Ken Keechl, a lawyer who was the first openly gay person to serve on the Broward County Commission, in his last year as mayor, died last Friday of pancreatic cancer. He was 60. Keechl was a Democratic activist and lawyer when he announced his bid for the Broward County Commission. He was elected in 2006 and served until 2010. He was chosen to lead as Broward’s mayor in his final year on the County Commission, from November 2009 through November 2010. His victory was monumental, having beat an incumbent Republican who was once president of the state Senate and who had been appointed to the County Commission by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2000. As commissioner, Keechl pushed to broaden the county’s anti-discrimination laws to include transgendered residents. He also authored resolutions in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in the military and against a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Former County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said she remembers Keechl as a passionate advocate for the interests of his constituents. He is predeceased by his husband, Ted Adcock, who died in December. Keechl announced their engagement in 2011, then one of the first gay couples in South Florida to announce they were getting married under New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage. #Queer Up South Florida & Florida