Ray Hill

Ray Hill (October 13, 1940 – November 24, 2018) was an American activist for LGBT rights and for police, law enforcement and prisoner issues. An ex-convict, he was also the subject of multiple documentary films.

Personal life

Early life Ray Hill was born on October 13, 1940, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in downtown Houston when the family was living in Houston Heights. Hill had a brother, who died before Ray was born, and two sisters. Both of Hill's parents were labor organizers, his father with the AFL–CIO and his mother with the Teamsters, which Hill says is what started his fervent interest in civil rights. Hill was a teenage Baptist evangelist from age 13 to 17. Hill came out to his family in 1958 while he was still in high school. His mother told him that she was "relieved" that he was gay because she and his father had thought that he was possibly a Republican.

Illness and death Hill was diabetic and had more than two heart surgeries, and had his left leg and half his right foot amputated because of diabetes complications.

Hill died on November 24, 2018, from heart failure while in hospice care. In his final months, Hill worked to prepare for his death, including giving feedback on his obituary and even inviting "TV stations to come film B-roll to use as background footage when the time came."

In 1975 Hill just out of prison began working for a Houston radio station KPFT-FM which he co-founded in 1968, where he hosted a show about gay issues.

Anita Bryant's 1977 visit to Houston was the catalyst to starting a fervent gay rights movement in Houston.

Hill was also involved with the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas which is known for striking down sodomy laws in the United States. Hill helped the men involved with the case through getting their trial to the Supreme Court.

Hill was also an activist for those living with HIV and AIDS, and served on the board of directors for the FAIR Foundation. In 1979 Hill began helping the first people he knew with HIV/AIDS, although at the time the physicians did not know that they were living with HIV/AIDS, but believed that they had Kaposi's sarcoma. It is now known that Kaposi's sarcoma can be developed when one has HIV, although it was several years before AIDS was named, initially having been called gay-related immune deficiency (GRID), a term Hill and others fought against. Hill has also married prisoners' loved ones "by proxy" on his show, totaling 12 proxy ceremonies by 2010. Hill retired from hosting the show in 2011, but came back for a few months in 2012 while the show searched for a new host.

In 1999 Hill read a letter from Jon Buice, one of the perpetrators of Paul Broussard's murder, on The Prison Show. Hill felt conflicted about his relationship with the Broussard murder, as he felt that he was the reason that the murder had been classified as a hate crime which in turn cause Buice's strict 45-year prison sentencing. Hill became friends with Buice because of this and began advocating for his release from prison. On November 16, 2015, Buice was granted parole, and on December 30, 2015, he was released, Hill being one of the individuals present to greet him as he left prison.

In 1999 Hill wrote and starred in a one-man show, the eponymous Ray Hill and the Sex Police. Hill reopened the show in January 2012, following his arrest at Treasure strip club in Houston.

Hill also spoke out against the police tactic of stings in which police officers go undercover as gay men and according to Hill try to "entrap" gay men into committing crimes. A particular incident in 2013 where seven men were arrested for indecent exposure and had their names and mugshots published spurred Hill to protest these stings and challenge the then mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, specifically because she is openly lesbian.

City of Houston v. Hill Hill was the plaintiff of a 1987 Supreme Court case, City of Houston v. Hill. The court in its ruling at one point labeled Hill a "citizen provocateur", a title Hill later put on his business cards. Hill has won four federal cases against the city of Houston for similar police and First Amendment rights including removing ordinances that disallowed citizens from blocking sidewalks and forcing citizens to identify themselves to police officers.

Hill was the subject of a short documentary entitled The Trouble with Ray directed by filmmaker Travis Johns and produced by Jarrod Gullett of Proud Pony International. The documentary began as a 23-minute short after the filmmakers met Hill at a party by chance.

Awards

1999 First Amendment Award from the Houston Trial Lawyers Foundation. 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Unity Committee. 2006 Trailblazer Award from SCALE (and HIV and AIDS organization). 2008 The John P. McGovern Award from University of Texas School of Public Health. 2010 Amicus Achievement Grant from the South Texas College of Law. 2014 Heritage Award from Houston Pride, Inc. 2014 FACE Awards: Gay Male Activist of the Year and Community Hero of the Year. 2015 Living Legend Award from the Democratic Party of Harris County. 2015 Community Visionary Award from the Montrose Center. 2017 Favorite Gay Male Hero (OutSmart Magazine Gayest and Greatest Awards)