Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Kiyoshi Kuromiya

Queer Ancestor Spotlight
Written By White Rose Witching

Kiyoshi Kuromiya was a Japanese-American author, advocate, and activist who was involved in the civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War protests, gay liberation, and HIV/AIDS activism. He worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., and was one of the founders of the the first medical treatment and competency guidelines produced by people living with HIV/AIDS for their community.

Kiyoshi Kuromiya

Kiyoshi Kuromiya was born on May 9, 1943 in the Heart Mountain Internment Camp in Wyoming. His family had been relocated there from Monrovia, California as part of the rising anti-Japanese sentiment in the United states during World War Two. He came out to his family in elementary school but due to a lack of literature or media representation did not have the terminology to describe his feelings. He utilized the Monrovia Public Library to learn more about who he was. At an early age he was arrested in a public park for lewd acts with a 16 year-old boy, an experience which left him with a sense of shame about his identity that forced him to become secretive about his sex life.

In 1961, Kiyoshi moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania. His life as an activist began during his time as a student beginning with his support of the civil rights movement. He participated in the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) Maryland diner sit-ins; met with Dr. King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and James Baldwin following the 1963 March on Washington; and participated in the takeover of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, transforming it into the Freedom Hotel in support of those injured in Selma, Alabama. He was also a leader in the antiwar movement, helping to organize the largest antiwar demonstration in the University of Pennsylvania’s history in 1968. In October 1967, Kiyoshi participated in an antiwar demonstration that attempted to levitate the Pentagon building by joining hands around in as a performance art protest.

Kiyoshi “officially” came out at the first Annual Reminder protest on July 4, 1965, which took place in front of Independence Hall as part of the early gay liberation movement. These protests happened annually until 1969 and mark the first time individuals publicly assembled to call for equal rights for the homosexual community. The first protest in Philadelphia, in which Kiyoshi attended, had a total of 12 protesters. Following the Stonewall riots in 1969, he founded the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) wit Basil O’Brien, one of the more radical homosexual rights groups that grew out of the push for equality following Stonewall. Under his leadership, the GLF supported groups such as the Black Panthers and the Young Lords.

In the early 1980’s, Kiyoshi became more involved with HIV/AIDS advocacy and founded the Philadelphia chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power. He created the ACT UP Standards of Care, which was the first set of guidelines made for people with HIV/AIDS produced by people with HIV/AIDS. He founded the Critical Path newsletter which provided information about AIDS, and would become one of the first HIV/AIDS resources available on the internet. His advocacy for the HIV/AIDS community went all the way to the Supreme Court, resulting in a successful 1997 case which expanded freedom of speech rights to protect the circulation of sexually explicit materials about HIV/AIDS on the internet.

Kiyoshi Kuromiya was diagnosed with AIDS in 1989. This diagnosis only served to intensify his advocacy. He survived a battle with lung cancer in the 1970’s, but ultimately died of complications from cancer on May 10, 2000. On May 9, 2023, what would have been his 80th birthday, he was celebrated by the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Monrovia, California.

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