For Allyson Longueira, equality isn't just right--it's also good business. As the Executive Director of the Lincoln City Chamber of Commerce, Allyson represents the interests of Lincoln City business owners.  And it's in their interest, she says, to be accepting of all Oregonians, including LGBTQ people. "In Oregon, a good business environment is an equal environment," she says. So, Allyson sees promoting equality as a natural step in achieving the best business climate. "Lincoln City depends heavily on tourism," she says. "The more open a community we are, the more people will come and visit." To this end, Allyson testified last year to Gov. Kulongoski's Task Force for Equality in Oregon in support of anti-discrimination legislation.

Allyson has been involved in promoting equality in business for years, starting with her first career as a human resources manager for Lucent Technologies.  In this position she worked closely with EQUAL, an LGBTQ advocacy group comprised of Lucent Employees, to further equality in the workplace. "It was wonderful to work for a company that had an equal rights ordinance of its own," she says.

But Allyson's support for LGBTQ equality runs far deeper than her professional obligations. Growing up with a gay uncle, lesbian step-sister and numerous LGBTQ friends, Allyson learned from an early age of the struggles same-sex couples face. "I had friends who were a couple and owned things together," Allyson recalls.  When one of the partners died, the surviving partner had "no rights" to the jointly held property.

Oregon's new Domestic Partnership law would ensure that kind of pain is not inflicted on other couples, which is why Allyson supports the law so strongly. And since she knows how Oregonians espouse the concept of freedom, she is dismayed by those who fear they might be negatively affected by such a law. "You have the right to make your own choices and live your own life the way you see fit," she says. "That is certainly representative of being an Oregonian: We're free thinkers."