Tag Archives: obituary

Harry Wieder, LGBT rights, transportation, and disabilities advocate, killed

I’m very sorry to learn of the death of Harry Wielder, a community activist in NY around LGBT rights, transportation, and disability. This article at Gothamist has more [WARNING: Comments are a mess]:

Weider, 57, described himself on his Facebook page as a “disabled, gay, Jewish, leftist, middle aged dwarf who ambulates with crutches.”

Wieder first came to prominence in the 1980s with the activist group Act-Up. He was profiled in Betty Adelsen’s 2005 book, The Lives of Dwarfs: Their Journey from Public Curiosity Toward Social Liberation, and also written about by Jimmy Breslin for Newsday, who captured his “combative, roguish nature and his penchant for truth.”

Wielder died after being hit by a taxi when crossing the road to his car.