Last Friday, the Center inducted nine community leaders into its Wall of Honor. The Wall, a memorial in tribute of community activists and allies since 2004, now includes Lou and Carol Arko, Dr. Al Best, Dr. David McWhirter and Dr. Andrew Mattison, Bernard Michels, Frederick Scholl, Jim Woodward, and Gloria Johnson, in addition to the other 39 names it displays.

“Our history book on the walls of this auditorium serves an extremely significant role for our community as we continue to struggle for our fight for equality,” said Rich Valdez, chair of The Center’s board of directors. “The photos of these LGBT leaders and pioneers helps remind us of where our community began, the struggles we already faced, and the great successes that we made along the way….These leaders, must be thanked not only for their contributions but for their strength, their wisdom, and their courage.”

The Wall of Honor, located in The Center’s main auditorium, features a display of pictorial plaques that individually recognize GLBT community leaders and allies. Each plaque features an honoree photo and summary of life accomplishments, which displayed together create a sort of history book on the roots and foundations of our local GLBT community.

Gloria Johnson is a feminist, GLBT rights advocate and Democratic Party activist, whose name now hangs alongside previous inductees including R. Herb King, an activist for GLBT servicemembers, and Jim Cua, an activist for GLBT equality, both now deceased. Active in the community since arriving in San Diego as a college student in the 1960s, Johnson dedicated herself to a life of political activism and advocacy. For instance, as a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), she has fought against sex discrimination; organized communities for and against numerous local and national legislation, such as the Equal Rights Amendment; and has worked extensively on various Democratic Party projects and organizations, such as the San Diego Democratic Central Committee. More recently, Johnson worked on campaigns for Christine Kehoe, Donna Frye, and Mike Aguirre.

The Wall of Honor, initially proposed by Nicole Murray-Ramirez and created in 2004, is the nation’s first and only community memorial display that honors local GLBT community leaders. Thinking back on his initial ideas for the memorial, Ramirez said he wanted something more than the typical GLBT memorial display of faceless names. “[Most GLBT memorial displays] will have a wall and just put a name plank,” he said. “I don’t want that. I wanted [visitors] to be able to see the face [of honorees] and read what they accomplished. I’m very proud of it because I know that these people will never be forgotten.”

For Ramirez, the Wall serves as a memorial to those who built our community from the ground up.

“The truth of the matter is that the gay and lesbian community was built by countless activists and heroes who are no longer with us. And we as a community seem to forget that,” Ramirez said.

These leaders were courageous in fighting for GLBT rights when homophobia was inescapable, he said.

The Wall is also a testament to the progress of the GLBT civil rights movement.

A committee of community representatives including Ramirez, civic leader Ben F. Dillingham III, lesbian activist Jeri Dilno, transgender advocate Judi Schaim, community member George Murphy, and Sharon Parker of the LAMBDA archives selects the inductees, said Delores Jacobs, executive director of The Center.

The committee selects honorees based on three criteria: individuals must have made an outstanding contribution to GLBT civil rights; worked toward creating and maintaining GLBT institutions and organizations; and played a historic role in advancing GLBT equality.