ACLU Leader And LGBT Rights Activist Larry Frankel Found Dead In DC Park

The body of longtime LGBT activist and ACLU attorney Larry Frankel was found in a stream in Washington, DC's Rock Creek Park on Friday. Lez Get Real reports:

A Metro DC Police spokesman confirmed this morning that the body was indeed that of Frankel and said that homicide detectives are continuing to investigate his death, but would offer no cause of death or comment further on the case pending official release of autopsy results. Frankel, 52, had served as both Executive Director and Legislative Director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania for many years before becoming the State Legislative Counsel for the National ACLU here in Washington. Frankel joined the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office last year and oversaw the support to the 53 ACLU affiliate offices across the country.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Cohen, who calls Frankel "tenacious, factual, honest, and decent," says that initial reports from the DC medical examiner indicate that Frankel died of a "combination of exertion, heat exposure, asthma, and dehydration as a result of jogging through Rock Creek Park." Frankel likely collapsed from the jogging path and fell into the stream. He had complained of food poisoning earlier in the week.