Terry Dolan (activist)
{{Short description|American political activist (1950–1986)}}
John Terrence "Terry" Dolan (1950 – December 28, 1986) was an American New Right political activist who was a co-founder and chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC).Elizabeth Kastor (1987), The Cautious Closet of the Gay Conservative; In the Life and Death of Terry Dolan, Mirror Images From the Age of AIDS, The Washington Post, May 11, 1987. Dolan was also, during the mid to late 1970s, in the leadership of Christian Voice, "the nation's oldest conservative Christian lobby".[https://web.archive.org/web/20030526131619/http://www.christianvoiceonline.com/about/rgrant.php Christian Voice, Inc.], archive.org.
While Dolan was a proponent of family values and the organizations he led were persistently critical of gay rights, he was revealed to have been a closeted homosexual,{{citation|title=Perfect Enemies|url=https://archive.org/details/perfectenemiesre00gall|first1=John|last1=Gallagher|first2=Chris|last2=Bull|publisher=Crown Publishers|isbn=0-517-70198-7|date=May 13, 1997|accessdate=2010-05-25|url-access=registration}}{{citation|first=Frank|last=Rich|title=Just How Gay is the Right?|date=2005-05-15|accessdate=2007-09-06|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/opinion/15rich.html|periodical=The New York Times|archive-date=2012-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118025755/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/opinion/15rich.html|url-status=live}}{{citation|title=And the Band Played on|first=Randy|last=Shilts|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=2000|isbn=0-312-24135-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/andbandplayedonp00shil_0/page/407 407]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/andbandplayedonp00shil_0/page/407}}{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/2012/06/23/lgbts_worst_foe_the_closet_monster/slide_show/3|title=Terry Dolan|work=LGBT's worst foe: The Closet Monster|first=Kerry|last=Lauerman|publisher=Salon.com|date=June 23, 2012|access-date=June 25, 2012|archive-date=June 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625214312/http://www.salon.com/2012/06/23/lgbts_worst_foe_the_closet_monster/slide_show/3/|url-status=live}} who frequented gay bars in Washington, D.C.Steve Endean (2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=u9BV2JL2hd4C&dq=%22terry+dolan%22+republican+gay&pg=PA269 Bringing Lesbian And Gay Rights Into the Mainstream: Twenty Years of Progress] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705152359/http://books.google.com/books?id=u9BV2JL2hd4C&pg=PA269&dq=%22terry+dolan%22+republican+gay&sig=qJ6a48ULIPCosJC61btl_OtiIJs |date=2014-07-05 }}, Haworth Press; {{ISBN|1-56023-526-8}}, p. 269 At a Washington fundraising event in 1985, the renowned AIDS activist Larry Kramer reportedly tossed a glass of water in his face.Larry Kramer, writer who sounded alarm on AIDS, dies at 84,The Washington Post, May 28, 2020 [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/larry-kramer-writer-who-sounded-alarm-on-aids-dies-at-84/2020/05/27/2afd55ce-a031-11ea-81bb-c2f70f01034b_story.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528133224/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/larry-kramer-writer-who-sounded-alarm-on-aids-dies-at-84/2020/05/27/2afd55ce-a031-11ea-81bb-c2f70f01034b_story.html |date=2020-05-28 }} Dolan died from complications of AIDS at the age of 36.{{citation|title=Forcing Gays Out of the Closet|date=1990-01-29|accessdate=2007-09-06|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,969264-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930063014/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,969264-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 30, 2007|last=Henry, III|first=William A.}} He is one of many with panels dedicated to them (in his case three panels) in the AIDS Quilt.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aidsmemorial.org/interactive-aids-quilt|title=Interactive AIDS Quilt|website=www.aidsmemorial.org}}
Political activities
=College Republicans=
A native of Connecticut, Dolan became active in politics during his teens as a Republican volunteer. At age 21, he worked as a paid organizer in Richard Nixon's 1972 presidential re-election campaign.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080501100152/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947346-3,00.html The New Right Takes Aim], Time magazine, August 20, 1979. The following year, he was a candidate for chairman of the College Republican National Committee but lost to Karl Rove.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/rove072399.htm Karl Rove: The Strategist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106025214/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/rove072399.htm |date=2011-11-06 }}, by Dan Balz, Washington Post, July 23, 1999.
=Christian Voice to Moral Majority=
After Christian Voice co-founder Dr. Robert Grant ousted Dolan, Howard Phillips, and Richard Viguerie from the Christian Voice organization, the trio went on to help persuade Jerry Falwell to build a new Christian Right organization, the Moral Majority.{{Citation needed|date=November 2015}}
=National Conservative Political Action Committee=
Dolan was later a co-founder and chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC). He co-authored Reagan: A President Succeeds with Gregory Fossedal. His brother, Anthony R. Dolan, was also a political activist and Ronald Reagan's chief presidential speechwriter.{{citation|title=Dolan, Tony: Files, 1981-1989 – Reagan Library Collections|url=http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/findaid/dolan.htm|accessdate=2007-09-06|archive-date=2007-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714173743/http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/findaid/dolan.htm|url-status=dead}}
Dolan was a member of the Council for National Policy Board of Governors, a member of the advisory board for CAUSA International (an educational, anti-communist organization founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon),Michael Isikoff, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm Church Spends Millions on its Image] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901180715/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm |date=2019-09-01 }}, The Washington Post, September 17, 1984, page A1.[http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/augustweb-only/8-6-37.0.html Sun Myung Moon's Followers Recruit Christians to Assist in Battle Against Communism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116213303/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/augustweb-only/8-6-37.0.html |date=2021-01-16 }} Christianity Today June 15, 1985. and Director of Conservatives Against Liberal Legislation (CALL).[http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.d.htm#dolan John T. (Terry) Dolan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610190803/http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.d.htm#dolan |date=2007-06-10 }}, The Council for National Policy: Selected Member Biographies{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2011}}
References
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External links
- {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317081709/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_v39/ai_4629812 |date=March 17, 2009 |title="Terry Dolan, RIP" }}, National Review, January 30, 1987.
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Category:LGBTQ people from Connecticut
Category:New Right (United States)
Category:Activists from Washington, D.C.
Category:AIDS-related deaths in Washington, D.C.
Category:Connecticut Republicans