by david vera community spotlight
a
sk any Joe Schmoe on University Avenue what he thinks about As fond of the community as these two equality enthusiasts are, they do have a
our future as a culture, and you’ll get a wide range of responses: bone to pick with a few of us.
“It looks alright, I suppose…There’s not much we can do about “We are a large community with some stellar people,” state Adrienne and Vi.
it, right?” “Things will never change for us until we all start “There is a lot of interaction in certain ‘hubs’, such as Hillcrest, for example. The rest
behaving.” Well, assuming our community is nothing more of our answer may not be too popular, but it’s the way we feel. There is a core of indi-
than a herd of cattle, these assertions would hold some merit. viduals who is very politically and financially involved. But we are disappointed that
But we’re not simply waiting to be led. It’s time for people with the majority of our community, although interested in having our causes furthered,
vision to take the stage. Among the many volunteers who offer their time at The doesn’t seem to do much about it. Every year when we go to the Pride Kick-off,
Center, Adrienne Alexander and Vi Douglas stand out—not only because they’ve which is usually political, we leave disappointed to see such sparse attendance.
been in each other’s lives for 40 years, but because they’ve been contributing to How can 200,000+ people attend Pride, and only 200 attend the kick-off? Because
their communities ever since. we can walk down the streets holding hands without being shot, we figure things
“We are both firm believers that in order to receive, one must give,” agreed Vi and are pretty good. We both remember friends who were killed in the parking lot of our
Adrienne. “We enjoy giving to our community, the arts, and causes we believe in.” Vi’s gay bar, who were intentionally hit by a car and killed, who were raped by police. We
Mom was very involved in community service, and perhaps influenced us both. Al- personally have been physically and verbally attacked many times in our lives for
though there are sometimes perks involved, we get our real satisfaction in knowing being gay—even here in San Diego! We cannot just sit and wait for other people to
we’ve helped the organization we’re volunteering for,
and that perhaps we’ve inspired someone else to help.”
Vi started volunteering when her she and her mother
(l to r) Adrienne Alexander and Vi Douglas
became certified foster parents. Over the course of
10 years, they housed more than 100 children in their
home. Vi also organized and led Juvenile Diabetes and
March of Dime teams at her workplace in the 1980s.
Adrienne started in 10th grade as a Big Sister and, until
moving to California, volunteered and participated
in the Muscular Dystrophy and the Multiple Sclerosis
Walks.
Today, Nightmare on Normal Street, Home for the
Holidays, fundraisers for the Youth Center, Community
Leadership Council and the Women’s Resource Fair
are only a brief rundown of events that benefit from
these ladies’ efforts. For people like Vi and Adrienne,
volunteering is less about binding obligation and
more about universal benefit. “We know that without
volunteers, many of the events and programs we enjoy
would never happen. It’s a win-win. We volunteer for
things we feel are important, and that we believe in.
Perhaps those are the reasons neither of us ever feels
it’s a burden, and we actually look forward to whatever
we have scheduled.”
Originally from Washington D.C., Vi first came to San
adrienne alexander and vi douglas
Diego with her mother in 1977 on vacation. They fell in
love with the city, and moved here a year later. Adrienne
is originally from Queens, NY and has lived all over the
United they Stand
country. It was in Washington D.C., in 1968, when Vi and
Adrienne first met. do all the work. We don’t have huge sums of money to contribute, but we belong to
“As many people did in the 1960’s, we met in a small dark bar filled with ‘people The Center and make a monthly contribution of what we can afford. We volunteer
like us,’” said Adrienne, who was a college student who would show up at the bar our time because we make sure we have some to spare. We only wish that more
with her books and do homework by the candlelight at the bar. Vi was a singer people in our local community could remember the harder times and take more
who performed at the bar and she immediately mesmerized Adrienne with her action to eradicate hate and help us progress even further.”
beautiful voice and good looks. And luckily, Vi also picked Adrienne - out of a large The altruistic couple affirms that in a truly Utopian society, sexual orientation—
following of admirers. Adrienne admits that the two were “young and foolish, along with race, reli gion, gender, physical disability, age, national origin – would all
and after a brief relationship, we went our separate ways. But we never stopped be non-issues. “People would all respect and help one another as human beings,
caring for each other, and never lost touch.” It wasn’t until 1996, when Adrienne rather than as members of ‘some group’ classified as being either ‘the same as’ or ‘dif-
moved to Torrance, CA, that she and Vi could feasibly resume their relationship. ferent from’ themselves. We wouldn’t need the government to ‘protect’ us because
Every weekend, either Adrienne drove to San Diego, or Vi drove to Torrance. the Golden Rule would prevail. Marriage bans would be overturned, and we would
After six years of commuting up and down the 405, Adrienne made her final move be further along on the way to just becoming part of mainstream America and
to San Diego. identifying ourselves as ‘humans’ first!”
DECEMBER 2008 | RAGE monthly 65
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