JoAnna Erin McNamara: TG Activist

JoAnna was an important transgender activist and attorney, who, shortly after graduating from Willamette University Law School in 1996, wrote the legal brief that resulted in the BOLI decision which currently protects transsexual men and women from discrimination under Oregon's state disability law.

JoAnna became very active locally in the Oregon Gay/Lesbian Law Association and active nationally by serving as Employment Law Moderator for the Transgender Law Conference (ICTLEP). She became involved in national level strategy planning working with Phyllis Fry, Jessica Xavier (It's Time America) and other individuals and organizations.

An aerospace engineer, JoAnna graduated from Kent State University during the turmoil of the Viet Nam War and had a distinguished career in the field of quality assurance.

She was º Lakota Sioux, a heritage that she gave her much pride. She studied Lakota traditions and participated in traditional rituals. She was also a very concerned Christian, a member of the Portland Metropolitan Community Church for the last two years of her life. She expressed a deep sense of personal spirituality while respecting those of others.

She is survived by her adopted sister Jennifer Crock and Jennifer's husband Michael, with whom she lived, and step-siblings JoAndes McNamara, Mary Jane McNamara, Kelly Blake Sean McNamara, Michael McNamara, and Cathy McNamara. Special memories to her step-mom Jean, and to Gram, who have already passed.

I had first heard of JoAnna from my friend, Jessica Xavier, who told me one day in May or June of 1997, that there was this really great lawyer in Portland who had become the person to contact for those who had child custody and other divorce difficulties. Though at the time I did not experience this, I had many friends who had, and this intrigued me. Jessica and I discussed this very active woman's accomplishments and some of JoAnna's fiscal woes as well. As one of my pet issues is the never-ending tales difficulties among our transsexual sisters, and brothers, as well, who have immense fiscal crises over money and income and, as I use lawyers a lot in the day-to-day activities of my business, I felt that it would be appropriate to call JoAnna and make her acquaintance. So about a year ago, I did just that.

We talked for a while and I learned about her activities on behalf of the transgendered and the Gay persons in her efforts along with so many others to make things safe and secure for Oregonian members of our special minority group. The more we spoke, the more I realized that this was a very special person among our very special sisters and brothers. We agreed to meet, and I began passing her name to those with the wherewithal to pay and in need of consulting or direct counsel.

In early August, a former senior executive of a large chemical corporation who had successfully transitioned in her professional position, and I had to be in Portland at the time to inspect a facility of a company we were was considering as an acquisition, so I called JoAnna and asked her if the three of us could meet. We did on a Saturday evening after my client and I had completed our business on the coast. She was lively, pretty and worried about her ability to earn a living. We listened and made some suggestions. Had the acquisition been consummated, JoAnna would have had some substantive corporate work. As it was, we both tried to help her through referrals, and herein lies the tale.

About a month later, an opportunity did come up. A friend, a wrongly terminated university professor, PreOp transsexual woman whose spouse and immediate family had not only abandoned her but actively worked to destroy her, decided to fight back in order to be able to parent her children. When she visited my home one week, we called JoAnna and told her what had happened. It turned out that this woman's father, a small-town business leader, had gathered information about his "son" and had tried to take control of her assets. As some of those involved shares of a closely-held corporation, JoAnna and, to a much lesser extent, I, used some of the tactics for which we in investment banking are often castigated when we attempt to take control of a company against the management's wishes, something known as a hostile takeover. JoAnna was in her element. The opposing counsel, unskilled in this area and unprepared for the steps taken against him, made some mistakes and found himself in difficult straight. After four months intense negotiation and last moment posturing, they capitulated. Our sister received her money, nearly $1 million. JoAnna was on cloud nine. She, a tranny from little Willamette University, had beaten an old school-tie lawyer, but school yard bully, in his own backyard and sent him home with a bloody nose. Though she did not negotiate a contingency fee for this and was, thus, without financial windfall, she did receive her hourly rate and was able to mark that project onto her winning record.

Make no mistake about this. JoAnna performed this in an impressively professional way and had quickly learned the ins and outs of a very complex specialty within the law. I continue to use specialists for this type work, but her performance was not only effective, it demonstrated a very good mind which became adapt at the arcane, but lucrative field of mergers and acquisitions. I only wish she had been able to stay with us long enough to reap the financial rewards which undoubtedly would have been hers from this field alone.

She is already missed.

JoAnna, dear sister, I wish you the best wherever you may be.