Tim Gill

Tim Gill (born October 18, 1953) is an American computer software programmer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and LGBTQ rights activist.

Tim Gill
Born (1953-10-18) October 18, 1953
Hobart, Indiana, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Colorado, Boulder (BS)
OccupationFounder of the Gill Foundation and Quark, Inc.
Known forPhilanthropy
LGBTQ Rights Activism
Computer Software Programming
Spouse(s)Scott Miller

He is the founder and co-chair of the Gill Foundation, a private Denver-based philanthropic organization supporting the LGBTQ community across the country.[1] As of 2017, he was the single largest individual donor to the LGBTQ rights movement in U.S. history, having personally committed more than $422 million since the early 1990s.[2]

Gill is also the founder of the pioneering page layout software company Quark, Inc.[1] Gill sold his fifty percent stake in the company in 1999 for a reported $500 million.[2]

He is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of JStar LLC, a smart home technology start-up.[3]

Early life and education

Tim Gill was born in Hobart, Indiana, and moved to Colorado with his family when he was in third grade.[4] He attended Wheat Ridge High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, eventually studying computer science and applied mathematics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[1]

Philanthropy and political action

Tim Gill is the founder of the Gill Foundation, Gill Action Fund, and OutGiving.[5]

Gill first became involved in LGBTQ activism as a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[2] He volunteered for the campus gay-liberation group and later supported local HIV/AIDS awareness.[2] In 1992, he continued his involvement in LGBTQ political action in response to the passage of Colorado Amendment 2, which prevented non-discrimination ordinances in the state from protecting people based on sexual orientation.[5][6]

Following the sale of his stake in Quark, Inc., Gill set aside sixty percent of his assets – more than $300 million – to fight for LGBTQ rights.[2]

He is widely credited as a visionary strategist and mega-donor who has made significant contributions to virtually every major LGBTQ rights victory in the United States, from the 2003 Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health decision making Massachusetts the first U.S. state to allow same-sex marriage, to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage throughout the country.[2][5][6][7]

In July 2017, Gill was the subject of a profile by journalist Andy Kroll for Rolling Stone magazine titled "The Quiet Crusader: How Tim Gill turned a $500 million fortune into the nation's most powerful force for LGBTQ rights."[2]

Gill Foundation
Main article: Gill Foundation

Tim Gill founded the Gill Foundation in 1994.[8] The national, Denver-based non-profit organization underwrites academic research, polling, litigation, data analytics, and field organizing related to the LGBTQ rights movement.[2]

The foundation's early focus was to fund LGBTQ and other mainstream projects in Colorado.[5] The foundation established the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado in 1996, which provides financial support to non-profit organizations in the state.[2][9] The foundation primarily focuses on advancing LGBTQ rights and causes at the state level.[2][5][7]

Gill Action Fund
Main article: Gill Action Fund

In 2005, Tim Gill established the Gill Action Fund, which is separate from the charitable endeavors of the foundation.[10] The political fund has helped to elect hundreds of pro-equality lawmakers across the country at the local, state, and federal levels.[2] In 2006, its first election year, the fund helped defeat 50 of the 70 anti-LGBTQ candidates it targeted.[2]

The fund also contributed to the successful 2016 election campaign of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who defeated the incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.[2] Gill prioritized unseating McCrory after he championed and passed the anti-LGBTQ HB2 "bathroom bill," which forced transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding with their sex at birth rather than their gender identity.[2]

OutGiving

In 1996, Gill founded OutGiving, a private, invitation-only philanthropic conference, to bring major pro-LGBTQ philanthropists together. OutGiving holds a conference every two years to discuss philanthropic strategies.[11]

Freedom for All Americans

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015, Gill has shifted his focus to securing non-discrimination protections in the 28 states where it is still legal to discriminate against LGBTQ people in housing, employment and public accommodations.[5][12]

Gill is credited with developing a bipartisan strategy for securing non-discrimination protections in traditionally Republican states.[5] In 2015, Gill, Paul Singer and Daniel Loeb, helped fund Freedom for All Americans to advocate for non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in states and local communities across the country.[13][14] Freedom for All Americans has successfully enlisted the support of businesses and corporations to work with Republican-held state legislatures to reject or overturn anti-LGBTQ legislation.[15][16] The organization borrows the state-focused model of Freedom to Marry, the grassroots organizations that directed the fight for same-sex marriage equality from state to state leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision.[17][18]

University of Colorado endowment

In 1998 Gill endowed the Tim Gill Professorship in Infectious Diseases at the university's medical school to support HIV research and education.[19]

Other

In 2016, Tim Gill directed funding from the foundation to support a comprehensive theme study by the National Park Service to identify historically significant places related to LGBTQ history for potential inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places or designation as a National Monument.[20][21][22]

Business ventures

Quark, Inc.

