DARREN MANZELLA (center), the prominent gay rights activist who died at age 36 in an auto accident in upstate New York last week, is shown here as an invited guest at the table hosted by News-Press owner Nicholas Benton at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner in 2008. Manzella, a gay combat medic who served in Iraq, was discharged from the military following an interview he did on “60 Minutes” in 2007 criticizing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that was finally rescinded in 2011. He is shown here with two of the other table guests, Ruben Rodriguez and Dennis Copertino. (Photo: News-Press)