2004 San Diego LGBT Wall of Honor Inductee &
2019 - San Diego LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Inductee
Gary Wayne Rees was a prominent San Diego businessman and a dedicated community member. Born in Dover, Ohio, Mr. Rees graduated from Ohio State University in 1969. He taught high school briefly before relocating to San Diego in 1971 to serve as an ensign in the Navy. He was a founding member of The Center during his time in the Navy and helped establish the Military Counseling Program at the Gay Center. Upon his discharge as an officer in 1974, Mr. Rees became The Center's Executive Director until 1975.
Mr. Rees wrote a letter in 1977 in response to a scathing commentary on homosexuality, titled "The 'Other Woman' Turns Out to Be a Man," in the October 31 issue of The Los Angeles Times, written by a woman whose husband had left her for another man. Mr. Rees expressed his personal experience with being deeply closeted, choosing to terminate two marriage engagements during his twenties rather than risk making "emotional casualties" of the women he would have married. He also related how he had left his profession as a high school teacher because he could not give support to his LGBT students by offering himself as a positive role model, for fear of losing his professional respect. Instead, he watched his LGBT students suffer, their self-esteem plummeting in an effort to 'fit in' just like he did. Mr. Rees asserted that if LGBT people are denied positive role models, they will continue to live duplicitous, confused lives and cause pain to people like the author. That realization caused him to seek a life in which he could live openly, creating happiness rather than misery and frustration.
A workaholic since his teenage years, friends remember Mr. Rees as "always doing something." He owned three businesses in Golden Hill; Signs of Life, an antique store, Excelsior Movers and a consulting firm called Fiscal Focus, which specialized in advertising, promotions and fundraising. He at one time published the Neighborhood Reporter, a smallnewspaper distributed in the Golden Hill community. Former chairman and director of San Diego Walks for Life — the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego, he also helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, and the Lesbian and Gay Archives.
Mr. Rees was an excellent fundraiser. He raised funds for The Center, AIDS Walk, the Briggs Initiative, and any civil rights cause or political campaign that benefited the LGBT community. In 1989, figuring that it was easier for many businesspeople to write a check every month rather than volunteer their time, he created the Nifty Fifty Club, which consisted of businesses and individuals who pledged $50 per month for a year to pay for administrative costs related to San Diego Walks for Life. Even his 40th birthday party was a benefit to raise money for the LGBT community. He received both a Nicky Award and a San Diego Log Cabin Club award for outstanding community service in 1986, and a plaque from San Diego Walks for Life in 1987.
Mr. Rees died August 13, 1990, in his Golden Hill home of complications due to AIDS. He was 43. He was survived by his long-term partner, Joseph Merta of Golden Hill. At the 1990 AIDS Walk shortly after Mr. Rees died, his 2-year-old nephew, Dylan, was the youngest person to march, in honor of his uncle.
_______________________________
2019 - LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Citation:
Gary Wayne Rees, USN
The San Diego LGBT Community Center exists because of the grassroots work of Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Gary Wayne Rees. Gary was born in April 1974. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 and moved to San Diego in 1971, where he entered active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserves (25 Jun 1971), serving from 1971 to 1974. He received the National Defense Service Medal.
While still in the Navy, LTJG Rees became a member of a small group called the "Planning Committee," which in 1972 became The Center for Social Service, Inc; that group became the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center in 1973. He also helped establish the Military Counseling Program at The Center.
It would appear he received a General Discharge from the Navy as a result of his activities in the San Diego gay community. Upon his release from the Navy, he became the executive director of The Center until 1975.
Gary was also a former chair and director of the San Diego Walks for Life, the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego. He helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, the Lesbian and Gay Archives, and was a prominent businessman with three businesses in Golden Hill.
He died in August 1990 of AIDS in his San Diego home at the age of 43. In 2004, Gary was posthumously selected as one of the first inductees for The Center's Community Wall of Honor.
Mr. Rees' personal experience of being deeply closeted and not wanting to take the risk of causing emotional causalities, caused him to assert that LGBT people are denied positive role models and led him to the realization to "seek a life in which he lived openly; creating happiness, rather than misery and frustration."
The work Gary Rees started, nearly 50 years ago, helped create a haven for the San Diego LGBT community.
