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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2003)
L,M;ìi;ivi^im eu's ven if people don’t think highly of lawyers in general, lawyers who have been working for gay, lesbian and transgendered equal rights do a lot of good things,” Beth Allen says. “And we need to keep encour aging more people to go into law who are willing to work toward that end.” In 1995 Allen became one of the first recipi ents of the Bill and Ann Shepherd Legal Schol arship, which honors law students in their last year of study who are dedicated to donating part of their expertise to helping keep their state hate- free. It is named after the couple who co-founded the Portland chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays back in the 1970s. Allen first thought about becoming a lawyer while attending high school in Myrtle Creek. Though she got some encouragement from teachers, she didn’t seriously consider it as a career until much later, because "girls from small towns in Oregon didn’t become lawyers.” After graduating she worked at motorcycle shops for several years, then joined the Army to eam money for college— and “because there’s lots of cute girls in the Army.” There she landed a photojournalism assignment and worked for military newspapers, winning several awards and having an all-around great time. After three years Allen left the Army and pursued a speech communications degree at Portland State University. She supported herself working in public affairs at the Army Corps of Engineers, which moved her into an editing job after college. “W hen I first started going to school, Lon Mahon had just come out with Measure 8,” she recalls. “ Measure 9 was going on about the time I graduated from P SU . I was bored And she still does direct work on gay and lesbian issues in her spare time. She helped push through Portland’s domestic partnership registry, and she was active in the opposition to 2000’s Measure 9. She also is working on efforts to get state administra tive rules changed to comply with 1998’s Tanner decision, Scholarship recipient which held that partners of gay still advocates for equal rights men and lesbians should have access to the same benefits as by M ich ael B u rd ick everyone else. This spring she “ With the high cost of a legal education, scholarships such as this one will teach a class at Lewis & with the job 1 had. It was not what I Clark College titled “Sexual really make a difference,” says Beth Allen (geared up to practice for thought 1 was gonna be when I grew up.” Orientation, Gender Identity June’s Dragon Boat races) Allen noticed lawyers were actively and the Law.” making political progress for sexual minorities, received. “For those of us just scraping by...it This year’s scholarship fund-raiser will have which renewed her interest in a legal career. "1 was a big deal.” special significance because of Ann Shepherd’s went into it thinking 1 was going to become a And it came with other kinds of support death in January. Susie Shepherd still is grieving lawyer and make the world safe for gays and les from the Shepherd family. “They were always for her mother but is committed to carrying on bians everywhere.” checking in on me, seeing how 1 was doing, the tradition. "It’ll be hard looking out there at She attended the relatively conservative making sure I was staying active, being proud of the seat where she always sat, but I know that Willamette University College of Law and was an m e.... [They] have taken the scholarship to a she and Daddy will be up there and have the activist right off the bat. Along with another lesbian whole different level, a very personal level.” best seats in the house. ” j n and a trans woman, she created the school’s first Allen’s first “real” job after law school was queer student group. She educated her classmates with Tonkon Torp, where she convinced the Classical jazz musician Skip Elliott Bowman will and professors, “talking about gay and lesbian issues management to provide domestic partner bene perform during the concert and decadent dessert in classes and making sure all the professors knew fits. Now she has settled into a comfortable posi revue A C lass A c t 2003: E ncore , E ncore ! that they had gay and lesbian students and that we tion at Lane Powell Spears Lubersky, a firm that 8 p.m . April 25 at The Old Church, 1422 S.W. were active in what they were discussing.” specializes in labor and employment law. 11 th Ave. Tickets cost $30 at the door or $25 in Willamette had given her a partial scholar This gig might be a far cry from the legal cru advance from Balloons on Broadway or Gai-Pied. ship, but she always was looking for more money sader she envisioned in her idealistic youth, but she For more information call 503-286-1752. to make ends meet. A school counselor brought has not forgotten her commitment to the queer the Shepherd scholarship to her attention, and community. A big part of her job is giving advice to M ichael B urdick is a recent graduate of Reed she applied for it. employers, which gives her an opportunity to steer College. 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