Oral history interview with Lee Coleman, 2011 February 17

Overview of the Collection

Interviewee
Coleman, Lee, 1931-
Title
Oral history interview with Lee Coleman
Dates
2011 February 17
Quantity
77.9 megabytes, (1 audio file (MP3, 1 hr., 25 min., 9 sec.) + transcript (25 pages))
Collection Number
SR 11234
Summary
Oral history interview with Lee Coleman conducted by Katrina Griffiths and Joshua Fackrell on February 17, 2011, for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. Coleman was a Log Cabin Republican and later a Democratic candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Lee Coleman was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1931. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1953 and a law degree in 1961. In 1991, he was a founding member of the Oregon chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans. In 2004, he became a Democrat, and in 2006, he ran for the Oregon State House of Representatives, but was not elected.

Other Descriptive InformationReturn to Top

Forms part of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN).

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This oral history interview with Lee Coleman was conducted by Katrina Griffiths and Joshua Fackrell on February 17, 2011. Griffiths and Fackrell conducted the interview for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest as part of Professor Pat Young's senior capstone class on LGBTQ history at Portland State University.

In this interview, Coleman discusses his involvement with the Log Cabin Republicans in California and Oregon. He discusses the political fight against Measure 9, an Oregon ballot measure against LGBTQ rights, in 1992. He also talks about the state of the Republican Party at the time of the interview in 2011. He discusses the reasons he became a Democrat in 2004; talks about recent gay rights legislation in Oregon; and speculates about the future of gay rights. He closes the interview by encouraging his interviewers to become more politically active.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Preferred Citation

Oral history interview with Lee Coleman, by Katrina Griffiths, SR 11234, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, July 2011 (Lib. Acc. 27383).

Preservation Note

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Gay men--Oregon
  • Gay rights--Oregon
  • Political campaigns--Oregon

Personal Names

  • Coleman, Lee, 1931-

Corporate Names

  • Log Cabin Republicans
  • Republican Party (Or.)

Geographical Names

  • Oregon--Politics and government--20th century

Form or Genre Terms

  • interviews
  • oral histories (literary works)

Other Creators

  • Personal Names
    • Fackrell, Joshua (interviewer)
    • Griffiths, Katrina (interviewer)
    Corporate Names
    • Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (sponsor)