Rand S. Schrader ’69, J.D. ’72

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Rand Schrader has –by example, tenacity and personal courage – gifted our community and our world with a clearer understanding of and genuine respect for the gay and lesbian community with which we share a common humanity.

Following his graduation and passing of the bar, Schrader became the City’s first openly-gay Assistant City Attorney, where his leadership on several key legal committees benefited not only the legal community but also opened new possibilities for a whole generation of lesbian and gay lawyers. To raise consciousness and funds for others in pursuit of basic human rights, Schrader became a founder of the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles. In 1980, he was elevated to Judge of the Municipal Court by Governor Edmund G. Brown, thus becoming the nation’s first openly gay judge. In 1983, through the efforts of Schrader and the first openly gay U.C. Regent, Sheldon Andelson, the Regents amended the UC non-discrimination policy to prohibit denial of admission to the University of California and to campus programs and facilities on the basis of sexual orientation.

Fifteen years of undaunted leadership and perseverance have resulted in the construction of the new $7 million Los Angeles’ Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center which opened in November 1992. Due, in no small part, to Schrader’s efforts, a 24,000 square-foot, three-story outpatient building has been built adjacent to LAC+USC Medical Center, and the first 20-bed public hospital ward devoted to AIDS patients has been completed.

Schrader Schrader’s leadership is clearly appreciated in the Los Angeles community. “His tireless effort to help bridge different cultural, social and economic interests in a community, which at times seems determined to reduce itself to recurring class and race conflicts, speaks eloquently of his passion for reconciliation and human rights.”