LGBT Oral History 002: Arlene and Jacquie Bogle Ackerman

Arlene Ackerman was born in San Francisco, California, then adopted and raised in Lodi, California. Jacquie Bogle Ackerman was born and raised in northern Minnesota. Arlene became licensed as clergy with the Metropolitan Community Church in 1977, and Jacquie has supported Arlene by traveling with her when needed, performing odd jobs such as office work and driving buses in order to help financially. In this interview, the couple discusses their long journey in adopting a child as a lesbian couple while living in Minnesota together. They faced discrimination from their adoption agency, but after approximately nine months, they were finally able to adopt a baby girl named Amanda, and shortly after, moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Arlene and Jacquie explain the challenges of gaining parental rights for both of them and with raising Amanda as an adopted, biracial child of two LGBT parents. Despite that they became married for primarily legal reasons, the couple also discusses the emotional significance of their recent state-recognized marriage in June of 2014. Lastly, Arlene and Jacquie reflect on the gay rights movement and agree that they never thought that gay marriage would have been possible in their lifetimes, but they are grateful to see it happening today.