Civil Rights Activist Laurie McBride Passes at Age 71

Laurie McBride, an LGBTQ figurehead and AIDS advocate, passed away at the age of 71. McBride died of a heart attack on Friday, December 4 after having suffered a stroke in October. She is survived by her wife of 35 years, Donna Yutzy.

McBride worked to defend the rights of HIV-positive people as a co-chair of the California lobby group Mobilization Against AIDS. She led successful, grassroots campaigns both in 86 and 87 to fight California bills which would quarantine HIV-positive people and limit their employment.

McBride worked with law student John Duran, who later became the mayor of West Hollywood, to draft the groundbreaking bill, AB 101, which prohibited private employers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against employees.

“Laurie was a lesbian warrior,” Duran tells The Los Angles Blade. “She fought for her brother’s with AIDS. So many gay men alive today are deeply indebted to Laurie for saving their lives.”

“My heart goes out to her wife Donna,” he adds. “She was one of a kind, gentle and fierce at the same time.”

McBride remained active in educating people about AIDS, including traveling to West Hollywood in 2017 to speak at the Paul Starke Warrior Awards on World AIDS Day.

“It’s important to talk tonight, on World AIDS Day, about how we fought, how we dug in and how each of us found our place on the front lines, how the epidemic changed us, and how we changed the world,” McBride said.

She spoke on her experience of fighting for equality and finding a community in her interview with the Legends of Courage Project (video below).

McBride’s legacy as an advocate is honored by the scholarship in her name at Sacramento State University. The scholarship was created in 2016 by the Stonewall Foundation of Greater Sacramento and aims to support college students working to increase LGBTQ equity in civic and government affairs.

Related Article: Civil Rights Activist Gil Caldwell Dies at Age 86