2019 - San Diego LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Inductee
Gary Wayne Rees was a prominent San Diego businessman and a dedicated community member. Born in Dover, Ohio, Mr. Rees graduated from Ohio State University in 1969. He taught high school briefly before relocating to San Diego in 1971 to serve as an ensign in the Navy. He was a founding member of The Center during his time in the Navy and helped establish the Military Counseling Program at the Gay Center. Upon his discharge as an officer in 1974, Mr. Rees became The Center's Executive Director until 1975.
Mr. Rees wrote a letter in 1977 in response to a scathing commentary on homosexuality, titled "The 'Other Woman' Turns Out to Be a Man," in the October 31 issue of The Los Angeles Times, written by a woman whose husband had left her for another man. Mr. Rees expressed his personal experience with being deeply closeted, choosing to terminate two marriage engagements during his twenties rather than risk making "emotional casualties" of the women he would have married. He also related how he had left his profession as a high school teacher because he could not give support to his LGBT students by offering himself as a positive role model, for fear of losing his professional respect. Instead, he watched his LGBT students suffer, their self-esteem plummeting in an effort to 'fit in' just like he did. Mr. Rees asserted that if LGBT people are denied positive role models, they will continue to live duplicitous, confused lives and cause pain to people like the author. That realization caused him to seek a life in which he could live openly, creating happiness rather than misery and frustration.
A workaholic since his teenage years, friends remember Mr. Rees as "always doing something." He owned three businesses in Golden Hill; Signs of Life, an antique store, Excelsior Movers and a consulting firm called Fiscal Focus, which specialized in advertising, promotions and fundraising. He at one time published the Neighborhood Reporter, a smallnewspaper distributed in the Golden Hill community. Former chairman and director of San Diego Walks for Life — the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego, he also helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, and the Lesbian and Gay Archives.
Mr. Rees was an excellent fundraiser. He raised funds for The Center, AIDS Walk, the Briggs Initiative, and any civil rights cause or political campaign that benefited the LGBT community. In 1989, figuring that it was easier for many businesspeople to write a check every month rather than volunteer their time, he created the Nifty Fifty Club, which consisted of businesses and individuals who pledged $50 per month for a year to pay for administrative costs related to San Diego Walks for Life. Even his 40th birthday party was a benefit to raise money for the LGBT community. He received both a Nicky Award and a San Diego Log Cabin Club award for outstanding community service in 1986, and a plaque from San Diego Walks for Life in 1987.
Mr. Rees died August 13, 1990, in his Golden Hill home of complications due to AIDS. He was 43. He was survived by his long-term partner, Joseph Merta of Golden Hill. At the 1990 AIDS Walk shortly after Mr. Rees died, his 2-year-old nephew, Dylan, was the youngest person to march, in honor of his uncle.
_______________________________
2019 - LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Citation:
Gary Wayne Rees, USN
The San Diego LGBT Community Center exists because of the grassroots work of Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Gary Wayne Rees. Gary was born in April 1974. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 and moved to San Diego in 1971, where he entered active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserves (25 Jun 1971), serving from 1971 to 1974. He received the National Defense Service Medal.
While still in the Navy, LTJG Rees became a member of a small group called the "Planning Committee," which in 1972 became The Center for Social Service, Inc; that group became the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center in 1973. He also helped establish the Military Counseling Program at The Center.
It would appear he received a General Discharge from the Navy as a result of his activities in the San Diego gay community. Upon his release from the Navy, he became the executive director of The Center until 1975.
Gary was also a former chair and director of the San Diego Walks for Life, the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego. He helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, the Lesbian and Gay Archives, and was a prominent businessman with three businesses in Golden Hill.
He died in August 1990 of AIDS in his San Diego home at the age of 43. In 2004, Gary was posthumously selected as one of the first inductees for The Center's Community Wall of Honor.
Mr. Rees' personal experience of being deeply closeted and not wanting to take the risk of causing emotional causalities, caused him to assert that LGBT people are denied positive role models and led him to the realization to "seek a life in which he lived openly; creating happiness, rather than misery and frustration."
The work Gary Rees started, nearly 50 years ago, helped create a haven for the San Diego LGBT community.
