GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger
on Monday said he would remember his friend Mike Tidmus as a fighter
and a tireless crusader for HIV/AIDS.
The 60-year-old Tidmus died on Sunday
after losing a prolonged battle with cancer, LGBT
POV, a blog of Frontiers LA, reported.
Tidmus' brother, Lindsay, simply posted
on Facebook: “It is with a heavy heart that I inform his Facebook
friends of Mike's passing. He left us this morning after a battle
with cancer.”
The San Diego-based activist was
“always front and center when it came to injustice against LGBT
people,” Karen Ocamb wrote on LGBT POV.
Before working with Karger on his bid
for the White House, Tidmus was involved in Karger's protests against
major donors to California's anti-gay marriage initiative,
Proposition 8.
“It's a sad time for the entire
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community,” Karger told On
Top Magazine in an email. “Mike was a longtime activist on
behalf of all of us. … He was a fighter right down to his final
days.”
“Mike was a tireless crusader for
HIV/AIDS for over two decades. He was open about being HIV positive
and courageously fought the system to help with funding, awareness
and care,” Karger added.