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Bill and Ann Shepherd became deeply committed to fighting for gay and lesbian civil rights in Portland, Oregon, after their daughter, Susie, came out to them in 1972. Bill was born July 25th, 1913 in Portland, and became a respected general practice lawyer. Ann was born December 30th, 1918 in Kansas City, Missouri, and had a background in journalism. Her family moved to Oregon in 1935, and later she returned after college in 1940 to work in Oregon. Bill and Ann met for the first time in 1937. After rekindling their friendship in 1944, they were married in November, 1945.

Together the Shepherds helped pave the way for tolerance of sexual minorities in Oregon. They fought every anti-gay ballot measure and candidate that arose. In 1976, Bill Shepherd founded the Portland Town Council Legal Resource group, a prelude to the Oregon Gay and Lesbian Law Group, to ensure justice for sexual minorities. Also in 1976, Ann Shepherd was appointed to Oregon Governor Robert Straub's Task Force on Sexual Preference. From then on the Shepherds spoke before church and civic groups to encourage parents and members to love and accept their gay and lesbian children.

Bill and Ann Shepherd were fighters for rights and what is right. In the 1960s Bill wrote and produced award-winning television programs for the Oregon State Bar, and in the 1980s he began assisting physically disabled Oregonians in gaining greater independence by founding the Blanche Fischer Foundation. He was also an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, serving as elder, chair of the church's board of trustees, member of the Menucha Commission and trustee of Holladay Park Plaza. Ann Shepherd was ordained an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in 1982, then deacon in 1995. She served on the board of Young Audiences and on the Community Advisory Committee of the Multnomah County Restitution Center. She was elected vice president in 1995, then president in 1998 of the Blanche Fischer Foundation. She participated in the demonstration at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2000.

In 1977, the Shepherds, with Charles and Rita Knapp, formed the Portland chapter of Parents of Gays, later affiliated with the national organization Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Until his death in 1995, Bill Shepherd provided low-cost legal counsel to same-sex partners. Ann Shepherd "mothered" many gays and lesbians who had been rejected by their families and worked with concerned parents to better understand their children.

In 1985, the Shepherds received the Lucille Hart Award from the Right to Privacy political action committee. In 1997, Ann received the first Shepherd Award (named for her and her husband) from the Metropolitan Community Church, and OGALLA's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, the Northwest district of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches awarded Ann its Human Rights Award and, in December of that year, the Imperial Sovereign Rose Court invested Ann with the title of Immortal Legend of Diversity. In 2001, Ann Shepherd led Portland's Gay Pride Parade as Grand Marshal, and, also that year, she received the Vollum Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

The Shepherd's daughter Susan (Susie) Shepherd was born in 1949. She was educated at the University of Oregon (B.S., 1972) and also attended Portland State University and Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. She was a volunteer for the V.I.S.T.A. program in Oklahoma, 1973-1974, taught school, and worked for various human rights and gay/lesbian organizations, including the Portland Town Council, and as a clerk for Judge Kathleen Nachtigal in Portland. In 1991 she married the artist K.T. Chase.