Lige Clarke
Elijah Hadyn "Lige" Clarke (February 22, 1942 − February 10, 1975) was an American LGBT activist, journalist and author. He was the author of two books with his lover, Jack Nichols. Early life. Clarke was born on February 22, 1942 in Cave Branch, an unincorporated community in Knott County, Kentucky, just outside of the town of Hindman, where he grew up and attended school. Clarke was a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and later left Kentucky and joined the United States Army. Career. By the early 1960s, Clarke worked for the United States Department of Defense in Washington , D.C. He held "a host of security clearances." Clarke and Nichols created and wrote "The Homosexual Citizen" as a continuation to their original column written for "The Mattachine Review" beginning around 1965. It was published in "Screw" magazine. It was the first regular LGBT-interest column printed in a non-LGBT publication. By 1972, they edited "Gay", the first weekly national homosexual magazine. Clarke and Nichols authored two books about same-sex attraction. Personal life and death. Clarke met Jack Nichols in the early 1960s in Washington, D.C. They became lovers. On February 10, 1975, Clarke was shot and killed  near Veracruz, Mexico while traveling with a friend, Charlie Black. The two men were pursued while driving by four men on two motorcycles before being shot; Clarke was shot through the chest multiple times by gunfire, while Black was only wounded. Clarke is buried in Hindman, Kentucky. References. Coleman, Jonathan. "'Old Kentucky Homo': Lige Clarke's Gay Liberation." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 118, No. 1 (Winter 2020). https://muse.jhu.edu/article/772266