Bayard Rustin, a civil rights icon with local roots and a confidante of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has received a posthumous pardon from California Gov. Gavin Newsom for a conviction for homosexual activity rendered under outdated laws, writes Ellie Rushing for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rustin was born in 1912 in West Chester, where he learned the Quaker principles that guided his activism. Over the years, he was a key organizer in the historic March on Washington, protested segregation in Chester County, and took part in one of the first Freedom Rides.

Before his death in 1987, he was arrested multiple times. He spent two years in jail for protesting Japanese internment camps during World War II. He was also arrested and beaten during the Freedom Rides.

However, his 1953 arrest in California for homosexual activity shaped the rest of his life. He was forced to register as a sex offender, which prompted his religious and political associates to distance themselves.

Nearly seven decades later, Gov. Newsom has pardoned Rustin and issued an executive order to find others convicted based on outdated homophobic laws who might be eligible for a pardon.

Read more about Bayard Rustin in The Philadelphia Inquirer here.

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