Lou Maletta, founder of the Gay Cable Network (GCN), died of liver cancer on November 2, The New York Times reports. He was 74. Maletta founded GCN in New York City in 1982, and its news and entertainment content was broadcast on public access cable in about 20 cities before he retired in 2001. In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, GCN became an important source of information, airing segments from local health department officials and Gay Men’s Health Crisis. From 1984 to 2000, GCN covered both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, interviewing political leaders as well as LGBT rights demonstrators.

To read the Times article, click here.