Spring 2008 Newsletter

Oregon Supreme Court Justice Kicks Off Alumni Stonewall Speaker Series at Williams

By Jordan Goldwarg '03

Rives Kistler

On April 3, the first-ever Alumni Stonewall Speaker Series kicked off with a talk by the Honorable Rives Kistler '71, a justice on the Oregon Supreme Court. Rives, who is one of only two openly gay state or federal supreme court justices in the country—the other also happens to be on the Oregon court—spoke at Hardy House (the headquarters of the Queer Student Union) to an audience of students, administrators, and college staff about his experiences as a judge, and also about what life at the college was like in the late '60s and early '70s. Although Rives was appointed to the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy in 2003, judges in Oregon are elected officials, which meant that he faced an election campaign in 2004 to keep his seat. Although it first appeared that no one would file nominating papers to run against him, a candidate declared himself at the last minute, running on a thinly-veiled anti-gay platform with the support of conservative and religious groups.

Rives Kistler and Jordan Goldwarg

Rives thus found himself not only in the unexpected position of having to run a statewide election campaign, but also running a statewide election campaign in which his sexuality became an issue. Fortunately, he was able to convince Oregon's voters that he was the best person for the job, and he easily won the election.

Rives's talk also marked the first time that he had been to Williamstown since 1971, and it was the first time his partner, Tim, had been to the Purple Valley.

The Alumni Stonewall Speaker Series, which is co-sponsored by BiGLATA, the Alumni Relations Office, and the Multicultural Center, continues on April 30 with a talk by Dena Zaldua-Hilkene '98 and on May 9 with a talk by Sarah Malone '94 (as part of the Rainbow Graduation Ceremony). Dena is the Manager of Annual Giving at the National Center for Lesbian Rights and BiGLATA Executive Committee member. Sarah graduated  from Williams magna cum laude in 1994 with a degree in English.  She  has worked as a Flame artist and run her own broadcast design  business.  She is now writing a collection of short fiction, a  screenplay and a blog.

If you are interested in speaking on campus as part of next year's series, please contact Jordan Goldwarg '03 at jgoldwarg@gmail.com. Many thanks to Kareem Khubchandani, Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center and Queer Life Coordinator, for his help in pulling the series together.

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