Keith Cylar, co-founder of Housing Works, has died. I have never known of an organization that started out as a grass-roots activist organization and grew into something serving so many people while keeping its activist credentials. They have always helped the people -- drug users, people with AIDS -- that the other service and homeless organizations didn't want to deal with.
James has a post about him.
i knew keith from the AIDS housing world. i served on the board of the national AIDS housing coalition with him. never mind pushing the edge of the envelope, keith re-defined the fucking envelope. i'll miss his love, his inappropriateness, his telling it like it is and how it really should be, and his enourmous spirit and presence in the world. peace to all.
I loved Keith for the person that he was, I am not gay, or suffering from AIDS, but Keith has shown me what a belief is. I know through him that you can be whatever you want, no matter what your afflicition. While I didn't have a disease like he did, he taught me how to fight. I will never forget him for that, and I thank John Wojick for intrducing him to me. I am going to get my MD in engineering cause of his constant belief in me
Johnny and I are going to miss you
We Love you Keith
Hank & John
Keith was my cousin. His mother Anna Patton was my grandmothers neice. Keith and I grew up together in Portsmouth, Virginia, and he, I, and my sister Tania spent many, many happy years together. Although we did not get together (in our latter years) as much as we would have liked, we always took up from where we left off when we did get together. We especially liked eating blue crabs. Christmas time was always a special event. I loved and admired Keith. He was my favorite cousin. He was so witty and knowledgeable about everything. I was so very proud of him and his accomplishments. This life is not the end. I will see him again, and the next time we meet, we will have with it no tears, sorrow or goodbyes. I love you Keith. Your cousin, Eferem.
I met Keith when we were running cross country against each other in Cleveland, OH in high school. He ran for Benedictine High School and I ran for another school. We met again as Freshmen at the College of Wooster in Wooster, OH. We partied together and we spoke of many eclectic things. It was not until later when we met at a restaurant on Coventry in Cleveland Heights that are friendship really started. I grew to know him as he was coming out. He was a scared young man but full of confidence that he knew what was best for him. I trusted him with the secrets of my life and he trusted me with the secrets of his. We spioke often over the years sometimes not speaking for months but always with an intimacy that belied the distance. I was the first person he called when Sam died. He was the first person I called whe my brother, father and mother died. We were ther for each other. As a non-gay queer man I took him as my date to my sister's wedding. He was the best man at my 1st wedding. He was my daughters godfather. He was always there for me in times of joy and time of sorrow. I love him more than any other man I know. I was married again on May 1, 2004 and I so wanted him there and he was! Keith I will miss your truth, your passion, your vision, your love, your sensitivity, your teasing, your laughter, and your tears. You are the greatest man in my world. You lived a life with a mission of peace and reconciliation