|
From DallasVoice.com Texas Although everyone else in her family worked in the entertainment industry, Pam Gerber chose the different path of ‘righteous’ activism
Editor’s note: In recognition of national Gay Pride Month, each Friday in June Dallas Voice will publish an interview, conducted by contributing writer Gus Klein, with a different person who works, often behind the scenes, to make the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex a better place for LGBT people. The series kicks off with an interview with activist Pam Gerber. Pam Gerber operates a foundation that focuses on developing and implementing corporate philanthropy. Eight years ago she moved to Dallas with her partner, Suzanne Slonim. The two became active in their new community, and have come to make quite a social impact. DV: In eight years, you have accomplished a lot, why have you been so successful here? PG: Our success in this community is based on the fact that it’s a really easy community to succeed in. I have never lived in a place that is more friendly, accommodating or welcoming than this one. Seriously, when they talk about Southern comfort or Southern kindness, it’s all true. I’ve never had an easier time building a friendship or business network. I do believe people find what they are looking for, and I found what I was looking for. DV: How did you first get involved here? PG: One of the first things we did was [go] to City Hall and I watched a City Council meeting in action. I didn’t even know Veletta Forsythe Lill was my City Council member, but I saw her in action and was completely impressed. I went to her office and introduced myself after I learned she was my council member. I said I just wanted to introduce myself as one of her constituents and I just wanted to thank her for her leadership. DV: What motivated you to do that? PG: I think it’s my moral obligation to understand how my community operates. I’m not talking gay and lesbian, I’m talking where I live. I think it’s my moral obligation to read the newspaper, every day, and know what’s going on. Because if you don’t you’re operating out of ignorance. … I think information is power, I think it’s responsibility, and I think it makes me a more responsible citizen. DV: You were brought up in an environment that had a pace to it, a clip. PG: Absolutely. I grew up in show business. DV: Doing what? PG: My whole family is in the entertainment industry. My parents are gone now. My dad was an agent and manager, and he used to book talent in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and on cruise lines. My brother Billy used to book talent for concerts and then became an agent and then became an executive with Warner Brothers. He was president of Warner Brother Films, and now he’s an independent producer. My brother Bobby was a recording engineer until recently. DV: Why didn’t you go that route, or did you? PG: I went the route of social justice, not out of rebellious but of righteousness. It’s where I’m comfortable. I have no interest in [the entertainment] industry. I have no interest in the value system of that community. I have no interest in the kind of conversations that take place in that community. DV: What’s your full-time career now? PG: I run a foundation focusing on corporate philanthropy and helping companies become good corporate citizens. My foundation is called the Entrepreneurs Foundation of North Texas. We promote and facilitate philanthropy and community involvement for companies. DV: Do you demonstrate or create some sort of policy for companies to follow? PG: Demonstrate is a great word, yeah. I provide them with the resources to be able to do that. I give them frames of reference and I provide them with the tools to make it happen. I work with them to figure out what the most logical direction is. My thing right now is helping them figure out that they do have a philanthropic inclination in the first place. DV: Do you have hobbies? PG: I’m painfully, sadly addicted to crossword puzzles. DV: I get the feeling you have social hobbies . … PG: My hobby is meeting people. I like learning about people. I’m kind of like a voyeur. I like watching other people’s lives. When I was living in L.A., I used to take walks every night, and, it wasn’t a bad thing, I walked up and down the streets just looking at peoples houses and looking if their windows were open. It’s not like I was peeping, but I’d look inside their houses to see how it was set up. I would see the blue lights on, because then you’d know how many people were watching TV. I’d kind of like to do these sociological analyses. Part of it was kind of selfish because I would compare it to my own life — “What am I doing”? [And] I travel, I read. DV: What groups do you belong to that make you feel you make a difference in? PG: I’ve been in quite a few and I’m proud of all of them, otherwise I wouldn’t have been involved with them. Like this Citizens Review Board — not because I have an affinity for getting involved in police activity but because Veletta, asked me to do it. I love being in public service. Stonewall [Democrats] — I go to as many meetings as I can. I love the sense of community. … I love going to the meetings and hearing what’s going on in politics. I love hanging out with those people who care so much. … Out Takes Film Festival, I’ve been involved with them over the years. Gay and Lesbian Fund for Dallas. … DV: Let’s go to Out Takes. It’s an entertainment affiliation versus a political one. Is it the same kind of diligence? PG: I think everything needs to be deliberate. I don’t think anything is random, but I think we need to be as deliberate about our politics as we are our culture, because culture has such a huge influence on people’s lives. DV: Do you think they’re balanced here in Dallas? PG: Not yet, but we’re moving in the right direction. You have no idea how far ahead of the curve we are compared to other cities. Slow and steady. We are very conscious about it here and no one gives up. Being on Out Takes, I learned a lot about organizations like that are run by people who are unbelievably, irrationally committed … . It’s a committed core of people, and they refuse to fail. You look to L.A. and San Francisco, and they have a paid staff and they’re on all year long, and they do it because they love it but because it s a job, too. It’s not a bad thing, it just is what it is. But this community is way ahead of the game. Our LGBT community is politically, culturally and socially a lot further ahead of other communities. People look at San Francisco as the “gay Mecca.” You’ve got more in terms of numbers, but if you look in terms of awareness and deliberateness of the lifestyle and the impact of the lifestyle, we’re way ahead of the game here. DV: You’ve lived a lot of places. Why move to Dallas instead of San Francisco or Chicago? PG: I can’t speak to Chicago so I don’t know about there. I think there are a few reasons. I would say there’s a certain type of person who’s drawn to be here. I think nice people are drawn here. I think it’s a really generous group of people that tend to be open to sharing your networks. And it’s not the case in Boston; it is the antithesis. It’s actually counterintuitive. It’s not like this in L.A. and San Jose. They have their strengths, but that isn’t one of them. It’s just not part of the culture. … I think the atmosphere that exists [in Dallas] is conducive to maintaining and nurturing that. Some people say it’s because you’re in the Bible belt and you have to be cohesive to persevere, and that could be part of it. I don’t know. I’m not from here so I can’t say what we’ve had to overcome in order to endure. All I know is I get to ride the crest of that wave and it’s working. Whatever it is that caused it, its working. There’s a level of intimacy here that doesn’t exist in other places. PROFILES IN PRIDE June 6 The Activist: Pam Gerber June 13 The Businessman: Greg Kilhoffer June 20 The Visionary: Dawn Meifert June 27 The Role Model: Chris Heinbaugh This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 6, 2008. © Copyright by DallasVoice.com |
