Donald Stout: Championing gay rights in the City Different
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11/21/2007 -
When Santa Fe Public Schools no longer supported Project Glyph, it struck a chord with Donald Stout.Project Glyph was implemented in 1999 by the Santa Fe Rape Crisis Center to make schools more supportive places for gay and lesbian students. Stout was passionate about helping keep this project in the schools.
"I felt very strongly because I remember what it was like to grow up as a gay kid with absolutely no support whatsoever and how extremely difficult that was as an adolescent in junior high and high school," Stout said. "I felt like I was the only person in the world, so that particular issue really hit me emotionally."
Stout said the ability of schools to support gay and lesbian students when they're first coming out is important.
"It just hit me in a place in my heart because of my own experience," Stout said. "When I was growing up ... there was absolutely nothing. There were no role models."
He and a group of people formed a committee to try to pressure the school board to support the program, but they came up short.
If he couldn't keep this program alive in Santa Fe, Stout decided, he would help the gay community in another way. He joined the Human Rights Alliance, and within his first six months he became its president, a position he held for seven years.
Stout's first order of business was to offer Santa Fe's gay community a venue where people could connect.
"Santa Fe is the City Different, and the gay community is no different than the rest of the place," he said. "It's a quirky place, and it's a little harder for people to connect with each other as gay people because we're really integrated in the community. That's a good thing, but that also poses some problems, because it's harder for people to find each other."
Another item on the organization's agenda was re-establishing Pride on the Plaza. When Stout took over as president of the Human Rights Alliance, there hadn't been an official Pride on the Plaza for almost three years. He co-chaired the event, and it grew from a small fundraiser and parade to a two-week celebration of gay culture.
"His quiet, unassuming demeanor belies his ability to get things done," fellow alliance member Laurel Awishus wrote in her nomination letter. "He has brought many diverse groups in the gay community together and is seen as a spokesperson for Northern New Mexico, if not for the state."
It was efforts like these that inspired Awishus to nominate Stout for 10 Who Made a Difference.
"He's just put in an enormous amount of energy into making pride and the (Human Rights Alliance) so important in this community," Awishus said.
The alliance is branching out and doing other events during the rest of the year, including Halloween parties and the annual Gayla.
Stout feels that even though he and the Human Rights Alliance have created a means for members of the gay community to connect, there is still work to be done. A top priority, he said, is domestic-partnership legislation, part of an effort to secure equal rights for gay and lesbian couples on the state level. During the 2007 legislative session, domestic-partnership legislation failed by one vote in the Senate.
"It's so important," Stout said. "I don't think people realize how important domestic-partnership legislation is."
Stout is confident the alliance will reach this goal at the state level within the next year, but more work is needed at the federal level.
"It is truly a collective effort, and, truly, no one person can ever take the credit for all the work," Stout said.
Doña Hatch has taken over as president of the alliance, but Stout said he's not leaving the group anytime soon.
"I'm still so interested in the work that we do," he said.
Stout started his career in activism when he was a student at Northwestern University. He demonstrated against the Vietnam War and traveled to Washington, D.C., in November 1969 to join a massive anti-war protest.
"It seemed like everyone back then was politically aware," Stout said. "It was a very rich time to be in college. I feel very fortunate to have been that age during that era."
He got his degree in English literature and worked in different fields before getting his master's in business administration at The University of New Mexico. He works as a certified public accountant and spends much of his free time volunteering for the Human Rights Alliance.
Stout said volunteering is one of the best things an individual can do.
"Volunteering for your community ... whatever your interest is and whatever is important to your heart, is important," he said. "You can really make a difference in your community. It's all of our collective efforts that change things and that make things better for everyone."
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