One year ago: Albert L. Gordon

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Albert L. Gordon, a lawyer who died a year ago at 94, spent much of his professional career fighting for gay rights.

‘Before there was a straight-gay alliance in America, there was Al Gordon,’ said the Rev. Troy Perry, a longtime activist and founder of the gay-friendly Metropolitan Community Churches. ‘When other people wouldn’t touch us, he did. He was a hero.’

Gordon, a heterosexual whose twin sons were gay, didn’t become a lawyer until he was 47.

‘He helped change the legal system in California, particularly in Los Angeles,’ said Thomas F. Coleman, who was a UCLA law student when he began working with Gordon in the early 1970s. ‘The gay and lesbian community really owes him a debt of gratitude.’

Gordon’s obituary appeared in The Times on Sept. 6, 2009.

--Keith Thursby