Gay American Indians
Randy Burns is a Northern Paiute native American and a member of the Pyramid Lake Indian Tribe. In July of 1975, along with the late Barbara Cameron, Burns founded Gay American Indians, an organization that serves the Gay and Lesbian Native American community.
Randy Burns' activist career started as an outspoken student leader while attending San Francisco State University trying to recruit Native American students to campus. He then became an activist for the queer community when, still as a student, he interviewed with the Nevada State Journal. His subsequent interviews with nearly all queer magazines and newspapers on the West Coast has earned Burns the reputation of "Media Queen." Randy has also written some of his own editorials, including the introductions to such books as "Living The Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology," "Changing Ones" and "Third and Fourth Genders in Native North Americans." Burns plans to publish his own full work of literature in the near future entitled "You Never Heard Me Sing," a portrait of two spirit people.
Included on Burns' long list of activist work are positions on some prominent local government advisory committees such as the People of Color AIDS and the Human Rights Commission. Randy has also been an election officer for over twenty years, as he believes in the importance of voting. Over the years, Randy has volunteered his services to various nonprofit agencies and worked with many Native American programs here in the Bay Area. Up until recently, Randy worked at SF General Hospital as a nurse assistant.
For his work, Burns has been recognized numerous times, most recently with the "Pioneer Award" from the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian History Society. Yet, the modest Randy evokes his High School Hall of Fame induction as the award that he is most proud of. Randy is also very honored to have been photographed with one of his heroes, former President Bill Clinton.
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