Giving Compass' Take:

• Yale Divinity School profiles alum David Wertheimer, former director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who has dedicated his life to advancing social causes, specifically in the area of LGBT rights.

• Those involved in advocacy work can learn a lot from David Wertheimer's career arc, which challenged institutions and hierarchies. His advice to students, “If your work doesn’t leave you in an uncomfortable place, what’s the point?”

• Learn how we can make sure LGBT people in philanthropy are counted.

The annals of Yale Divinity School record a long list of alumni who used their degrees to change the world and, at times, even make history. A shorter roster, but in its way equally impressive, records the names of those who changed Yale’s own history while still students. As an early activist for LGBTQ rights, David Wertheimer ’84 M.Div. is among this select group.

In the early 1980s, Wertheimer led the call for Yale to recognize and protect what were then called “gay rights.” He was a leader of the student group (which also included David Norgard, ’83 M.Div.)  that founded the Gay and Lesbian Cooperative (Co-op) and launched GLAD — Gay and Lesbian Awareness Days, the precursor of Yale’s “Pride” observances. Wertheimer spearheaded the campaign to have sexual orientation included in Yale’s nondiscrimination clause, facing off with Yale President A. Bartlett Giamatti in a brilliantly staged public meeting. He equally challenged the status quo at the Divinity School, leading the School’s “Gay/Straight Coalition” and butting heads with then-YDS Dean Leander E. Keck.

And when he wasn’t advocating for LGBTQ justice, Wertheimer also made national news as part of the “Groton 11,” a group of Divvies arrested for protesting a nuclear submarine.

Today, Wertheimer is a Director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s wealthiest philanthropic advocate for global health, education and equality. The arc of his life after Yale includes running a New York nonprofit opposing homophobic violence, advocating for homeless families and abuse victims, and developing government services for people suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. During a visit to YDS in March, Wertheimer credited his years as a divinity student as the foundation of his lifelong battle against prejudice and suffering.

Read the full article about David Wertheimer's life spent battling prejudice and suffering by Timothy Cahill at Yale Divinity School.