ABSTRACT
William Waybourn’s goal while director was to elect 2,000 gay and lesbian politicians by the year 2000. In Waybourn’s opinion, if someone has already been elected to office, they should know how to raise money. Waybourn uses Jackie Goldberg, a successful candidate for the Los Angeles City Council in 1993, as a good example of how the Victory Fund enables candidates to be less beholden to special interest groups. Although Waybourn’s focus was on electing more gays and lesbians to office, his eyes were also on training the next generation of gay leaders. Waybourn also served as a volunteer suicide crisis counselor and learned about the experiences faced by many gay youth. When Waybourn moved to DC in 1991, he worked out of Vic Basile’s Washington home. In July the Victory Fund officially opened for business.
