IRVINE : UCI Grant Will Help Study of Gay Issues

James Harvey offered a $250,000 trust to his alma mater. But when East Texas University officials found out he wanted to support research on medical, political and social issues facing gays, they declined his gift.

That’s exactly the kind of attitude the 43-year-old Santa Ana man hoped to counter with his endowment. Now, he aims to encourage social change and end discrimination against gays through research at UC Irvine.

“It’s my intention with this endowment to increase knowledge about gays in society,” said Harvey, an administrative assistant with the Orange County Transportation Commission. “I find the more knowledge you have and the more you learn about a group of people . . . the less discrimination there is.”

Harvey said he is giving UCI the proceeds of a $250,000 trust he has amassed through investments. As he is able, he said he plans to increase the size of the trust.

The endowment can be used to give financial support to graduate students working in a variety of majors. Recipients will be chosen by a faculty committee representing a range of disciplines at UCI, a campus spokesman said.

“Actually any area that touches on the subject of gays is perfectly acceptable,” said Harvey, who did his own masters’ and doctoral theses on discrimination against gays in employment, particularly in the field of education.

“At present, the focus might be on medical or social issues associated with AIDS. But in time, that may not be high on the list,” Harvey said.

But the funds are mainly intended to help graduate students who are doing thesis or dissertation research. Harvey said he knows from experience what a struggle graduate students have.

“People don’t realize how expensive it is, just the simple cost of paying postage,” he said. “So I want to help in this way.”

Harvey’s own research highlights the problems many gays have in their professions once their sexual orientation becomes known.

In the Midwest, where his research was concentrated, Harvey said many gays who lost their posts as schoolteachers could not get references to find new jobs. In many cases, he said, these college-educated people had to go back to school and study another field.

“The loss of talent and the misery it (discrimination) creates in people’s lives is incredible,” Harvey said.