LGBT-rights activist and gay marriage advocate Patricia Baker lost her battle with lung cancer Sunday at age 55. The Rhode Island native was a local champion for the gay community, working tirelessly to achieve federal recognition of same-sex marriage throughout the country.
According to the Providence Journal, Baker fought diligently to achieve marriage equality despite her terminal illness, and continued lobbying for gay rights even while struggling with the final stages of cancer. In March, Baker traveled to the State House to testify on behalf of gay marriage legislation, urging lawmakers to repeal laws that not only deny LGBT people the right to marry, but that would also prevent her wife from accessing benefits after her death. “I worked for those benefits,” Baker said in a statement. “I worked hard…only to get to this point in my life when I’m terminally ill and I find out my wife is being begrudged $1,861 a month.”
Baker and wife Deborah Tevyaw wed in 2005 in Massachusetts, but their marriage is not legally recognized in the state of Rhode Island.
Tevyaw expressed heartbreak and devastation over the loss of her wife, stating, “I lost my best friend, my partner, my confidant, and my wife, and she died without her wish.” She told the Providence Journal that, although Baker did not live to see the legalization of gay marriage in their home state, she vowed to “fight for the dream that Pat worked so hard” to achieve. “I know it’s a long, hard road, but I don’t think anybody should tell anybody [else] who they should love,” said Tevyaw.
“I don’t know what’s ahead of me, but I’m willing to fight it,” she added.
Martha Holt, Baker’s friend and chairman of The Marriage Equality Rhode Island Board, also expressed her sadness upon learning of Baker’s death, telling the press, “Rhode Island has lost a great champion for civil rights, and we have all lost a dear friend. Pat Baker personified courage and demonstrated remarkable strength in her lifetime.”
Holt added, “Her gentle, determined voice became synonymous with the equality movement, and she demonstrated to all that love truly does make a family.”
