Filipino-American gay rights activist. Adams, along with Anthony Corbett "Tony" Sullivan, gained national attention in 1975 as one of the first couples in the United States to be issued a same-sex marriage license. Their 1975 marriage certificate issued by Boulder County, Colorado eventually led to the first federal lawsuit demanding recognition of same-sex marriages and the 1982 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Adams v. Howerton that overturned the Colorado marriage. The story of Adams and Sullivan is the subject of the upcoming documentary, "Limited Partnership."∼“Limited Partnership,”
Born in Manila on March 9, 1947, Adams immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 12. He grew up in Long Prairie, Minn., studied liberal arts at the University of Minnesota and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1968.
Richard Adams had made history when he and his partner of four years, Anthony Sullivan, became one of the first gay couples in the country to be granted a marriage license. It happened in Boulder, Colo., where a liberal county clerk issued licenses to six same-sex couples in the spring of 1975.
Adams had hoped to use his marriage to secure permanent residency in the United States for Sullivan, an Australian who had been in the country on a limited visa and was facing deportation.
But Colorado's attorney general declared the Boulder marriages invalid. Several months later, Adams and Sullivan received a letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service that denied Sullivan's petition for resident status in terms that left no doubt about the reason:
"You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots," the notification read.
Adams, who later filed the first federal lawsuit demanding recognition of same-sex marriages, died Monday at his home in Hollywood after a brief illness, He was 65.
Born in Manila on March 9, 1947, Adams immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 12. He grew up in Long Prairie, Minn., studied liberal arts at the University of Minnesota and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1968.
Richard Adams had made history when he and his partner of four years, Anthony Sullivan, became one of the first gay couples in the country to be granted a marriage license. It happened in Boulder, Colo., where a liberal county clerk issued licenses to six same-sex couples in the spring of 1975.
Adams had hoped to use his marriage to secure permanent residency in the United States for Sullivan, an Australian who had been in the country on a limited visa and was facing deportation.
But Colorado's attorney general declared the Boulder marriages invalid. Several months later, Adams and Sullivan received a letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service that denied Sullivan's petition for resident status in terms that left no doubt about the reason:
"You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots," the notification read.
Adams, who later filed the first federal lawsuit demanding recognition of same-sex marriages, died Monday at his home in Hollywood after a brief illness, He was 65.
Filipino-American gay rights activist. Adams, along with Anthony Corbett "Tony" Sullivan, gained national attention in 1975 as one of the first couples in the United States to be issued a same-sex marriage license. Their 1975 marriage certificate issued by Boulder County, Colorado eventually led to the first federal lawsuit demanding recognition of same-sex marriages and the 1982 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Adams v. Howerton that overturned the Colorado marriage. The story of Adams and Sullivan is the subject of the upcoming documentary, "Limited Partnership."∼“Limited Partnership,”
Born in Manila on March 9, 1947, Adams immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 12. He grew up in Long Prairie, Minn., studied liberal arts at the University of Minnesota and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1968.
Richard Adams had made history when he and his partner of four years, Anthony Sullivan, became one of the first gay couples in the country to be granted a marriage license. It happened in Boulder, Colo., where a liberal county clerk issued licenses to six same-sex couples in the spring of 1975.
Adams had hoped to use his marriage to secure permanent residency in the United States for Sullivan, an Australian who had been in the country on a limited visa and was facing deportation.
But Colorado's attorney general declared the Boulder marriages invalid. Several months later, Adams and Sullivan received a letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service that denied Sullivan's petition for resident status in terms that left no doubt about the reason:
"You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots," the notification read.
Adams, who later filed the first federal lawsuit demanding recognition of same-sex marriages, died Monday at his home in Hollywood after a brief illness, He was 65.
Born in Manila on March 9, 1947, Adams immigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 12. He grew up in Long Prairie, Minn., studied liberal arts at the University of Minnesota and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1968.
Richard Adams had made history when he and his partner of four years, Anthony Sullivan, became one of the first gay couples in the country to be granted a marriage license. It happened in Boulder, Colo., where a liberal county clerk issued licenses to six same-sex couples in the spring of 1975.
Adams had hoped to use his marriage to secure permanent residency in the United States for Sullivan, an Australian who had been in the country on a limited visa and was facing deportation.
But Colorado's attorney general declared the Boulder marriages invalid. Several months later, Adams and Sullivan received a letter from the Immigration and Naturalization Service that denied Sullivan's petition for resident status in terms that left no doubt about the reason:
"You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots," the notification read.
Adams, who later filed the first federal lawsuit demanding recognition of same-sex marriages, died Monday at his home in Hollywood after a brief illness, He was 65.
