JERRY WELLER

Gerald K. Weller, Jr.
Oct. 31, 1948 - July 8, 2018
Pioneer gay activist Jerry Weller, co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, died July 8, 2018 in Portland surrounded by close friends at the age of 69. In 1976, Weller became the Executive Director of the Portland Town Council, the first gay rights legislative organization serving Oregon. He was also a founder and first Executive Director of the Town Council Foundation, one of the first gay organizations to receive tax-exempt status.
In 1982, Weller co-founded the Right to Privacy PAC. This became the largest PAC serving the LGBT communities in Oregon. In 1983, Weller left Oregon to accept the position of Executive Director of the Gay Rights National Lobby in Washington, D.C., predecessor to the Human Rights Campaign Fund.
From 1984 to 1985, during the early years of the AIDS crisis, Weller served as Executive Director of the Howard Brown Memorial Clinic in Chicago, at that time the largest gay male health clinic in the nation. When Weller's long-time companion, Bruce Muller, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, Weller returned to Oregon to care for him. Muller died in 1991.
Weller then worked for OSHA, the Oregon Health Division, and the Oregon Bureau of Labor Civil Rights Division. He retired from the State of Oregon in 2007. He then served on the board of the Oregon ACLU continuing his advocacy for gay civil rights and was editor of City Week, a Portland weekly gay newspaper.
Jerry was known as a loyal and empathic friend who always tracked your activities and asked about them. He followed state and local politics (and football!) closely and relished political discussions. He was forthright about his beliefs, needs and thoughts but never was without a sense of humor. He was admired as a courageous early advocate for gay rights who connected his commitment to action.
Gerald K. Weller was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and received his undergraduate degree from Penn State University in 1970. He moved to Portland in 1976. He received his Master's degree from Roosevelt University in journalism in 1986. Weller began his civil rights work in Oakland, Calif., as an organizing member of Gays of Oakland for Bobby Seale for Mayor in 1973.
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