2004 San Diego LGBT Wall of Honor Inductee &
2019 - San Diego LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Inductee
Gary Wayne Rees was a prominent San Diego businessman and a dedicated community member. Born in Dover, Ohio, Mr. Rees graduated from Ohio State University in 1969. He taught high school briefly before relocating to San Diego in 1971 to serve as an ensign in the Navy. He was a founding member of The Center during his time in the Navy and helped establish the Military Counseling Program at the Gay Center. Upon his discharge as an officer in 1974, Mr. Rees became The Center's Executive Director until 1975.
Mr. Rees wrote a letter in 1977 in response to a scathing commentary on homosexuality, titled "The 'Other Woman' Turns Out to Be a Man," in the October 31 issue of The Los Angeles Times, written by a woman whose husband had left her for another man. Mr. Rees expressed his personal experience with being deeply closeted, choosing to terminate two marriage engagements during his twenties rather than risk making "emotional casualties" of the women he would have married. He also related how he had left his profession as a high school teacher because he could not give support to his LGBT students by offering himself as a positive role model, for fear of losing his professional respect. Instead, he watched his LGBT students suffer, their self-esteem plummeting in an effort to 'fit in' just like he did. Mr. Rees asserted that if LGBT people are denied positive role models, they will continue to live duplicitous, confused lives and cause pain to people like the author. That realization caused him to seek a life in which he could live openly, creating happiness rather than misery and frustration.
A workaholic since his teenage years, friends remember Mr. Rees as "always doing something." He owned three businesses in Golden Hill; Signs of Life, an antique store, Excelsior Movers and a consulting firm called Fiscal Focus, which specialized in advertising, promotions and fundraising. He at one time published the Neighborhood Reporter, a smallnewspaper distributed in the Golden Hill community. Former chairman and director of San Diego Walks for Life — the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego, he also helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, and the Lesbian and Gay Archives.
Mr. Rees was an excellent fundraiser. He raised funds for The Center, AIDS Walk, the Briggs Initiative, and any civil rights cause or political campaign that benefited the LGBT community. In 1989, figuring that it was easier for many businesspeople to write a check every month rather than volunteer their time, he created the Nifty Fifty Club, which consisted of businesses and individuals who pledged $50 per month for a year to pay for administrative costs related to San Diego Walks for Life. Even his 40th birthday party was a benefit to raise money for the LGBT community. He received both a Nicky Award and a San Diego Log Cabin Club award for outstanding community service in 1986, and a plaque from San Diego Walks for Life in 1987.
Mr. Rees died August 13, 1990, in his Golden Hill home of complications due to AIDS. He was 43. He was survived by his long-term partner, Joseph Merta of Golden Hill. At the 1990 AIDS Walk shortly after Mr. Rees died, his 2-year-old nephew, Dylan, was the youngest person to march, in honor of his uncle.
_______________________________
2019 - LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Citation:
Gary Wayne Rees, USN
The San Diego LGBT Community Center exists because of the grassroots work of Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Gary Wayne Rees. Gary was born in April 1974. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 and moved to San Diego in 1971, where he entered active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserves (25 Jun 1971), serving from 1971 to 1974. He received the National Defense Service Medal.
While still in the Navy, LTJG Rees became a member of a small group called the "Planning Committee," which in 1972 became The Center for Social Service, Inc; that group became the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center in 1973. He also helped establish the Military Counseling Program at The Center.
It would appear he received a General Discharge from the Navy as a result of his activities in the San Diego gay community. Upon his release from the Navy, he became the executive director of The Center until 1975.
Gary was also a former chair and director of the San Diego Walks for Life, the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego. He helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, the Lesbian and Gay Archives, and was a prominent businessman with three businesses in Golden Hill.
He died in August 1990 of AIDS in his San Diego home at the age of 43. In 2004, Gary was posthumously selected as one of the first inductees for The Center's Community Wall of Honor.
Mr. Rees' personal experience of being deeply closeted and not wanting to take the risk of causing emotional causalities, caused him to assert that LGBT people are denied positive role models and led him to the realization to "seek a life in which he lived openly; creating happiness, rather than misery and frustration."
The work Gary Rees started, nearly 50 years ago, helped create a haven for the San Diego LGBT community.
