Jeff Graham was attending a fund-raiser when he heard about someone present who had a keen interest in politics and advocacy. He made a point to meet the young man from Salt Lake City.
In Allen Thornell, he found a kindred spirit.
“We probably spent a few hours that evening talking about politics,” said Mr. Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, a political organization for gay, lesbian and transgender issues. “He became a volunteer and went on to become the vice chair of the board of directors for a few terms for [the now-defunct AIDS Survival]. He appreciated all levels of politics.”
Thornell, openly gay and HIV-positive, moved to Atlanta in 1995. He advocated for the city’s gay, lesbian and transgendered community. But his fight for social justice extended beyond gay issues. He fought for global fairness and the rights of laborers. Three years ago, he ran for a state House seat.
“Tireless,” is how Glen Paul Freedman of Atlanta described Mr. Thornell, who lived with his partner, Chad Prosser, in East Atlanta.
And because of his unbounding energy, many were blindsided by the death this week of 38-year-old Allen Keith Thornell. He died Monday from complications of a stroke he’d had the day before. Friends thought he felt bad because of the heat and took him to Atlanta Medical Center.
Beth Cope met Mr. Thornell when he was executive director of Georgia Equality. She, at the time, served as executive director of NARAL, Pro-Choice Georgia. They clicked, and in 2007, he became her partner at Talking Heads Media Inc., a special interest politics firm. A year later, he became director of policy communications for CARE, where his zest for fairness fit the humanitarian organization’s mission.
In a statement, Dr. Helene D. Gayle, CARE’s president and CEO, wrote that Mr. Thornell “built a career speaking on behalf of those who didn’t always have a voice. That’s why he grew so valuable to CARE in such a short period of time.”
In 2006, the gay activist ran unsuccessfully for the state House District 58 seat. He lost to state Rep. Robbin Shipp in the Democratic primary runoff. Had Mr. Thornell won, he would have been the first openly gay man elected to the General Assembly. Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), the state’s only openly lesbian legislator, took office in 2001.
Still, he was part of a historic breakthrough: Four openly gay people ran for legislative posts that year.
“It’s a natural progression,” Mr. Thornell said in a 2006 article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There are more and more people who are out, and society is becoming increasingly tolerant.”
Apparently, tolerance prevailed on the campaign circuit. Ms. Cope, a volunteer, said few questioned the University of Utah grad’s lifestyle.
“None of that factored into the race except, occasionally, people would have unkind things to say to him,” she said. “But that was rare. He was very brave in putting himself out there, but Allen had already taken on so many challenging issues that, when he campaigned, voters felt he would stand up for them on the issues because he had been standing up for people for so long.”
In 2004, Mr. Thornell resigned after a two-year stint as executive director of Georgia Equality to become regional deputy political director of the Service Employees International Union. He was the current chairman of Georgia Equality’s board of directors. Accolades for his advocacy efforts include readers of Southern Voice — Atlanta’s main lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender newspaper. They named him 2004 Best Male Hero, partly for his efforts to squash a state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage; and in 2004 and 2006, they named him Local Gay Hero.
Mr. Graham, the executive director of Georgia Equality, said Mr. Thornell’s legacy will be that he worked to create a better community for all.
“It’s devastating to think of doing this work without Allen here to help us and guide us,” he said.
The funeral will be 2:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Atlanta. Fischer Funeral Care is in charge of arrangements.
Besides Prosser, other survivors include Thornell’s mother, Cheryl Thornell of Salt Lake City; a brother, Mark Thornell of Poulsbo, Wash.; three sisters, Ann McCoy of Granger, Ind.; Sandra Combe of Draper, Utah; and Lisa Stephens of Louisville, Ky.; paternal grandmother, Jean R. Thornell of Bountiful, Utah; and maternal grandmother, Lola C. Evans of Mona, Utah.
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