Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1998)
KUHiiinews erry Bean has much to be pleased about: the glory of hugging the president, his close friendship with a former governor of Oregon, the many awards, membership on national boards, the recent invitation to Seattle to meet with Vice President Al Gore to strate gize over some of the Clinton administration’s more recent problems. Plus the house—a pala tial spread nestled in the nose-bleed zone of the West Hills, buzzing with incoming faxes and phone calls and the ever-ringing doorbell. “This place is wonderful for fund-raisers,” says Bean during a quick tour. But getting him to talk about himself is no easy task. What you’ll likely get is a list of names and phone numbers. “I’m not that great at being in the spotlight,” he says, and excuses himself to take another call. “1 have known only a handful of people whose passion for their cause has shaped who they are, and Terry is one of them,” says Barbara Roberts, a former Oregon governor who not only attends formal functions with Bean on a regular basis but often goes to the movies and to dinner with him as well. “His pride in being a gay man, his openness, his incredible generosity in terms of time, money and creativity—it is hard to be with him and not feel what he feels,” she says. “He has moved more people to understanding on this issue than anyone I’ve ever dealt with.” On a more personal level, Roberts says Bean’s friendship sustained her throughout her husband Frank’s illness. “When my husband was dying of cancer, it was Terry who helped me understand about car ing for people at home,” she says. “Terry was one of the people 1 could sit down with and talk about what the dying process was really like. He’s an incredibly warm person.” David Mixner, who has advised President Clinton on a wide array of gay and lesbian issues, says he is a “huge fan” of Bean. The two met nearly 20 years ago when a contingent of Oregonians went to California to assist in defeating a statewide measure that would have made it illegal for gay men and lesbians to teach in schools. “We met in the political arena and have been friends ever since,” Mixner says. “He is one of those people who lives his life on a personal level the way we want to see the world be. He translates dignity from his personal life into pol itics, and if we had more people like that in the movement—and the world—we’d be in much better shape.” Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, offers a simple expla nation for her admiration of Bean. “If I ever lose my way and it’s all coming down on my head, which happens a lot, Terry T M r . F und -R aiser Charity-minded man about town Terry Bean is about more than money by Patrick Collins Terry Bean In 1977, his dreams came to fruition with the passage of a gay rights measure in Eugene. The following year, however, city voters overturned the measure. “It broke my heart,” Bean says now, and the om 50 years ago, Bean was raised in Port pain of the moment is etched so dearly on his land. When recalling his youth, he does not speak extensively of his parents or other family face that it could have happened yesterday. “1 members, or of academic or athletic pursuits. don’t mind saying that I hate the Christian What he does remember from his childhood and right," he adds, and pauses for a moment. “What they’re doing to us is murderous.” early adulthood can be summed up in one word: Over the years, Bean transformed his activist fear. anger into insider effectiveness. In the early “I was constantly, constantly afraid,” Bean 1980s, along with four others he launched a says, and fires up another Old Gold. He says he knew he was gay since the age of Portland-based political action group called Right to Privacy, later renamed Right to Pride. 9 or 10. “I was afraid of being found out. I was He started his own commercial real estate firm afraid to go to sleep at night for fear I would say and began to walk, very tentatively, onto the something incriminating in my sleep.” He graduated from Lake Oswego High stage of national politics. “Remember,” says Roberts, “this is someone School in 1966 and went to the University of who can walk into the White House and they Oregon on a partial golf scholarship. know who he is, but he’s horrified of public It was in Eugene that he got his first real taste of political organizing. He protested the Viet speaking. So much so that he doesn’t eat or sleep the night before a speech.” nam War and later opened Cassady’s Tavern, Bean found his niche behind the scenes, in which became a local hot spot for grass-roots the dark and murky cavern known as fund rais activists. He began lobbying the Oregon Legislature ing. and the Eugene City Council for gay rights in “He’s one of the best political fund-raisers in the country,” says Mixner. 1973. calls me and reminds me that what we’re doing is keeping kids from jumping off bridges,” she says. B Birch says that Bean is part of the first wave of gay activists who understood the importance of money. “He understood, coming from the grass roots of the 1960s, that we would never be able to move forward if there wasn’t a mainstream polit ical strategy,” she says. “He understood that pol itics needed to be played with votes and money, even though the much more fun stuff was hap pening on the street.” Even though Bean has attended rallies from coast to coast, his main work has been behind the scenes. He sat on the board of the Gay Rights National Lobby, and in 1982 helped found the Human Rights Campaign Fund, now known as the Human Rights Campaign. In 1991, he helped establish the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which raises campaign money for gay and lesbian candidates nation wide. He also put together GRNL’s first major donor club, known as the GRNL 48, which was comprised of people who gave at least $1,200 annually. The group is now HRC’s Federal Club. During the 1980s he stayed close to home and dealt with the ravages of the AIDS epidem ic, which, he says, claimed the lives of nearly half his friends. Since 1991 he’s served on HRC’s board of directors and maintained close ties with RTP. Known nationally and locally as Mr. Fund- Raiser, Bean has never, ever stopped asking peo ple to put their money where their mouths are. As usual, he downplays the significance of his fiscal accomplishments. “All you do is ask,” he says, and points west. “Out there, in Beaverton, you can still be fired or kicked out of your apartment just because you’re gay. Did you know that? People are will ing to give time and money when they learn things like that.” How much money has he raised? He shrugs his shoulders and sighs. “I’m not sure, exactly,” he says. “It’s in the millions.” It is difficult to persuade Bean to divulge information about his personal life. He has lost two lovers to AIDS, but this is not a topic he wants to dwell upon. Politics, and the money that fuels it, seems to be his first love. Equality rather than tolerance should be our goal, he says, and he warns folks had better get their checkbooks out. Although the Clinton administration has done more than any other to advance gay and lesbian causes, sexual minority youth are still committing suicide in dispropor tionate numbers, he says—and then reveals that he tried to take his own life before he turned 20. “Nobody should have to live a life with the fear of being found out," he says. “And as long as people are, I’m going to continue asking people for money.” he rght to be let alone is the most comprehensive of T fights and the rght most valued by civilized people.” — Justice Louis Br&ndeis Rogers & Rodz Attorneys at Law Criminal defense by a former judge, state and federal prosecutor, Call for brochure and stale and federal public defenders 506 S.W. Sixth Avenue, Suite 900, Portland, OR 97204 (503)294-9998 B efore You I nvest Y our M oney , I nvest I n A P hone C all . For the first time in 16 years, a great number of taxpayers can ben efit directly from the major Taxpayer Reform Act of 1997. It’s important to start planning now to take full advantage of these new opportunities. I’m committed to helping indi viduals, domestic partners, couples and families understand their financial options. FLORHD WALKER (503) 23*6036 Waddell & Reed
