Elaine Noble

Elaine Noble (born January 22, 1944) is an American politician and LGBT activist who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for two terms starting in January 1975. She was the first openly lesbian or gay candidate elected to a state legislature.[1] She served two terms as representative for the Fenway-Kenmore and Back Bay neighborhoods of Boston.[2]

Elaine Noble
Noble c. 1975
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
from the 6th Suffolk district
In office
January 1, 1975 – January 1, 1979
Personal details
Born (1944-01-22) January 22, 1944
New Kensington, Pennsylvania
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceFlorida

Early life and education

Elaine Noble was born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1944.[1]

Noble gained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University and went on to study speech and education at Boston University, Emerson College, and Harvard University.[1]

Activism

Before entering politics, Noble worked as a speech instructor and an advertising manager.

She was involved in LGBT rights activism in Boston.[1]

Political career

Massachusetts House of Representatives

In 1974, Noble was elected to the state House of Representatives with 59% of the vote.[1] She has described the campaign as "very ugly," including "shooting through my windows, destroying my car, breaking windows at my campaign headquarters, [and] serious harassment."[3] Her election made her the first openly LGBT candidate elected to a state-level office in the United States.[4][5] She was sworn into office on New Year's Day 1975 by governor Michael Dukakis.[4]

As a member of the House, Noble supported the forced integration of Boston public schools. Her house was vandalized and she was threatened with a gun. She also felt burdened and frustrated by the demands of gay men and lesbians who seemed to expect that she speak for all of them. She said, "The gay community expected me to be on call 24 hours a day. It was like they felt they owned me."[2]

Noble was an early critic of Father Paul Shanley, a Catholic priest who was ultimately convicted of sex crimes in 2005. She reported Shanley's comments and behavior to Boston officials on several occasions in the 1970s to no avail.[6]

In March 1977, Noble was part of the first delegation of gay men and lesbians invited to the White House under President Jimmy Carter to discuss issues important to the LGBT community.[7]

1978 United States Senate campaign

After two terms in the Massachusetts House, Noble ran for the United States Senate in 1978. She finished last out of five Democrats who competed in the primary, with 52,464 votes (5.8%).[8] She did not run for re-election to the House.

Later work in politics

She later went to work for Mayor of Boston Kevin White. Noble was required to testify in front of a grand jury for nineteen hours in connection with an FBI investigation into bribery in the mayor's office. No charges were brought against Noble.[1]

After leaving Mayor White's office, Noble established Noble Consulting, a healthcare consulting group. In 1986, Noble and Ellen Ratner formed a LGBT alcohol and drug treatment center in Minneapolis called the Pride Institute. She attempted to establish a similar center in Massachusetts, but was rebuffed by local government. In response, Noble ran unsuccessfully for the Cambridge, Massachusetts city council in 1991 and 1993.[1][2]

Retirement from public life

In 1994, Noble took work as head administrator at Middlesex County Hospital but resigned after six months.[2]

In 2009, she made a rare fundraising appearance at a Stonewall gala benefiting Compass Community Center in Lake Worth, Florida.

Personal life

Noble had a relationship with writer Rita Mae Brown in the 1970s and has since retained privacy regarding her personal life. She lives in Florida.[2]

Tributes

In 2015, she was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month.[9]

See also

References
  1. Gianoulis, Tina (2005-10-13). "Noble, Elaine". glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  2. "30 Years after the White House Meeting: Participants then and now". National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  3. "OutHistory: Elaine Noble". Archived from the original on 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  4. Neff, Lisa (2002-11-12). "Elaine Noble November 1974: a progressive Massachusetts candidate becomes the first openly gay person elected to a state-level office". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  5. Stein, Marc (2012). Rethinking the Gay and Lesbian Movement. Routledge. p. 107.
  6. Sally Jacobs, ['If they knew the madness in me': A search for the real Rev. Paul Shanley suggests he was part hero, part horror], The Boston Globe (2002), accessed 09 September 2018
  7. Sklar, Roberta. "Press conference commemorates first White House meeting". Qnotes. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  8. "Massachusetts Election Results, 1978 (PDF)" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  9. Malcolm Lazin (August 20, 2015). "Op-ed: Here Are the 31 Icons of 2015's Gay History Month". Advocate.com. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
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