User:Terry Bean

Over the past forty years Terry Bean has been a staunch advocate and conduit for the Democratic Party and GLBT community. Additionally, Terry has held hundreds of fundraisers at his Portland, Oregon and Palm Springs, California homes and has raised millions of dollars for Democratic candidates and elected officials. A few of these candidates include:

Vice President Al Gore, Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Governor Tony Knowles for Senate, Senator Ron Wyden, Congressman Peter DeFazio, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Governor Ted Kulongoski, former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts, Congressman Barney Frank, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley, Congressman David Wu, Governor Howard Dean, Senator John Kerry, President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.

(Terry has also hosted numerous fundraisers and raised millions of dollars for the DNC, DCCC and DSCC.)

In Oregon, Terry Bean is a real estate broker, political activist/fundraiser and philanthropist. He is the owner of Bean Investment Real Estate, which specializes in multi-housing investments, brokering and development.

Terry began lobbying the Eugene City Council in 1972 and the Oregon Legislature in 1973 for gay rights bills. For the next 37 years, he has been an active part of the Democratic National Committee, such as the Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee, the Democratic Convention Site Selection committee, and a four-time delegate to the National Committee. At the same time, he has raised tens of millions of dollars for Democratic candidates locally, statewide and nationally. One of his major reasons for his advocacy in the Democratic Party is the future. Terry believes with the right decision makers in office now, GLBT youth will be less afraid of coming out, expressing themselves, and voting for candidates that support their rights. In doing so, he has started organizations that help impact generations there after. He is co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Equity Foundation and Right to Privacy PAC. Terry also stands for and strongly believes in the Democratic party’s positions on choice, immigration, labor rights and healthcare.

During the Clinton Administration, Terry often met with both President Clinton and Vice President Gore to discuss various GLBT issues including campaign strategies, bill legislation and AIDS research. Recently, Terry has raised over $1.5 million dollars for President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee during the 2008 election cycle. He was the only member of Obama’s National Finance committee from Oregon and also served on three other finance committees simultaneously. In doing so, Terry founded “LGBT for Obama” to help nationally educate LGBT voters on the critical nature of getting Obama elected.

Terry Bean has been a “dyed in the wool” Democrat since he first became a “Get Clean for Gene” kid in the 1968 primaries. He went on to support Vice President Hubert Humphrey in the general election and has been involved in and raised money for every Democratic presidential election since then. In addition to fundraising for candidates, Terry has also been constantly active at the grass roots level and has done everything from walking precincts to organizing phone banks and GOTV activities. Terry often says “I think it is really important to understand how committed the Democratic Party is for equality for the gay and lesbian community. If all you know about an elected official was there voting record and didn’t know their political party, the most predictive way to find out whether they are Democratic or Republican would be by their votes on GLBT issues.” And as Chairman Barney Frank says “We are shocked if we do not get more than 90% of Democrats for GLBT issues and we are shocked when we do not get more than 90% Republicans against GLBT issues.”