Longtime Brooklyn LGBTQ Activist Alan Fleishman Dies At 62

BROOKLYN, NY — A longtime Brooklyn activist and the borough's first openly gay district leader died this week after a battle with cancer, according to reports.

Alan Fleishman, who was district leader for the 52nd Assembly District in 2002, died in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Gay City News first reported.

Fleishman was a "lion of Brooklyn politics," serving as president of the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID), as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and as an advocate for the LGBTQ community, LID said in a release.

"He was an important part of achieving many of the rights LGBTQ have today," Scott Klein, also a former LID president, said. "We wouldn't be where we are without him."

Born and raised in Canarsie, Fleishman lived for many years in Park Slope. He started out as a DJ before entering politics working in the city comptroller's office.

He was LID president from 1988 to 1990 during the height of the AIDS epidemic, the organization said. During that time, he worked to elect allies to office.

Fleishman became the first openly gay district leader in 2002 and held the position until 2010.

“Alan was more than my co-leader for 4 years," Assembly Member JoAnne Simon, who served with Alan, said. "He was a friend, mentor, goader, a shaper, a gadfly, a political brain trust. He was incredibly brave and fearless in his support for the candidates and the issues he believed in...I loved him and I will miss him very much.”

Fleishman's organizing was important in passing a 1986 bill that added sexual orientation to New York City's human rights law, Gay City News said. He was also a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club and was involved, along with Klein, in Gay Friends & Neighbors, a group in Brooklyn that met for dinners, watching videos, and similar events.

"Alan remained an active voice in local politics until the end - delighting in sharing his personal, highly informed commentary on stories shaping national and local politics on social media, via email and long phone calls and visits with close, long-time political friends," the organization said. "LID and the Kings County political reform movement would not be where they are today with Alan. He will be missed, and may his memory be for a blessing."