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Gloria Johnson

2003

Activist

Gloria Johnson, political activist and retired social worker, labored for decades on local, state, and national levels to improve the status of women and the LGBTQ community. She was actively involved in the National Organization for Women, the civil rights and peace movements in the 1960s, and the women's movement in the 1970s, particularly the drive to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

In a quest to create change, Gloria co-chaired the "No on 6" campaign against an effort to keep members of the LGBTQ community from teaching in public schools. As president of the San Diego County chapter of NOW in the '80s, she represented San Diego County on the state board for several years. She was one of the founders of the chapter's Lesbian Rights Task Force in the late '70s and served as director of NOW's National Lesbian Rights Conference in San Diego in 1988. The board of directors elected Gloria for the National Stonewall Democratic Federation and as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for 1980, 1996, and 2000. She also served as vice chair of the Lesbian and Gay Caucus for the California Democratic Party, as political relations director of the San Diego Democratic Club, and as co-director of political action for the San Diego County Democratic Party.

Aside from her leadership positions, she volunteered in a multitude of campaigns for local Democratic candidates. Throughout her years of activism, Gloria was a social worker for the County of San Diego, including work as an AIDS caseworker. She retired from that work in 2000 but continued service along new avenues. The Gay & Lesbian Times named Gloria its Person of the Year in 2009, followed by a similar honor on the part of the 76th California Assembly District in 2010. Gloria Johnson died in 2013.

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