What in the world was the Rev. Robert Wood thinking nearly 60 years ago, when homosexuality was viewed as a mental disorder and gay people lived in the shadows?

“He was advocating for gay marriage in the early ’60s,” Rejean Blanchette of Deerfield told me before a recent podcast at the Monitor. “None of us would be where we are now if not for people like Bob Wood.”

Wood, who moved to Concord 30 years ago from New York City, died Aug. 20 at the age of 95. He was living at Havenwood-Heritage Heights retirement community.

If you want a short list of leaders who rocked the boat during the 1960s and ’70s and forced society to address the issue of equal rights, put Wood’s name near the top, next to people like King and Steinem.

Wood marched in 1965 in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to raise awareness about gay persecution before gay people marched. He wrote books about gay issues and used his real name before gay people wrote books and used their real names. And he stated emphatically that gay people could, in fact, be valuable churchgoing members of the community before that sort of conduct was fashionable.

He also showed that a gay soldier could fight bravely and earn his country’s highest honors, which is what Wood did during World War II after sustaining two life-threatening injuries in Italy.

That fact, like Wood himself, came out later, and you can bet the reverend would not have received that recognition had his commanding officers known he was gay. Read more via Concord Monitor