Honoring the UO’s queer community

The Ducks featured below have contributed meaningfully to the university and the 2SLGBTQIA3+ community. They’ve broken barriers, lived in authenticity and joy, and accomplished great things to make the world a better place. This list includes individuals both living and deceased, as we wish to honor the legacy of those who have gone before us and paved a way for current and future Ducks.  
 

Randy Shilts, BS ’77 (journalism, Clark Honors College)

Randy Shilts was one of the first openly gay reporters for a major newspaper and a leading advocate for awareness around the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. 

During his time as a student, Shilts worked for the Oregon Daily Emerald, covering major UO stories like Steve Prefontaine’s untimely death. He also served as director of the Gay People’s Alliance. 

After graduation in 1977, Shilts worked for The Advocate and as a broadcast reporter, prior to landing a job with the San Francisco Chronicle, where he covered the AIDS epidemic. He was deeply influential in creating space for dialogue about AIDS nationally and internationally and educating the public during the early days of the epidemic. 

Shilts authored three books—And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic, The Mayor of Castro Street, and Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military. And the Band Played On was produced as an HBO docudrama in 1993. 

In 1998, Shilts was inducted into the School of Journalism and Communication’s Hall of Achievement. He is also the 1993 Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists’ Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and the 1988 American Society of Journalists and Authors’ Outstanding Author. 

Shilts died in 1994. 
 

Read more about Shilts’s legacy

Morgan Thomas, MFA ’16 (creative writing)

Morgan Thomas is an award-winning writer whose debut story collection, Manywhere, has appeared in national publications like The Atlantic. 

Manywhere features nine stories, set at different points in history, about Southern queer and genderqueer characters who seek to discover their true selves.  

Thomas, who currently lives in Portland but grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida, told the Oregon Humanities Center in a UO Today interview that anytime they write, they typically find themself back in the Southern US.  

“That landscape is very much a part of me, and I think part of my stories,” Thomas said. “One of the things that I was trying to do in Manywhere and that I’m still thinking about as I write fiction is to sort of find a place for myself as a genderqueer person in the mythos of the South.” 

Thomas has received numerous accolades for their work, including the 2022 Judith Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ+ Writers from Lambda Literary. They have also received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Southern Studies Fellowship, and the Fulbright Foundation. 
 

Jonathan Patterson, JD ’13

Jon Patterson is the chief people and culture officer at Compassion & Choices, a voice for marginalized communities throughout the Northwest, and one of just a few openly gay Black attorneys in Oregon. 

Patterson has spent his career consulting on issues related to medical aid in dying and end-of-life decision making—topics he speaks to nationally. 

In 2019, he was named a Queer Hero of the Northwest by the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest for his efforts to create the LGBTQ Division of the National Bar Association, the nation’s oldest and largest global network of predominantly Black attorneys and judges. He served as the inaugural chair for the division and is also a former president of the Oregon Chapter of the National Bar Association. 

Patterson’s other accolades include the 2018 Minoru Yasui Justice Award from the UO School of Law, the 2018 President’s Diversity & Inclusion Award from the Oregon State Bar, and inclusion in the Portland Business Journal’s 2020 Forty Under 40 class. 

When asked about his involvement in Oregon’s legal community by the Portland Business Journal, Patterson said: “Because Oregon only has roughly 135 Black lawyers (and only a handful of those openly LGBTQ), it is vital that we join together to fight against the injustices in our nation.”  
 

Sally Sheklow, BA ’76 (broadcast communications), MS ’86 (leisure studies and services)

Sally Sheklow was a lesbian activist and a pillar of Eugene’s community for many years. 

A California native, she moved north to enroll at the UO in the early 1970s. It was during this time as a student, while taking courses on women and health, that she first recognized herself as a lesbian. 

After graduating with both her undergraduate and master’s degrees, Sheklow began a career in health, working for the Willamette AIDS Council, where she led safe-sex workshops and supported those in hospice care. She later did work for the Feminist Women’s Health Center, advocating for reproductive freedom. 

Sheklow was an organizer and an active member of Eugene’s lesbian community. She helped plan Eugene’s early Pride celebrations, created Balaboosteh—a group for Jewish lesbians, and founded WYMPROV!—an improv group that raised lesbian visibility and combated anti-gay political campaigns. 

In addition to these numerous community leadership roles, Sheklow was well known for her contributions to Eugene Weekly’s “Living Out” column from 1999 to 2017. She chronicled her adventures with “Wifey,” Enid Loften, and their cat. Advocates for marriage equality, Sheklow and Loften were one of the plaintiff couples in the 2005 court case, Li vs. State of Oregon, which sought to legalize same-sex marriage in Oregon. 

