June is Pride Month, a time for respect and acceptance. Rainbow flags are hoisted high, parades happen all around the nation, and LGBTQ+ identifying people and allies adorn their best pride regalia. But it’s also a time to honor the people who have paved the way for gay rights activism, like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, or become cultural icons through their work, like writers
Virginia Woolf and
Ifti Nasim. At DCBS, we respect and accept that diversity is the greatest asset of our workforce.
History has created a timeline of the of the long bumpy road for LBGT rights and their advocates struggles. Advocates include
Banyard Rustin, Margarethe Cammermeyer, and others.
Here are some important events, people, and information:
The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law has compiled by state
LGBT Data and Demographics. This includes gender ratio, income percentage, population, etc.
The Stonewall Inn
In 1969, at The Stonewall Inn the now-famous event catalyzed the gay rights movement:
The Stonewall Riots. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Happening in the Northwest
George Eighmey, the first openly LGBTQ male appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1993, co-sponsored the 1997 Employment Non-Discrimination Act that passed the House, but not the Senate. He also sponsored other laws to protect the LGBTQ community, including permitting Oregonians to choose how they wanted their remains disposed of instead of having others make that decision.
Peter Boag is an openly gay man and a prominent professional historian of North America. A native of Portland, he now lives in Vancouver and Pullman, Washington, where he teaches at Washington State University. When he first began researching LGBTQ history, he met with considerable resistance in the profession, but he remained true to his goal. His books include Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest (2003) and Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past (2011).
Judge Janice Wilson was appointed to an Oregon District Court in March 1991 by Gov. Barbara Roberts. Judge Wilson was openly lesbian at the time of her appointment. Her sexual orientation was even discussed in the press. She faced her first election to retain the seat in the 1992 Oregon May primary. She became the first openly LGBTQ person elected to Oregon public office.
Events around the state