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. He can be reached at
It stands out among the many awards Allen
them away from discriminatory practices.
michael@nibblicious .com.
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