A History Worth Celebrating: Catching Up With Ben Chavez Gilliam
Ben Chavez Gilliam joined the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors in January 2020. Ben has had extensive experience in commercial real estate, having started his career with San Francisco based Grubb and Ellis in 1985. He currently is managing principal and national market leader for Coldwell Banker Commercial, advising Fortune 500 companies on their commercial real estate portfolios.
We sat down for a brief chat with Ben.
Why is working on the society’s Board of Directors meaningful for you?
BCG: As a 14 year-old mixed-race boy growing up in a small Colorado town in the 1970s, I had no reference on what “gay” was other than a textbook in the little school library that identified it as a mental illness. I had no role models. I had no sense of queer history or ancestry. All I had was a definition of being LGBTQ as perverted. Today, unfortunately, there are certain states who have made LGBTQ youth the enemy of the state, particularly members of the transgender community. Today I work so that a 14 year-old has a beacon of hope. The GLBT Historical Society website provides that beacon and can be accessed nearly anywhere across the world and immediately provide examples of many LGBTQ role models, so that someone who is trying to sort out their identity does not feel so alone.
Memory is what shapes us and teaches us. There are so many important lessons that can be learned by just visiting the museum and archives. Those lessons empower and give hope.
Which topics of LGBTQ history are you eager to learn more about in the archives?
BCG: I love learning about BIPOC LGBTQ history and the history of the transgender community. These are two communities that have been largely ignored or dismissed. As a biracial Mexican American and Anglo man I never felt a part of either world or that I ever “belonged.” These histories not only give me a greater sense of belonging, but challenge me as a steward of LGBTQ history to get those underrepresented communities out into the forefront now to provide access and equity.
One of the more powerful projects of the GLBTHS archives is the Bay Area Reporter Obituary Database. To read these obituaries is so humbling. To contemplate all the talent and love lost because the AIDS pandemic was largely ignored by our government and politicians in the 1980s and 1990s is painful. These obituaries provide a powerful motivation to keep the public health of the LGBTQ family squarely in the forefront of politicians and our government today. They remind us that each of us mattered or matters even if we are only on this Earth for a short period of time.
The archives inspire and give hope that even though some days it feels like we take two steps backwards. Who knows, maybe in my lifetime we might see our first LGBTQ President of the United States.
Ben Chavez Gilliam is managing principal and national market leader for Coldwell Banker Commercial. He has served on numerous boards and committees in his 35-year career and was instrumental in getting powerlifting back in the Gay Games for 2022. He holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A in strategic management from Regis University.