martin Robinson, Leader of Protests For Gay Rights, 49|journal=The New York Times|date=1992|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/23/nyregion/martin-robinson-leader-of-protests-for-gay-rights-49.html|access-date=8 September 2017}}</ref> Robinson, writing Doerr's obituary, said: <blockquote>Anything that I had been able to contribute towards human liberation (self-acceptance) came from his love. I and many of your friends, Tom, will find it much harder to stumble on without you. A somewhat reticent, gentle prophet died this week... We are crushed at losing you... Fortified in having known you.<ref name="Obituary">{{cite web |title=Doerr, Thomas 13 Aug 1987 |url=http://obit.glbthistory.org/olo/imagedb/1987/08/13/19870813_Doerr_Thomas/m19870813_0.jpg |publisher=[GLBT Historical Society](/source/GLBT_Historical_Society) |access-date=July 3, 2021}}</ref></blockquote>

Doerr died on August 2, 1987, and is buried with his parents at Centre County Memorial Park, [State College, Pennsylvania](/source/State_College%2C_Pennsylvania).<ref name="Obituary" />

[Vito Russo](/source/Vito_Russo) designed the panel honoring Tom Doerr for the [NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt](/source/NAMES_Project_AIDS_Memorial_Quilt), a blue shirt with the lambda yellow sign and underneath it the words: "In memory of Tom Doerr, who designed the Lambda as the symbol of the Gay Liberation Movement".<ref name="Schiavi">{{cite book|last1=Schiavi|first1=Michael|title=Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo|date=2011|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|page=249|isbn=9780299282332|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DMs06LSC42sC&pg=PA249|access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Search the Quilt|url=http://98.252.165.190:591/FMRes/FMPro?-db=search%20the%20quilt.fp5&key=33405&-img|website=The AIDS Memorial Quilt|access-date=25 September 2017|archive-date=25 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925180916/http://98.252.165.190:591/FMRes/FMPro?-db=search%20the%20quilt.fp5&key=33405&-img|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{Find a Grave|id=125885921}}
*[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=Tom+Doerr# Tom Doerr photos at The New York Public Library Digital Collections]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doerr, Tom}}
Category:1947 births
Category:1987 deaths
Category:American gay men
Category:AIDS-related deaths in New York (state)
Category:People from State College, Pennsylvania
Category:Civil rights activists from Pennsylvania
Category:American LGBTQ rights activists
Category:20th-century American people

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tom Doerr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Doerr) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Doerr?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.