Gloria McCauley

Gloria McCauley was born in 1952 in New York. Her mother didn't have the means to raise a child so McCauley grew up in a Catholic convent just north of New York City until the age of 12. She came to Columbus in the early 1970s to visit a friend and ended up staying. In 1996, she founded BRAVO, the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization, with support from the Lesbian Business association and the United Way. BRAVO assisted people with legal issues, lobbied for culturally competent service at all levels of government, and taught self-defense classes to at-risk communities. McCauley also coordinated event security for many of the Columbus Gay Pride parades and stayed engaged with many other activist groups throughout her life.
In her interview, McCauley talks about growing up in a convent, her experience coming out, and the reactions of people in her life. She was active in anti-war protests starting in the 1960s and transition to feminist activism in the 1970s with such groups as NOW, the National Organization for Women. She describes her political activism, problems arising from not taking her husbands name, and the LGBTQ+ social scene in the 70s and 80s. McCauley discusses the integration of the LGBTQ+ community over time, her daughters activism, and how she started BRAVO. Concluding her interview she talked about the things she most proud of and her work with "Blood Sisters" during the AIDS epidemic.
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