Romaine Patterson

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Romaine Patterson (b. March 31, 1977, Wyoming) is an American gay rights activist, radio personality, and author. She first received national attention for her activism at Matthew Shepard's funeral - the two were friends in high school.

She is currently the co-host with Derek Hartley of the Derek and Romaine show on Sirius Satellite Radio's SIRIUS OutQ channel 109.

1 Childhood and family
2 Activism
3 Works
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Childhood and family

Patterson is the youngest of eight children. Three of her brothers are gay, and one of them, Michael, died from AIDS. She spent several summers during high school in Denver, Colorado, living with her brothers and working at Diedrich's Coffee Shop.

Openly lesbian, Patterson lives in New Jersey with her partner Iris and their first child, born 20 July 2007.^[1]

[edit] Activism

In response to planned protests by Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church during the trials of Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, Patterson organized the "Angel Action" counter protests. These were groups of people dressed as angels with extremely large wingspans and height that shielded the families from Phelps and his group.

She worked at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation as a Regional Media Manager.

Patterson has written a book about her experiences as an activist since Shepard's death, called The Whole World Was Watching.