Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

listen live donate
listen live donate
listen live
donate
  • News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
    Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
  • Podcasts & Shows
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
    Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About
  • Close Menu
Program image

Insight With Vicki Gonzalez

 

Hosted By Vicki Gonzalez

Award-winning journalist Vicki Gonzalez hosts interviews with community leaders, advocates, experts, artists and more to provide background and understanding on breaking news, big events, politics and culture in the Sacramento region and beyond.

Schedule

Monday – Thursday, 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
on News Station

  • contact
  • Follow
    • Apple Podcasts
    • Spotify Podcasts
    • Google Podcasts
    • Podcast RSS
    • RSS
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

LGBTQ Civil Rights Pioneer George Raya Looks Back On 50 Years Of Progress

  •  Cody Drabble 
Thursday, June 27, 2019 | Sacramento, CA
Listen
/
download audio
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin.
Cody Drabble / Capital Public Radio

Insight guest host Randol White (left) and LGBT activist George Raya (right)

Cody Drabble / Capital Public Radio

Civil rights for Americans who identify as LGBTQ have evolved significantly since members of that community stood up to police raids at New York’s Stonewall Inn in June 1969. 

George Raya’s work as a lobbyist and activist starting in the 1970s gave him a front seat to history, and he played a role in several equality milestones in California. As a student at Sacramento State, he and his friends won a First Amendment challenge in 1971, declaring that the student association and college trustees had to recognize the Society for Homosexual Freedom. That lawsuit opened the door for LGBTQ student groups across the state.

“When we had our first organizational meeting, which was at professor's home, every time there was a knock on their door, we [looked] first because we didn't know if it was the police coming or if it was another person coming to attend the meeting,” Raya says. “ Because at that point it was illegal [to be openly LGBTQ].”

During his career as a lobbyist in Sacramento in the 1970s, he was instrumental in getting the state to decriminalize same-sex relationships. But in the early days of the movement, financial support was hard to find.

“When I started in 1974, I lived partly on blood plasma donations because there was no money [for LGBTQ lobbyists]. I looked at [an old] budget, I was getting 400 dollars a month 425 for expenses. Fortunately I had people here that I could live with,” he says.

In 1977, the National Gay Task Force (now called the National LGBTQ Task Force) became the first group of openly gay lobbyists invited to the White House to tackle policy issues that affected the LGBTQ community.  George was invited to be part of that group as a representative from northern California. Their efforts funded hepatitis research that laid the groundwork for studying the transmission of AIDS in the early 1980s.

George Raya’s time living in San Francisco put him on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic, where he volunteered with a hospice organization. 

“It was like being in a war. So many of my friends died, I stopped putting people in my address book in ink. I put them in pencil because my address book had so many crossed out names. It was every week, every day. And I'm just so lucky I survived,” Raya says.

George Raya joined Randol White to share memories from his front row seat to LGBTQ civil rights history.

Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

Cody Drabble

Former Insight Producer and On-Air Director

Cody Drabble learned to love public radio growing up in San Francisco with KQED on every morning during breakfast. In addition to producing and directing the live broadcast of Insight each morning, he also fills in as guest host for Beth Ruyak.   Read Full Bio 

Sign up for ReCap and never miss the top stories

Delivered to your inbox every Friday.

 

Check out a sample ReCap newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

Thank you for signing up for the ReCap newsletter! We'll send you an email each Friday with the top stories from CapRadio.

Browse all newsletters

More Stories

Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo

Proposed bill would overhaul referendum petition process in California

March 22, 2023

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File

California’s Covid misinformation law is entangled in lawsuits, conflicting rulings

March 19, 2023

Heidi de Marco / KHN

Prescription for housing? California wants Medicaid to cover 6 months of rent

March 22, 2023

Most Viewed

California coronavirus updates: COVID-19 pandemic likely contributed to spread of a dangerous fungus, researchers say

CalFresh emergency benefits end this month — here’s what to know

State may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

CSU faculty salary study shows wide dissatisfaction despite pay being at national averages

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Most Viewed

California coronavirus updates: COVID-19 pandemic likely contributed to spread of a dangerous fungus, researchers say

CalFresh emergency benefits end this month — here’s what to know

State may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

CSU faculty salary study shows wide dissatisfaction despite pay being at national averages

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    •  
      (916) 278-8900
    •  
      (877) 480-5900
    •  Contact / Feedback
    •  Submit a Tip / Story Idea
  • About

    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Stations & Coverage Map
    • Careers & Internships
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile Apps
    • Smart Speakers
    • Podcasts & Shows
    • On-Air Schedules
    • Daily Playlist
    • Signal Status
  • Connect

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen Live

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2023, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.