Vern L. Bullough was one of Southern California's most notable scholars of human sexuality and one of our most dedicated activists on behalf of homosexual rights.

Bullough obtained his doctorate in history from the University of Chicago in 1954. In 1959, he was appointed as the assistant professor of history at Cal State Northridge and then became a full professor in 1965. Through the 1970s, he was an adjunct professor at UCLA in the School of Public Health, and during this time he and his wife Bonnie were very active in the local movement for homosexual rights.

The Bulloughs became involved with homosexual issues through family connections in the 1940s, but it was not until moving to Los Angeles in 1959 that they became involved with an organized homosexual movement. Vern became head of the Valley chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union soon after moving here. He met Eason Monroe, executive director for the ACLU, and suggested that the ACLU should go to bat on behalf of the homosexual community.

Eason considered Bullough's suggestion, so they decided to meet with Dorr Legg and Don Slater of ONE Inc., which published ONE Magazine (the first successful national GLBT newsmagazine) and offered courses in homophile studies from its office on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles. Bullough was appointed chair of a committee to formulate the policy, which passed with only one dissenting vote.

But once decided, how next do you defend homosexuals? This had never been attempted before. The Bulloughs' home became headquarters for the cause for a while-their telephone serving as a hotline for homosexuals who might have a case for the ACLU to consider. There were many possibilities, but none they felt could successfully be defended until they heard of a schoolteacher who had been compelled to resign by a local school board after he was arrested for a homosexual act. The case, Odorizzi v. Bloomfield School District, set a legal precedent for "undue influence" and is widely taught in law schools today.

After the ACLU Valley chapter adopted its policy to defend homosexuals, ACLU chapters in Washington, D.C., and Florida followed with comparable measures.

By 1967, the national organization adopted a policy similar to the one Bullough had originally devised. Thus, the ACLU became the first national civil rights organization to recognize and defend the rights of homosexuals.

After this, the Bulloughs became celebrities within the local movement. When they showed up to participate in the motorcade to protest the exclusion of homosexuals in the military on May 21, 1966, they were ushered into the first of 12 cars and paraded 20 miles through Los Angeles, bedecked with signs and banners of protest. "People just stared as we went through the city," Bullough recalled, "but we carried it out and congratulated ourselves when it was over." The motorcade was coordinated by the Los Angeles Committee to Fight Exclusion of Homosexuals from the Armed Forces, led by Slater and Harry Hay. Bullough said that it was a strange day for him because, while he was there saying that homosexuals should be drafted and be allowed to serve, he was also fundamentally against the war.

Still, he went to support his cohorts in the movement for sexual rights. Bullough believes that "coming out" has been the most successful aspect of the homosexual rights movement. This was possible on a large scale in Los Angeles in the 1950s and '60s because there was an economy here for homosexuals.

It was relatively easy to earn a living. The police were excessively harsh, to say the least, but that began to change when a member of Mattachine was arrested for homosexual misconduct in 1952 and successfully pleaded his innocence. As that man was publicly outed through the ordeal, many of his fellow activists such as Slater, Legg and Hay stood with him, putting their own careers and reputations on the line. Together, they launched ONE Magazine in 1953. ONE drew many to the local movement who wanted to participate and find others like themselves, but who were not comfortable hanging out in bars.

By the time Bullough contacted ONE on behalf of the ACLU, it had been active in the homosexual rights movement for nearly a decade-longer than any other organization in the country. Bullough believes that the most important battle yet to be fought pertains to samesex marriage. As he sees it, "if domestic partnership laws become national like the state of California's, it doesn't really matter about marriage-you can always get married in a church." Nevertheless, since same-sex couples are prohibited from getting married, Bullough and his current partner Gwen have decided that they too should do a domestic partnership. "Since others are getting screwed, we might as well get screwed with them," he quipped.

Such is the empathy of the activist! C. Todd White is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Southern California.