Distinguished Alumni Award (2022) –
Greg Bourke ’82
Greg was one of the named plaintiffs (with his husband Michael De Leon) in the landmark US Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. Greg, and his husband, Michael De Leon ’01, have been partnered for over 39 years, and were legally married in 2004 in Ontario, Canada. Because of their fight for equality, they were named 2015 Persons of the Year by the National Catholic Reporter. Greg recently published his profoundly moving memoir Gay, Catholic, and American: My Legal Battle for Marriage Equality and Inclusion” about growing up gay and overcoming discrimination in the battle for same-sex marriage in the US.
Larry Condren Distinguished Service Award (2022) – 
Meghan Buell
Meghan is the Founder and Board President of Transgender Resource, Education & Enrichment Services – TREES, Inc., an organization with the mission of transgender education and resource building, focusing in small town and rural communities. She is a leader in the transgender community locally, regionally, and nationally. Meghan regularly presents at conferences and on college campuses on topics related to the transgender community including, healthcare, community services and workplace inclusion (including at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s for over 10 years). In addition to leading her organization, Meghan works as a public-school teacher in the South Bend Public Schools. Meghan is an out and proud transgender woman.
Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award in Support of the Notre Dame LGBTQ+ Campus Community (2022) – Rev. Joe Corpora ’76, C.S.C.
Fr. Joe is the Assistant Director of Pastoral Care Outreach in Campus Ministry; Director, University-School Partnerships, Alliance for Catholic School Education (ACE); Priest-in-Residence, Dillon Hall. In Campus Ministry, he works with students of color, economically poor students, first generation students and LGBTQ students. In ACE, Father Joe works closely with Bishops and Pastors and Superintendents to make Catholic schools available, accessible, and affordable to Latino children and families. He lives in Dillon Hall. In 2016, Pope Francis appointed Father Joe to serve the Church as a Missionary of Mercy. Fr. Joe was selected for his years of service assisting marginalized students, and the help he provides so many with the difficult journey of balancing their faith and orientation.
Larry Condren Distinguished Service Award (2019) – Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend
This award is given to individuals who have demonstrated service to others consistent with the mission and spirit of our organization. Mayor Pete has a long record of service in both the military and public sectors. He has made revitalization of South Bend his priority and has accomplished this through partnering with the university to improve lives of South Bend residents and ND/SMC students alike. He has lived his life authentically as a gay man and the “out” mayor of the state’s fourth largest city. His very success is helping break down barriers for the LGBT community.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the chief executive of the City of South Bend. He took office in 2012 at the age of twenty-nine, and is responsible for the city workforce of over 1,000 employees and an annual budget over $380 million. Buttigieg was born in South Bend and attended St. Joseph High School.
A Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford and has a degree in American History and Literature from Harvard College. He lives in a formerly vacant house he is restoring in the same neighborhood where he grew up, with his husband, Chasten Glezman, and their dog, Truman.
Distinguished Alumni Award (2019) – John Sullivan, ND Law ’83
The distinguished alumni award is given to graduates of either Notre Dame or Saint Mary’s who have made significant contributions to the LGBT community through their professional or community service activities. Through his life-long work across many different fields and multiple decades, John has shown his commitment toward helping others and giving back to those around him.
John’s involvement rages from participating in the first GALA meeting with fellow Minnesotan Tom Zahn, working for marriage equality in the Minnesotans United for All Families initiative, serving on the HRC Board of Directors and as one of the continuing members on the Matthew Shepard Foundation Board.
In addition to his corporate work, he also has served on the board of the Children’s Theatre Company, the James Sewell Ballet, the HRC Board, as a founding member and subsequent chair of the HRC Business Council and currently serves on the Matthew Shepard Foundation board. He recently had the privilege to join Judy, Dennis and their son Logan for Matt’s interment at the National Cathedral in October ’18.
Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement (2017) Joseph Pequigney ND ’44
Joe was a true pioneer in LGBTQ studies. His study of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Such is My Love, was the first to present the case that there was a consummated sexual relationship between the poet and his friend. His exploration of same-sex love themes in Dante’s Divine Comedy has also been very influential and is widely cited. That themes in our literature of same-sex love are today recognized and taught with greater honesty is a credit to Joe Pequigney.
Professor Pequigney was a contemporary of Tom Dooley, receiving his B.A. from ND in 1944, and a Ph.D from Harvard in 1959. He is Professor Emeritus of English, State University of NY – Stony Brook where he taught literature for 35 years. He and photographer Steven Mays have been together for 48 years and were married in 2008.
Distinguished Alumni Award (2015) — Kevin Heffernan
We honor Kevin Heffernan ND ’93 with the GALA Distinguished Alumni Award for his service as a previous GALA officer and for his dedication and help over the years to Notre Dame LGBT students and alumni.
