Queer Heroes Northwest 2017:
Tom Cherry
Thomas “Tom” Cherry got involved in gay politics when he worked with the Portland Gay Liberation Front in 1970. He subsequently joined the gay advocacy group Second Foundation of Oregon, which was founded later in 1970.
At that time, homosexuality was a largely taboo subject. LGBTQ people were pariahs -- condemned as criminal, mentally ill, and morally degenerate. Positive literature was difficult to find.
LGBTQ people often suffered in isolation. So as word got out that they were not alone, many began calling the Second Foundation. Tom was pursuing his PhD in psychology, so he trained Second Foundation phone staffers on how to deal with callers who sought support.
Until late 1973, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. Tom was one of the
local people who worked to change that designation. More significantly, Tom led the successful attempt to create the Counselling Center for Sexual Minorities, the first mental health service in Oregon specifically for LGBTQ people. Given the continued marginalization of LGBTQ individuals, the service was a lifeline for countless.
Tom supervised the Center once it got up and running in that late 1970s. For a time, the Center got some public funding to hire a counsellor and rent an office.
Tom directed a non-profit childrens mental health agency, “Poyama Land,” through the latter part of the 1970s, but he maintained a part time clinical psychology private practice in which his clients were gay men or lesbians. He at one point recommended placing a troubled gay teenage boy with a gay male couple as foster parents. Today, that would generally not be a problem, but at that time, it resulted in considerable criticism.
Our current LGTBQ affirming mental health services owe much to Tom’s pioneering work.
We begin announcing a hero per day on June 1, and the heroes' posters are unveiled in a reception at Q Center on June 15, 2017, 5-7PM. The public is invited. Queer Heroes' posters are displayed all year at Q Center.
P.O. Box 3646 • Portland, OR 97208-3646 • info@glapn.org
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