James Hormel
James C. Hormel
Terry Bean Connection
From the SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES; LGBTQ News & Calendar for the Bay Area; January 10–23, 2019, Page 12:
- "New Year’s Day [1984] marked the 86th birthday of LGBT activist and former ambassador James Hormel, shown here with yet another civil rights activist, Terry Bean (left), and actress Valerie Harper. The three were among those who attended the 1984 Democratic Party Convention in San Francisco. This particular event was an LGBT-sponsored party for Paul Tsongas (1941–1997)."
- Tsongas, who served as both a U.S. Senator and as a member of the House of Representatives, hailed from Massachusetts. During his political work, he expanded a number of National Park System areas, fought for HIV/AIDS research, supported various other LGBT causes and more. He had previously served in the Peace Corps in both Ethiopia and the West Indies.
- Tsongas died of complications from pneumonia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma at age 55.
- Bean, a pioneer of the LGBT rights movement, co-founded the Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and other national LGBT rights organizations. He remains a vital activist, most recently spearheading a successful campaign to rename a prominent street in Portland, Oregon, after Harvey Milk. Bean did key fundraising for former President Bill Clinton, and was the first LGBT member of former President Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee.
- San Francisco resident Hormel is the grandson of Hormel Foods founder George Hormel. He funded the namesake James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library in 1995. Like Bean, he was also a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign and remains an active supporter of our community.
People for the American Way
James Hormel served on the People for the American Way's Board of Directors.[1]
Fred Ross award campaign
In early 2013, mainly Democratic Socialists of America aligned activists, together with many elected officials across the United States came together to urge President Barack Obama to award posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the legendary organizer, Fred Ross, Sr.. The Saul Alinsky trained radical was the first to organize people through house meetings, a mentor to both Cesar Chavez and DSAer Dolores Huerta, and a pioneer in Latino voter outreach since 1949 when he helped elect Communist Party USA affiliate Ed Roybal as Los Angeles’s first Latino council member, "Ross’ influence on social change movements remains strong two decades after his death in 1992".
Endorsers of the proposal included James C. Hormel, former US Ambassador to Luxemburg.[2]