Bonnie Jeanne Tinker

A tireless peacemaker, Bonnie Jeanne Tinker was relentless in her lifelong struggle for justice. Throughout her life, Bonnie marched, spoke, debated, protested, testified and wrote on behalf of peace and justice.

Bonnie was born May 26, 1948, in Boone, Iowa to Leonard Edward Jr. and Lorena Jeanne McGregor Tinker, the second of seven children. The Tinker family was active in the Civil Rights Movement and Peace Movement and secured a place in American history by winning the Viet Namera landmark Black Arm Band Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines School Board, reaffirming students' rights of free speech. Bonnie learned early about social responsibility, embracing the role of caregiver, dedicated daughter, sister and engaged citizen of the world.

Along with Camp Fire Girls and drama classes, Bonnie's youth included meetings, picket lines and demonstrations, the joy of camaraderie, the agony of other's suffering and the anger at injustice. At age 15 she won an NAACP contest with her essay, "What the Emancipation Proclamation Means to Me." She attended the 1963 March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King give his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Bonnie graduated from high school with honors and attended Grinnell College, majoring in Theater. As a senior she protested the college's academic policy of comprehensive exams by refusing to take them, thus never receiving her diploma. She published an article on the experience in an academic journal, Educational Theory. Bonnie attended classes in Cuernavaca, Mexico in the late 60s and early 70s studying educational philosophy, economic development and Spanish.

After college Bonnie moved to Portland with a group of women from Grinnell and the Red Emma collective was born. It was a time of coming out as a lesbian and learning about the incredible violence suffered by women on the streets from alcohol, drugs, exclusion from family and society due to their sexual orientation, and domestic violence.

Bonnie and friends, along with help from Quakers, opened Prescott House, a shelter and halfway house for women. It was about this time in 1972 that Bonnie and her girlfriend, Sharon Keeler, met 15-month-old Connie, who became their daughter.

Between 1975 and 1979 Bonnie was the founding director of the Bradley-Angle House, one of the first shelters for battered women in the country. She was the first chairperson of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

In 1977, Bonnie met Sara Graham who came to work with her at Bradley-Angle House. Bonnie and Connie, who was five years old, and Sara and Josh, age ten, became one family, completed in 1983 when Alex was born.

In 1992, Bonnie put together a slide show called "Love Makes a Family" about lesbian and gay marriage. A non-profit was created and an office was opened in the Portland train station in 1993. Over the years, the work of Love Makes a Family changed along with the needs of lesbian, gay, bi, transgendered and queer families.

The work began as family support; Bonnie recognized that her children had suffered as a result of their parents' exclusion from marriage, and from the lack of social acceptance of their family. Support group meetings for parents, teens and children were conducted for many years.

Before long Bonnie's efforts were directed at the ballot measures and talking to people about marriage equality by telling her story. She gave many interviews and speeches, sat on panels, and even debated the leaders of the Oregon Citizen's Alliance who initiated some of the most vitriolic ballot measures. Love Makes a Family published a regular newsletter for many years, and also created a schools' committee to speak to students, teachers and administrators.

During the early years Bonnie had a talk radio show on a right-wing Christian radio station, KKEY, Love Makes a Family, a dialogue with people of all persuasions, where she made innumerable friends among the opposition.

Bonnie attended the 1995 International Women's Conference in Beijing where she was instrumental in organizing protests bringing notice to lesbian issues.

In recent years Bonnie focused on speaking and teaching a non-violent speech workshop, Opening Hearts and Minds. She also organized public outreach events including marriage equality and peace booths at the State Fair where volunteers talk to fair-goers of all persuasions. Bonnie submitted feature articles, photographs and reviews and wrote a monthly column for The Portland Alliance from 2005 until her death.

Sara and Bonnie got a marriage license in Multnomah Countyand were legally married in a Quaker ceremony in 2004 during the brief window of opportunity before the marriages were rescinded. They both testified at domestic partnership hearings at the legislature, speaking of the need for marriage equality.

As a member of the Seriously Pissed Off Grannies, and a lifelong pacifist, Bonnie was arrested for protesting military recruiting and for trying to stop a tank from driving through the streets in the Rose Festival Parade.

Bonnie Jeanne Tinker's lifelong struggle for peace and justice never ended. On the morning on her death, she had presented her workshop on non-violent speech for social change. And even now, and into the future, the many people she inspired, taught, mentored and encouraged continue the struggle.

Locate on Walk:

• Stage Wall (Left Wall), 1-3