Abstract
Oral history interviews with David Parks conducted by Dennis McBride on February 16 and 21, 2000 and January 31, 2007 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In the first interviews, Parks talks about his early life in Boston, Massachusetts, his education, and his service with the United States Air Force, where he was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1967. Parks then recalls understanding his sexuality during his military service and policies regarding gay military personnel. He remembers coming out as gay in 1972, when he attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and worked for the City of Las Vegas as a computer operator. He then talks about getting involved with politics, his involvement with gay support organizations including Aid for AIDS of Nevada, and his experiences running as the first openly gay Nevada State Assemblyman in 1996.
In the 2007 interview, Parks, a member of the Nevada senate, discusses working on a Nevada anti-bullying bill and a family fairness bill, which stated that any two persons could have another person as a recipient beneficiary. Park describes dealing with opposition to the family fairness bill with some people arguing that it changes the traditional definition of family. Parks recalls running against a man with a similar name, David F. Parks, in a 2002 legislative assembly election. Digital audio and transcript available.
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Scope and Contents Note
Oral history interviews with David Parks conducted by Dennis McBride on February 16 and 21, 2000 and January 31, 2007 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In the first interviews, Parks talks about his early life in Boston, Massachusetts, his education, and his service with the United States Air Force, where he was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1967. Parks then recalls understanding his sexuality during his military service and policies regarding gay military personnel. He remembers coming out as gay in 1972, when he attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and worked for the City of Las Vegas as a computer operator. He then talks about getting involved with politics, his involvement with gay support organizations including Aid for AIDS of Nevada, and his experiences running as the first openly gay Nevada State Assemblyman in 1996.
In the 2007 interview, Parks, a member of the Nevada senate, discusses working on a Nevada anti-bullying bill and a family fairness bill, which stated that any two persons could have another person as a recipient beneficiary. Park describes dealing with opposition to the family fairness bill with some people arguing that it changes the traditional definition of family. Parks recalls running against a man with a similar name, David F. Parks, in a 2002 legislative assembly election. Digital audio and transcript available.
Access Note
Collection is open for research. Where use copies do not exist, production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish. Some transcripts do not exist in final form, therefore any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked.
Preferred Citation
David Parks oral history interviews, 2000 February 16, 2000 February 21, 2007 January 31. OH-01433. [Cite format consulted: Audio recording or Transcript.] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
This interview was conducted by Dennis McBride. Materials from this oral history project were donated to UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives on an ongoing basis ending in 2016.
Processing Note
Interview materials were processed by UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 2017. Jimmy Chang wrote the collection description. The audio cassette(s) for this interview have been reformatted by an external vendor into a digital format. MP3 files of the audio are available for research use. In 2025, Sarah Jones updated the finding aid to include the 2007 interview and the complete transcript.