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Oral history interview with Patty Wolff, by David McCormack and Carla Moller

Patty Wolff relates stories and anecdotes about the life of Wolff's partner of many years, Maxine L'Ecuyer, and about the lives of lesbians during the first half of the 20th century. Wolff's partner, Maxine L'Ecuyer (b. 1923), was a French-Canadian, left by her parents to be raised in a Catholic orphanage in Kansas. After moving to California on her own at age 14, L'Ecuyer worked as a movie projectionist for the Marines during WWII, after which she joined a Catholic convent, believing her sexuality to be an abomination. Denied the right to take her final vows, L'Ecuyer attended graduate school at the University of Washington, and was briefly institutionalized (as a result of her sexuality being revealed and compromising her professional career as a professor). L'Ecuyer retired to Portland in her late 50s, at which time she at last found a means of realizing her same-sex attractions to other women. L'Ecuyer met Patty Wolff circa 1992, at a rally on Pioneer Square in opposition of Ballot Measure 9.

Wolff, Patty

Oral history interview with Reverend Susan Leo, by Jae Ann Atwood and Genevieve Blaettler

Leo speaks of her experiences as an out lesbian pastor in the United Church of Christ; her experiences in Nicaragua during the 1980s that led to her decision to attend a Presbyterian seminary; homophobia within the church; and social justice & activism. She also addresses the difficulty her mother had in accepting Leo's lesbianism.

Leo, Susan, 1951-

Oral history interview with Maria Council, by Gary Knapp and A. Krummenacker

Maria Council is co-founder/President of Peacock After Dark. Council discusses her introduction to drag; her drag influences including "drag mother" Patty O'Dora and Lady Elaine Peacock; her reputation as Northwest's First Lesbian Drag Queen and subsequently as the first biologically female Empress of the Rose Court; her experiences in workplaces that required different levels of closeting and self-censorship; and her involvement with the local Portland church community.

Council, Maria

Oral history interview with Roey Thorpe, by Roxanne Michelle Holtman

Thorpe discusses her tenure as Director of Basic Rights Oregon (2001-2006) and her subsequent role on staff at Planned Parenthood in Portland. Thorpe also discusses her youth in Columbia, SC, her coming-out process during the early 1980s, and the significant positions she has held in organizations dedicated to LGBT rights, non-profit community childcare, and at Empire State Pride Agenda (NY).

Thorpe, Rochella, 1962-