Sandra McDonough says, "Equality is having the same opportunities and responsibilities across the board."
"I've seen awareness of equity issues evolve in our community for years," says the Portland Business Alliance CEO. In the 1970s, she wrote a series of articles on gay and lesbian issues for The Oregonian, the first series of its kind for that paper.

Now, as a business leader, she reflects, "I think that Oregon companies generally have a remarkable record of standing up on this issue. In this community, we expect our leaders to be at the forefront of issues that their employees care about."

Despite a positive trajectory, McDonough said there undoubtedly is still work to be done. "I worry most about employers who don't understand when they are discriminating," she says. She points to more subtle forms of bias. "For a lot of people, it's what they haven't been invited to or what they haven't had the opportunity to do. I know people who remain very closeted because of where they work."

"My gay friends tell me that Oregon is both a great place to be and a hard place to be if you're gay," says McDonough. "It's good because we have such public discussions here. But on the other hand, we've had so many anti-gay referenda to fight and this is about people's lives!"

"I think the next generation will be different," she says. She's teaching her son that having many different kinds of people is what makes the world great. When it comes to couples of any stripe, she says, "We should just celebrate the love they have for each other."