D.C. native Bishop Kwabena Albert “Rainey” Cheeks, a taekwondo champion, minister and longtime HIV/AIDS activist, died Aug. 11. He was 74.
Cheeks died at Georgetown University Hospital from complications related to a kidney transplant. He had also been battling cancer.
The son of a D.C. government worker and an Amtrak employee, Cheeks was born in the District in 1952. He won a bronze medal for the U.S. at the World Taekwondo Championships in Seoul, helped create a gathering space for Black gay Washingtonians, founded an inclusive ministry and spent decades advocating for people living with HIV and AIDS…