Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is a businessman, software entrepreneur, LGBT rights activist, philanthropist and snowboarder. Today's Out Spotlight is Tim Gill.

Tim Gill was born in Hobart, Indiana,October 18, 1953. His family later moved to Colorado, where he attended Wheat Ridge High School where he got hooked on computers when the school got its first computer. Soon he taught himself to create complex programs. Instead of following in his father's footsteps as a physician, he went on to major in applied mathematics and computer science at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

After jobs at Hewlett-Packard and a consulting, he started his own company, Quark, Inc., in 1981 with a $2,000 loan from his parents.

His company Quark produced successful page layout software for the graphics market. He is recognized for revolutionizing the publishing industry with innovative, affordable, page-layout software. The company expanded into data storage devices, which brought Quark to the brink of bankruptcy and forced Gill to lay off half of his workforce. In 1986, he brought Farhad (Fred) Ebrahimi as CEO and the monumental success of QuarkXPress introduced in 1987, with Gill becoming a multi-millionaire. While achieving his success, he establishing a reputation for innovative, socially conscious business practices. He has been included on Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the US.

Gill began to speak out publicly as a gay man in 1992 when Colorado voters passed Amendment 2, which banned laws designed to protect GLBT people from discrimination. In 1994 he established the Gill Foundation with the mission of securing equal opportunity for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression. he is now the foremost leading fundraiser in that movement. He created the Gill Foundation, in 1994, and was one of the first major foundations to benefit the GLBT community.

In 2000 he sold his 50% interest in Quark, Inc., in order to devote his energies to the foundation, and philanthropic and activist endeavors . In 2004, the Gill Foundation endowment was $220 million.

Gill Foundation has been an advocate for LGBT equality. They are committed to securing equal opportunity for all Americans, including sexual orientation and gender expression.

The foundation is also dedicated to advancing equality by supporting nonprofit organizations that serve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and allied individuals, as well as people with HIV/AIDS. Since its inception, the Gill Foundation has invested more than $178 million in nonprofit organizations throughout the country.

Their work is split into three primary areas. Advocating for equality by partnering with LGBT nonprofits – both state and national organizations – that work every day to bring about equality. Commitment to build a better Colorado by partnering with hundreds of organizations that share their commitment to improving the quality of life for people across the state. Educating and energizing the public and donors about the wide variety of LGBT nonprofits that further equality every day. One of its projects is the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado. The Fund has provided financial support to numerous organizations which serve the general public, including nearly $1 million to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief.

A major donor to the Democratic party and to various political causes, such as the failed effort to pass Referendum I, which would have established legal domestic partnerships for same-sex couples in Colorado, his political endeavors, are directed through the Gill Action Fund. He has created Connexion.org as a vehicle for engaging the GLBT community in political activities.

In addition to funding the gay and lesbian movement for equal rights, Gill is also a strong supporter of social justice organizations and educational institutions. He was one of the first major contributors to the Colorado AIDS Project and has long supported local public radio and television through program underwriting.

Gill married Scott Miller, 31, UBS wealth adviser, in an intimate ceremony at Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts, in April 2009. They live in Denver, Colorado.

" This fight is not just for the long haul. This fight is forever. "

Gill Foundation


Now a very special revisit of someone near and dear to OMG.

One of OMG's Easter Bunnies.

Well Peabunny has his own blog and is inviting all of OMG to stop by and see him. He is currently campaigning to be Pet of the Month at South Arundel Animal Hospital.

Stop by and say hi! and as they say, "Vote Early and Vote Often."

Mr. Peabunny's Blog