Re: Michael Current

The following obituary appeared in the Saturday, July 23 edition of the
Des Moines Register.  I have not received permission to reprint this,
but accept full legal responsibilities for any legal problems that might
arise from the distribution of this document:

     Gay-rights advocate Current dies

by Christopher Rickett, Register Staff Writer

   Michael Current, regarded as one of Iowa's premiere gay-rights
advocates, died at his Des Moines home at 737 18th St. Thursday of
complications from diabetes.
   He was 31.
   Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Weert's Funeral Home
in Davenport [IA].
   Mr. Current, who served as executive director of the Gay and Lesbian
Resource Center in Des Moines in 1993, was best known for his legislative
lobbying work for extending civil-rights laws to protect people on the
basis of sexual orientation.
   He founded the now-defunct lobbying group Iowa dignity and Equality
Advocates.  A gay-rights measure passed the House and failed in the
Senate in 1989 and then did the exact opposite in 1992.
   Despite the bill's failure, Mr. Current's friends said they'll
remember him for his tireless efforts in pursuit of equality for
homosexuals.
   "When I think of Michael, I will think of all the times he was pretty 
much alone fighting at the Capitol for equality for gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and anyone HIV positive, said Carrie Fitzgerald, one of
Mr. Current's close friends.  He didn't seem to be afraid.  He really
believed in what he was fighting for."
   Beth Barnhill, who was one the Resource Center's board of directors 
when Mr. Current was executive director, said he lobbied for equal
rights, despite intimidation.
   "I know at times he was receiving death threats on the phone,"
Barnhill said.  "Some at the Statehouse tried to intimidate him.
But he kept working because he believed what he was doing."
   Mr. Current was born in Davenport and went to college in Massachusetts,
where he was a staffer on one of Sen. Edward Kennedy's campaigns.
   In 1989, he moved to Des Moines, where he became a lobbyist
in the state legislature.
   Visitation will be form 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.
   Friends said they also were organizing a memorial service in Des Moines
next week, though details hadn't been set.
   Mr. Current is survived by his mother, Garnet Current-Smith of 
Davenport; two sisters, Garnet Cannon of Davenport and Vickie Lavoie of
Quebec, Canada; two brothers, Lindsey of Davenport and Gary of Sunset,
Texas; and his grandfather, Samuel Bond of Davenport.
   His longtime companion was Marshall Metzer of Des Moines.


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Yours in mourning,
Michael McDonald

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