Donald H. Amador; Pioneered Gay Studies Course
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Donald H. Amador, who campaigned unsuccessfully for the state Assembly and the Los Angeles City Council as a “gay studies professor,” has died. He was 49.
Amador, who spent most of his adulthood in Los Angeles, died of AIDS Thursday in an Albany, N.Y., hospital.
A native of Troy, N.Y., Amador served in the Navy and saw active duty in Vietnam.
He was educated at Los Angeles City College and Cal State Los Angeles in anthropology and went on to develop and teach the nation’s first accredited course in gay studies. He taught the course at Cal State Long Beach and at Los Angeles City College.
Mayor Tom Bradley appointed Amador his liaison to the gay community in 1977.
Amador ran for the Assembly in 1976 and for the City Council in 1980.
He is survived by his mother, Dorothy Grace, and sister, Susan Sutton, both of Troy.
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