Lawrence Condren GALA-ND/SMC Distinguished Service Award (2015) – Hank and Nancy Mascotte
We honor Nancy Mascotte, SMC ’64 and Hank Mascotte for their work as founders of the South Bend chapter of Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
Distinguished Alumni Award (2013) — John Blandford
Dr. John Blandford is chief of the Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA) Health Economics, Systems, and Integration Branch (HESIB) in the CDC Center for Global Health (CGH). Since joining the division in 2003, he has established DGHA’s leadership in the use of economic research and financial analyses to support sustainable scale-up and efficient operation of global PEPFAR programs. He directed the PEPFAR ART Costing Project, a multi-country public health evaluation to study the costs and cost drivers of PEPFAR’s treatment programs. He has grown the economics team to support PEPFAR in planning and optimization of resources in global HIV programming and has pioneered routine expenditure analyses to inform program management and efficiency.
For two years, Dr. Blandford was seconded to the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, where he led public health evaluation activities and guided efforts to project resource needs for scale-up of PEPFAR programs. He entered federal service as a postdoctoral Prevention Effectiveness Fellow in CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. Prior to joining CDC, he worked in the philanthropic sector supporting grant review and grant-making operations and as an adjunct instructor of undergraduate and graduate courses in economic theory and public policy. Dr. Blandford received his graduate training in economics at the University of Texas (Austin) and University of Notre Dame, and was a Social Science Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago. He is a past chair and founder of GALA-ND/SMC, and has been a longstanding advocate for LGBT rights at Notre Dame.
Lawrence Condren GALA-ND/SMC Distinguished Service Award (2013) — Catherine Pittman
Dr. Catherine Pittman is a professor of psychology at Saint Mary’s College, where she serves as the faculty advisor for SAGA, the Straight and Gay Alliance. In March of 2012, Dr. Pittman led South Bend Equality to victory when the the South Bend Human Rights Ordinance passed, outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, an ongoing battle since the measure was first struck down in 2006.
A practicing psychologist, she is co-author of book on tactics to control anxiety called Extinguishing Anxiety: Whole Brain Strategies to Relieve Fear and Stress. Dr. Pittman has a PhD from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Science from Central Michigan University.
Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement (2013) — Sr. Margaret Farley
The recipient of eleven honorary degrees, the John Courtney Murray Award for Excellence in Theology, and a Luce Fellowship in Theology, Professor Farley is a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and the Catholic Theological Society of America. She has served on the Bioethics Committee of Yale–New Haven Hospital and on the Ethics Committee of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. Professor Farley directs and co-directs two projects relating to women, theology, and response to HIV/AIDS in Africa.
She has published more than eighty articles and chapters of books on medical ethics, sexual ethics, social ethics, historical theological ethics, ethics and spirituality, and feminist ethics. She is the author or editor of six books, including Personal Commitments: Beginning, Keeping, Changing and most recently Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics. The Vatican denounced Sr. Farley for Just Love in June of 2012, which offers contemporary interpretations of Christian ethics around gender and sexuality, including same-sex relationships and marriages.
Distinguished Alumni Award (2010) — Lt Col Victor J. Fehrenbach
Lt Col Victor J. Fehrenbach is a 20-year combat veteran of the United States Air Force. At the time of the award he was assigned as F-15E Weapons Systems Officer and Assistant Director of Operations, 366th Operations Support Squadron, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho and faced involuntary discharge under the U.S. government’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Fehrenbach successfully retired from the United States Air Force on September, 2011 following the repeal of DADT.
Lt Col Fehrenbach was born at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, on August 20, 1969. He is the son of USAF Lt Col (Ret) Arthur J. Fehrenbach and Treva L. Fehrenbach. His father was a career navigator and his mother was a nurse in the USAF. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1991 on a USAF ROTC scholarship, earning his commission and Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations.
In 20 years, Fehrenbach has been deployed six times in support of seven major combat operations. He flew combat missions over Iraq, Kosovo, former Yugoslavia, USA, and Afghanistan. He accrued 2180 total flying hours, 1487 fighter hours, 500 instructor hours, 400 combat hours, and 88 combat missions. His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, nine Air Medals, Aerial Achievement Medal, five Air Force Commendation Medals, Navy Commendation Medal, two Air Force Achievement Medals, two Outstanding Unit Awards with Valor, Kosovo/Afghanistan/Iraq Campaign Medals, and Korea/NATO/Global War on Terrorism Service Medals.
Lawrence Condren GALA-ND/SMC Distinguished Service Award (2010) — Gus Hinojosa
The 2010 Lawrence Condren GALA-ND/SMC Distinguished Service Award honors Gus Hinojosa ’82 for his contributions to the mission and spirit of GALA-ND/SMC, particularly his leadership as Chair of GALA in the early 2000’s, his financial support of the first Queer Film Festival (2004), and his hard work in strengthening GALA, both financially and in terms of membership.
Prior to founding HINOJOSA, Architecture & Interiors in 2009 Gus worked in New York for nineteen years, six years with Skidmore Ownings & Merrill and thirteen years with Gensler. In 2005 he transferred to the Gensler Dallas Office. Early in his career Gus worked for Fisher Heck Lake & Flato and Chumney Urrutia both in San Antonio, Texas. Gus has directed various design for high profile Dallas clients including; The Rosewood Corporation, Mary Kay, Fidelity Investments, Haynes & Boone and Morgan Stanley/Saxon Mortgage.