Gov. Brown to Honor Gay Philanthropist David Bohnett at American Jewish Committee Event Wednesday

David Bohnett has received scores of awards and acknowledgements for his philanthropy and his expertise as a technology entrepreneur. President Obama gave him special thanks in 2009, for instance,…

By Karen Ocamb

January 28, 2014 :: 8:01 PM

David Bohnett has received scores of awards and acknowledgements for his philanthropy and his expertise as a technology entrepreneur. President Obama gave him special thanks in 2009, for instance, for helping host the White House Reception commemorating the Enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. In 2012, Obama named Bohnett as a trustee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

But surely the honor Bohnett will receive on Wednesday comes with a greater degree of LGBT spiritual karma than most of the audience might fathom. On Wednesday, Jan. 29, Bohnett will receive the American Jewish Committee of Los Angeles’ Ira E. Yellin Community Leadership Award from Gov. Jerry Brown at a gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Bohnett is being honored for his advocacy for human rights and working for “a higher quality of life for all Angelenos” as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, his work with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and through his David Bohnett Foundation.

Bohnett has a particular connection to Jerry Brown. The first time Brown was governor, in 1980, he appointed Rand Schrader, gay activist attorney in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, as a Municipal Court judge for Los Angeles. Schrader was the second openly gay judge in American history, right after Brown’s first appointee, Judge Stephen Lachs in 1979.

Bohnett met Schrader in 1983 and the two were together until Schrader’s death from AIDS in 1993. With money from Schrader’s life insurance policy and to work out his grief through connection with other people, Bohnett created the Beverly Hills Internet in his proverbial garage – a business that later led to the social networking site GeoCities in 1994.

With the sale of GeoCities to Yahoo in 1999, Bohnett created the venture capital firm, Baroda Ventures, to invest in serious-minded technological start-ups, as well as contribute to many community and grassroots non-profits through the David Bohnett Foundation. To date, he has given more than $50 million to causes and start-ups that matter.

In 1984, when people were still afraid of gays and gays were afraid to come out, Schrader told the LA Times: “Wherever I’ve gone, I’ve been open about being gay. And when I leave, people may not like me but they’re not afraid of me.”

Schrader spoke often about the importance of being out so others in the LGBT community could see that a full, happy successful life could be theirs, too. But Schrader seemed more comfortable in the spotlight than Bohnett. So it was with considerable courage and forethought that Bohnett accepted the inaugural Rand Schrader Award at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center gala in Nov. 1999 – as if accepting that the mantle had been passed. His remarks that night seem similar to AJC’s mission to pursue social justice and improve society through human rights activism. Here’s an excerpt from Bohnett’s 1999 remarks, which still hold true today:

My message tonight is that it’s time for us to dream big – to create greatness within ourselves, and for ourselves. I am thankful for the success of GeoCities and for having the financial wherewithal to make a concrete difference in the world. But we all continue face the same challenge: To maintain faith in ourselves even when everything around us suggests that we should do otherwise.

And even more, to tell the truth about who we are, even when everyone around us would prefer that we remain quiet. It is time now, for us all to reach even higher. To demand much more. It isn’t enough anymore to talk about tolerance and acceptance. It is time and it is right and it is necessary for lesbians and gay men to assume visible, out ,and proud leadership roles across all segments of society. All of this takes a certain amount of courage, I know. But I think it’s the same courage that it takes to love someone – and to be open and proud of that love.

When I think about why God created lesbians and gay men, the best answer I can come up with, based on my observations of the role we play in society, is that God created gay people to show the world what it means to love – to love without guilt, shame or fear, and to love our fellow human beings with the same unconditional love that God shows us all.

I will continue to fight with all my might and all of my resources to ensure that lesbians and gay men have the same rights and privileges and protections accorded to other minorities, including the right to adopt children and raise a family, the right to be protected from job and housing discrimination, the right to serve in the military as an openly gay person, and the right to marry.

The honor I’ve received tonight is but a further call to action. There is only one award worthy of Rand Schrader and all the others lost to the devastation of AIDS, and that is to go forward – in our communities, in the boardroom, in our churches, within our families, and on the streets – with courage and spirit to claim the ultimate victory of human freedom.

Rand lived for no less, nor can I, nor can you.