2019 - San Diego LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Inductee
Gary Wayne Rees was a prominent San Diego businessman and a dedicated community member. Born in Dover, Ohio, Mr. Rees graduated from Ohio State University in 1969. He taught high school briefly before relocating to San Diego in 1971 to serve as an ensign in the Navy. He was a founding member of The Center during his time in the Navy and helped establish the Military Counseling Program at the Gay Center. Upon his discharge as an officer in 1974, Mr. Rees became The Center's Executive Director until 1975.
Mr. Rees wrote a letter in 1977 in response to a scathing commentary on homosexuality, titled "The 'Other Woman' Turns Out to Be a Man," in the October 31 issue of The Los Angeles Times, written by a woman whose husband had left her for another man. Mr. Rees expressed his personal experience with being deeply closeted, choosing to terminate two marriage engagements during his twenties rather than risk making "emotional casualties" of the women he would have married. He also related how he had left his profession as a high school teacher because he could not give support to his LGBT students by offering himself as a positive role model, for fear of losing his professional respect. Instead, he watched his LGBT students suffer, their self-esteem plummeting in an effort to 'fit in' just like he did. Mr. Rees asserted that if LGBT people are denied positive role models, they will continue to live duplicitous, confused lives and cause pain to people like the author. That realization caused him to seek a life in which he could live openly, creating happiness rather than misery and frustration.
A workaholic since his teenage years, friends remember Mr. Rees as "always doing something." He owned three businesses in Golden Hill; Signs of Life, an antique store, Excelsior Movers and a consulting firm called Fiscal Focus, which specialized in advertising, promotions and fundraising. He at one time published the Neighborhood Reporter, a smallnewspaper distributed in the Golden Hill community. Former chairman and director of San Diego Walks for Life — the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego, he also helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, and the Lesbian and Gay Archives.
Mr. Rees was an excellent fundraiser. He raised funds for The Center, AIDS Walk, the Briggs Initiative, and any civil rights cause or political campaign that benefited the LGBT community. In 1989, figuring that it was easier for many businesspeople to write a check every month rather than volunteer their time, he created the Nifty Fifty Club, which consisted of businesses and individuals who pledged $50 per month for a year to pay for administrative costs related to San Diego Walks for Life. Even his 40th birthday party was a benefit to raise money for the LGBT community. He received both a Nicky Award and a San Diego Log Cabin Club award for outstanding community service in 1986, and a plaque from San Diego Walks for Life in 1987.
Mr. Rees died August 13, 1990, in his Golden Hill home of complications due to AIDS. He was 43. He was survived by his long-term partner, Joseph Merta of Golden Hill. At the 1990 AIDS Walk shortly after Mr. Rees died, his 2-year-old nephew, Dylan, was the youngest person to march, in honor of his uncle.
_______________________________
2019 - LGBTQ Veterans Wall of Honor Citation:
Gary Wayne Rees, USN
The San Diego LGBT Community Center exists because of the grassroots work of Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Gary Wayne Rees. Gary was born in April 1974. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 and moved to San Diego in 1971, where he entered active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserves (25 Jun 1971), serving from 1971 to 1974. He received the National Defense Service Medal.
While still in the Navy, LTJG Rees became a member of a small group called the "Planning Committee," which in 1972 became The Center for Social Service, Inc; that group became the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center in 1973. He also helped establish the Military Counseling Program at The Center.
It would appear he received a General Discharge from the Navy as a result of his activities in the San Diego gay community. Upon his release from the Navy, he became the executive director of The Center until 1975.
Gary was also a former chair and director of the San Diego Walks for Life, the precursor to AIDS Walk San Diego. He helped found the AIDS Assistance Fund, the Lesbian and Gay Archives, and was a prominent businessman with three businesses in Golden Hill.
He died in August 1990 of AIDS in his San Diego home at the age of 43. In 2004, Gary was posthumously selected as one of the first inductees for The Center's Community Wall of Honor.
Mr. Rees' personal experience of being deeply closeted and not wanting to take the risk of causing emotional causalities, caused him to assert that LGBT people are denied positive role models and led him to the realization to "seek a life in which he lived openly; creating happiness, rather than misery and frustration."
The work Gary Rees started, nearly 50 years ago, helped create a haven for the San Diego LGBT community.
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