aprii 2 .1 9 9 9 »
Sure, we know w e ’re everywhere, but did you
know they are, too? That’s right, glance around
and you’ll spot friends and family, associates
and acquaintances, all of whom are straight
and support you. Ju st Out checks in with a few of our community’s many straight allies.
Mfe certainly couldn't get
Everyone's favorite mom, Ann Shepherd
m ad at Susie for being
S iiepiieku ’ s F lock
Mother with a mission
by
W ill O ’B ryan
he world was a much different place when
A nn Shepherd entered it in 1918. World
War I had ended and Woodrow Wilson
was calling for a League of Nations. Also,
within a year of her birth— according to The
Gay Almanac— Franklin D. Roosevelt, acting
as undersecretary of the U.S. Navy, sent young
enlisted men to act as decoys to root out "sex­
ual perverts” at Rhode Island’s Newport Naval
Training Station, leading to the arrest of 20
sailors and 16 civilians on morals charges.
Some of the differences that have changed
U.S. society in the decades since— changes
that have improved the position of queer citi­
zens— can be credited to A nn Shepherd and
people like her: straight people who aligned
themselves with the underdogs.
It’s not necessarily the life she imagined for
herself. If Shepherd had been confronted long
ago by someone who could’ve shown her how
T
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▲ * . « • * * * « * *
* k
her life would unfold to make her a catalyst in
sexual minority activism in Oregon, she guess­
es she would’ve reacted to the information
with a blunt “W hat the hell are you talking
about?!”
Nevertheless, that’s exactly where she
ended up. W hile she credits her upbringing
with helping her choose the path she did—
“Daddy was liberal. He never swore, hut ‘damn
fundamentalists’ was one phrase he allowed
him self’— things really started to jell in 1971.
It was the year 18-year-old citizens won the
right to vote and the year the L.A. Gay and
Lesbian Community C enter was founded. It
was also the year Shepherd’s daughter Susie
told her parents she is gay.
“We certainly couldn’t get mad at Susie for
being gay.... She knew she was loved and
cherished,” Shepherd says, recalling how she
and her late husband, Bill— a maverick gay
rights activist in his own right— handled the
news. “It still took us a while to get accus­
tomed to it; there was no one to talk to."
Indeed, until they and another couple
founded Parents of Gays— the precursor of
Oregon’s branch of Parents, Families and
t i I à a è t ft ft 4 * 4 fe i * I
g a y . . . . She knew she was
loved and cherished,
Ann Shepherd says, recalling
how she and her late
husband, Bill— a maverick
g a y rights activist in his own
right— handled the news.
Friends of Lesbians and Gays— there may not
have been a support group to give the Shep­
herds an opportunity to talk with other par­
ents of gay and lesbian kids, but A nn Shep­
herd still did a lot of talking.
In 1975, the U.S. military pulled out of
Vietnam following the deaths of 56,555 U.S.
soldiers there. Shepherd was fighting her own
war, and testified in Salem in favor of legisla­
tion that would have protected gay and lesbian
Oregonians from discrimination in employ­
ment, public accommodations and housing.
She and her family appeared in newspaper
Ju st anti 1 g
articles. They were interviewed on televi­
sion. A nn Shepherd did a lot of talking.
Through the years, Shepherd’s high pro­
file put her in a position to act as surrogate
mother to a mountain of lesbians and gay
men whose own family lives were less than
idyllic because of their sexuality. Her asstKia-
tion with such folks has left her more certain
than ever that she’s on the right side of the
fight, and she defends gay people zealously.
She says: "For the most part, gay people 1
know—and 1 know a hell of a lot— many of
them have tried to repress [their sexuality]
through puberty, marriage...before realizing,
‘This is who I am, damn it. Take it or leave
it!’ ”
Shepherd, an ordained minister in the
First Presbyterian Church, takes particular
issue with people who use the Bible to
defend anti-gay bigotry.
“I get very mad,” Shepherd admits, when
faced with such theological arguments. “1 try
to keep my temper down, though.”
She adds that she “very sweetly” tries to
explain that Biblical passages don’t support
bigoted arguments, but concedes: “The peo­
ple who want to believe the criticisms in the
Bible— and there are only about six sen­
tences anyway— are the people who won’t be
convinced of anything else.”
A somewhat easier argument for Shep­
herd is convincing parents w'lth gay and les­
bian children to give PFLAG a shot. Consid­
ering that three of her five children identify
as sexual minorities, Shepherd definitely
knows what she’s talking about.
“A t PFLAG you meet so many parents...
and we all love our children,” she explains.
“O nce [parents] realize they’re not alone,
they realize their children are fine."
T he years now find Shepherd a long way
from her birth in Missouri 80 years ago. It’s
1999. A space station is being assembled.
Animals are being cloned. Stealth bombers
are flying over the Balkans. Shepherd is now
a widow. She has five grown kids and a
leather vest, given to her by members of
Oregon’s leather community, that reads “Den
M other” on the back. And, at least in regard
to her activism, she apparently has no
regrets: “Bill and 1 knew this is what we were
supposed to do.”
■ A CLASS A c t , a fund-raising event fen the
Bill and A nn Shepherd Legal Scholarship Fund
of Equity Foundaticm, takes place Friday, April 9.
For more infinmatum, call 244-3225.
The PFLAG O regon state conference is
scheduled for Saturday, May 1. To register, call
636-4427.
The P ortland chapter of PFLAG meets
on the second Tuesday of each month. For more
information, call 232-7676.
S ealed W ith
a
kiss
The attorney behind
Tanner is a humble hero
by
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I n g a S orensen
he ruling, both prodigious and expansive,
begs for an idol to cling to.
Yet the person who must be held most
accountable is not by nature covetous. Indeed,
though 6-foot-5, he is unassuming and tender,
and quickly credits others when discussing the
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