Sheklow died in early 2022. That same year, she was recognized as a Queer Hero of the Northwest by the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest.  
 

Watch Sally’s interview with the Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project

Bethany Grace Howe, PhD ’19 (media studies) 
 

Bethany Grace Howe began her transition as a transgender woman just weeks into her doctoral program in the UO’s School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC).  

“I came out in a school-wide email and quickly became what my advisor called ‘the transgender poster child for the School of Journalism,’” Howe said in an article published by the SOJC. “This role defined my time there. Volunteer service to the school became my passion.” 

During her PhD program, Howe worked as a graduate teaching fellow and served as a mentor to her students. She was recognized for her efforts to support students of all backgrounds and values with a Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Diversity and Inclusion from the university. 

After graduation in 2019, Howe tried a couple of entrepreneurial ventures before landing at the Oregon Department of Human Services as a communications specialist. In this role, she supports the ODHS Stabilization and Crisis Unit and leads several work groups focused on how to communicate with marginalized communities in Oregon. 

Howe also works as an advisor in the field of 2SLGBTQIA3+ outreach and education, is on the executive board of the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, and is the owner of PRIDE & Praxis, working with corporate and nonprofit clients to develop AI-based solutions.  
 

Whitney Donielson, BA ’11 (English)

Whitney Donielson is the program director for the university’s Nontraditional Student Programs, where she helps nontraditional students like adult learners, parents, and transfer students get connected with resources on and off campus. 

A transfer student herself, Donielson returned to her hometown of Eugene after spending the first two years of college in Wisconsin. Though it wasn’t until after graduation that she came out as queer, she labeled herself as a straight ally at the time, volunteering as such with the Bridges Speakers Bureau. The bureau put on panel events, where students, faculty, and staff shared their experiences to educate UO community members on 2SLGBTQIA3+ issues. 

Today, Donielson is proud to be out living in accordance with her values and with an emphasis on community. She’s getting involved with the UO Alumni Association’s UO Pride Network with a goal of creating a support network for current 2SLGBTQIA3+ students and recent grads. She also serves on the board of California-based nonprofit, Still Bisexual, which was founded by UO alumna Nicole Kristal, BA ’99 (magazine journalism).

“[To me, Pride] means having time for radical queer joy, but also continuing to defend and fight for the rights and humanity of queer people everywhere,” Donielson said. “If you are 2SLGBTQIA3+ or questioning, you are not alone. You are brave, you are strong, you are resilient, you are worthy of your existence, and I'm so glad you're here. All oppression is connected. Whoever you are and whatever identities you hold, use your privileges and power to support those without those privileges and power.” 
 

O’Niell Osborn, MEd ’09 (counseling, family and human services)

O’Niell Osborn is a mental health therapist who specializes in serving the 2SLGBTQIA3+ community and supporting individuals seeking gender-affirming medical care. 

He moved to Eugene in 1998, relocating from the Midwest after earning his undergraduate degree from the University of Northern Iowa. After working as a care provider, job coach, and crisis line volunteer, Osborn became interested in pursuing a career in mental health. He applied to the College of Education’s Couples and Family Therapy program and was accepted in 2007.  

Coming into the program, Osborn said he felt uncertain about what his experience would look like as a member of the 2SLGBTQIA3+ community. He was pleased to discover a positive and affirming environment with supportive professors and peers. As a graduate student, he worked on campus at the Women’s Center and was involved with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Education and Support Services (LGBTESS).  

Osborn stays connected with the university and UO Alumni Association through the UO Pride Network. He said he’s getting involved to show prospective and current 2SLGBTQIA3+ students they can have a positive experience at the UO and to support queer community members and allies beyond graduation. 

When asked what Pride means to him, Osborn emphasized that it is so much more than a month. He said that “Pride honors the struggles of those who came before us, celebrates how far we have come, and how far we still have to go before true equality is achieved.” He also highlighted that “Pride is also for all the folks who aren't ready to come out or don't feel safe to come out—to know they are worthy and whole.” 

Osborn sends a call to action to fellow UO alumni to consider what meaningful allyship looks like and how they can support the queer people in their lives. 

"I encourage my fellow alums to take a moment to consider how to show up for family members, friends, and neighbors who are LGBTQ+,” Osborn said. “Even small acts of kindness can make a huge impact for folks—especially young people.”