Terry Bean, the Oregon Gay-Rights Pioneer and Leading Democratic Fundraiser, Re-Indicted on Sex Abuse Charges

Charges of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy were previously dismissed in 2015.

Terry Bean, the civil-rights pioneer and Democratic Party fundraiser, has again been indicted on sexual abuse charges stemming from an alleged 2013 incident for which charges were previously dismissed.

Bean appeared at an arraignment this morning with his attorney, Derek Ashton, court records show, and was taken into custody.

In November 2014, a Lane County grand jury indicted Bean, a fifth-generation Oregonian now 70, on two counts of sodomy in the third degree, a felony, and one count of sexual abuse in the third degree, a misdemeanor.

The charges rippled across Oregon's political and gay rights community. For decades, Bean, a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., had been a leader in the fight for LGBTQ rights. That work and his role as a successful real estate developer made him a significant political player.

In Oregon, he was a frequent social companion of former Gov. Barbara Roberts and a founder of the Right to Privacy political action committee, the state's first gay rights PAC. In 1992, Bean led the fight to defeat Measure 9, which aimed to enshrine homophobic language in the state constitution.

Nationally, Bean raised money for a variety of Democratic politicians, most notably former President Barack Obama, who hosted Bean in the White House and on Air Force One.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/01/17/terry-bean-the-gay-rights-pioneer-and-leading-democratic-fundraiser-re-indicted-on-sex-abuse-charges/