The Daily Camera, October 28, 2002
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http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/schools/article/0,1713,BDC_2488_1507442,00.html

Display tours local high schools
Photos of openly gay elected officials, their experiences in office documented

By Amy Bounds, Camera Staff Writer

New Vista High School senior Amanda Parsons' ultimate goal is to become president.

As a lesbian, she said an exhibit on openly gay elected officials on display at the school showed her that "stigmas don't have to hold people back." Her favorite story is of a lesbian elected to Utah's state Legislature.

"That was just so cool," she said. "If you can make it in Utah as an out lesbian, you can make it anywhere."

The "Out & Elected in the U.S.A." exhibit is traveling to all of Boulder Valley's high schools. Half of the 60-photo exhibit is going to the high schools, while the rest are on display at the University of Colorado.

Jean Hodges, who works with Boulder Valley schools on gay issues, arranged to bring the exhibit to Boulder from Washington, D.C., through a grant from the Open Door Fund.

The exhibit was created by R. S. Lee, who photographed and interviewed about 100 elected officials. He selected 60 of those people from 30 states for the exhibit, which was funded by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Foundation.

"Each and every one of these subjects could be a book," Lee said. "These are some really dedicated, smart, courageous, hard-working people."

The subjects include those elected to both state and national positions, as well as city council and school board members. Most are Democrats, but several are Republicans. They also represent various ethnicities. Many of their stories include attacks from the opposition based on their sexual orientation.

One of the pictures is of Elaine Noble, the first openly gay politician to win election to a statewide office. She was elected to the Massachusetts state Legislature in 1974.

Since then, more than 500 openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people have been elected or re-elected to serve at nearly every level of public office in the United States.

Alan Spear is considered the longest-serving gay legislator. He was elected to the Minnesota state Senate in 1972 and came out as gay a month after Noble was elected. He was re-elected in 1976 and served for 28 years, retiring in 2000. In the last seven years of his political career, he was president of the Minnesota Senate.

The exhibit also includes Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors. He was assassinated in 1978.

The exhibit is currently at Centaurus High School.

Arapahoe Ridge High School teacher Tammy Merritt, who took her "Diversity of the United States" class to see the exhibit at Arapahoe Ridge, said she liked that those featured came from a wide range of backgrounds.

"It debunks stereotypes," she said. "They don't fit in one particular category just because they're gay."

The exhibit is on display in the Dennis Small Cultural Center on the fourth floor of the University Memorial Center at CU through Nov. 6. A reception for the exhibit also is planned at 4:30 p.m. today at Centaurus High School's student center.

· Contact Amy Bounds at (303) 473-1341 or boundsa@dailycamera.com.

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