Don’t miss the Gay Softball World Series Opening Ceremony at 4pm Today!
Gay activist and awareness pioneers headline the Opening Ceremonies of the Gay Softball World Series in Seattle.
Dave Kopay and Grethe Cammermeyer will participate in NWQ Series 2008 Opening Ceremonies. Dave Kopay and Grethe Cammermeyer, both residents of the Seattle area, have lived their lives as beacons for the gay community’s fight to be accepted in everyday society and their life journeys have truly been their own northwest quests.
Dave Kopay attended the University of Washington from 1961 to 1964 and became an All-American running 
back in his senior year, leading the team to the 1964 Rose Bowl as co-captain. He played professional football with the San Francisco 49ers from 1964 to 1967, the Detroit Lions in 1968, the Washington Redskins in 1969-70, the New Orleans Saints in 1971 and the Green Bay Packers in 1972. In 1975, he gave an interview with the Washington Star in which he acknowledged that he was gay and became the first American professional athlete to come out of the Closet. Kopay, whose 1977 coming-out autobiography “The David Kopay Story” was a New York Times bestseller and is in its fifth printing, can talk forcefully on a variety of topics, with anger, empathy, bluntness and humor.
He recently retired and now lives in Seattle. In September 2007, Kopay pledged a gift of $1,000,000 to the University of Washington’s GLBT Q center. “I continually hear from people all over the world that my act of coming out—especially when I did in 1975—has empowered them in their search for self and to see their vision,” Kopay remarked. “Hopefully, my million-dollar pledge will influence others to support the university and the Q Center to continue to help others to do just that.”
Dave will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Opening Ceremonies.
Greta Cammermeyer went on active duty in the US Army in 1963, taking up nursing as a career (chief nurse of the Washington State National Guard). Colonel Cammermeyer had a long, distinguished and impeccable career. National Guard officer, Vietnam veteran, she earned the Bronze Star for her US military service as well as several citations.
In 1980 Greta, mother of four sons, divorced her husband. In 1985 she was named Nurse of the Year by the Veteran Administration, and in 1987 she was promoted to full colonel. 
In 1988 she met Diane Divelbess, the woman who was to become her long-term partner. During an interview for a security clearance in 1989, she honestly acknowledged that she is a lesbian. Greta was fired in 1992, with a dishonorable discharge from the armed forces – she has been the highest ranking officer in the US military to contest its anti-gay policies.
The Untied States Supreme Court in 1994, ruled in her favor and she was reinstated into the military. Greta served for three more years and then retired in 1997. She took up residence in Washington with her partner, Diane, and continues her close relationship with her children and five grandchildren. In 1994 she published her story, Serving in Silence, which became a television movie – Glen Close portrayed Greta and Judy Davis portrayed per partner Diane. In 1997 she ran a Democratic campaign for Congress that, even though unsuccessful, garnered much grassroots support.
Greta Cammermeyer continues to challenge the status quo and promote civil and human rights throughout the world. She is an avid spokesperson for lifting the ban against gays and lesbians in the military. Using the military as the paradigm she weaves stories of social change, stressing the necessity to change the military as well as the corporate workplace to an accommodating environment for everyone. The challenge to the sexual minority community in disclosing and the challenge to the sexual majority to feel less threatened is illustrated as she shares anecdotes about grappling with her own sexuality, dealing with her children, being a political candidate and now an activist. Her personal touch is felt in virtually any forum in which she speaks.
Opening Ceremonies for the Gay Softball World Series will be Monday, August 25, 2008 at the Seattle Center from 4pm – 6pm. There will be an Opening Ceremonies Afterparty at Neighbours Nightclub immediately following the Seattle Center event. For more info visit www.Series2008.org