After jobs at Hewlett-Packard and a consulting services firm, Gill started the company Quark, Inc. in 1981 with a $2,000 loan from his parents.[5][8][23] Quark produced page layout software for the graphics market. With the introduction of Fred Ebrahimi as CEO in 1986 and the launch of the company's flagship page layout software, QuarkXPress, in 1987, Gill became a multi-millionaire.[24] Gill sold his fifty percent interest in Quark in 1999 for a reported $500 million, citing his growing involvement in philanthropic and activist endeavors.[8][2]

Connexion.org

In 2003, Gill created Connexion.org, a social media platform for engaging the LGBTQ community in political activities.[25] Connexion closed in September 2011.[26]

JStar LLC

In March 2015, Gill co-founded the smart home technology start-up JStar LLC.[12] He is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of the company.[27] JStar's flagship product is Josh.ai, a voice-controlled home automation system using JStar's own artificial intelligence technology platform.[27][3] The company is headquartered in Denver with offices in Los Angeles.[28] In July 2017, JStar announced an additional $8 million in private investment to create original hardware to compete with Google Home, Amazon Echo, and other devices with intelligent assistants inside.[29][30] Josh.ai can be used through Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, Google Home, and iOS and Android apps.[29][30]

Personal life

Gill married his husband, Scott Miller, in Massachusetts in 2009.[31] They live in Denver, Colorado, with their two dogs.[9]

Gill is an avid snowboarder.[1]

Awards

Gill was awarded the NOGLSTP GLBT Engineer of the Year Award in 2007.[32]

References
  1. Healy, Rita (April 4, 2007). "The Gay Mogul Changing U.S. Politics". Time. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  2. Kroll, Andy (June 23, 2017). "Meet the Megadonor Behind the LGBTQ Rights Movement". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  3. Chang, Lulu (May 31, 2016). "Have $14,000 to Spend? The Josh.ai Smart Home System May Be for You". Digital Trends. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  4. Bouchard, Jay (2019-12-02). "Who Is Tim Gill?". 5280. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  5. Green, Joshua (April 24, 2015). "America's Gay Corporate Warrior Wants to Bring Full Equality to Red States". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  6. Green, Joshua (March 1, 2007). "They Won't Know What Hit Them". The Atlantic. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  7. Smith, Ben (December 14, 2010). "Gay rights take center stage in N.Y." Politico. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  8. Rothenberg, Matthew (October 25, 2000). "Founder Tim Gill exits Quark". ZDNet. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  9. "Tim Gill". Gill Foundation. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  10. Roehr, Bob (March 30, 2006). "The Gill Action Fund: Serious LGBT Politics". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  11. "About OutGiving". OutGiving. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  12. Callahan, David (August 25, 2015). "No One Left Behind: Tim Gill and the New Quest for Full LGBT Equality". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  13. Polaski, Adam (June 8, 2015). "Introducing the Campaign to Secure Non-Discrimination for LGBT Americans". Freedom for All Americans. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  14. Somashekhar, Sandhya (June 5, 2015). "Ending discrimination in workplace, other areas is next gay rights battle". Washington Post. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  15. "Major Businesses Speaking Up for Nondiscrimination Protections in Georgia". Freedom for All Americans. January 7, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  16. "Business Community Leading the Charge for Nondiscrimination Bills". Freedom for All Americans. February 3, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  17. Wheeler, Lydia (July 5, 2015). "The next front in battle over gay rights". The Hill. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  18. Wolfson, Evan (June 26, 2015). "Evan Wolfson: What's Next in the Fight for Gay Equality". New York Times. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  19. "Division of Infectious Diseases Tim Gill Endowment". medschool.cuanschutz.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  20. Doyle, Michael (October 11, 2016). "LGBTQ history mapped for possible national historic landmark honors". Miami Herald. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  21. Sheppard, Kate (October 12, 2016). "National Park Service Studies Historic LGBTQ Sites For Possible Recognition". Huffington Post. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  22. Gill, Tim; Jewell, Sally (October 11, 2016). "Preserving LGBTQ history". Washington Blade. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  23. Hoover's Guide to Computer Companies. Hoover's Business Press. December 1996. pp. 346–. ISBN 9781878753809. Retrieved 2 June 2012. In 1981 Gill, then 27, founded Quark ...
  24. Anton, Kelly Kordes; Cruise, John (2009-02-13). QuarkXpress 8: Essential Skills for Page Layout and Web Design. Peachpit Press. pp. 209–. ISBN 9780321616913. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  25. Jones, Isa. "Connexion is Shutting Down". CU Independent. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  26. Villarreal, Daniel (September 7, 2011). "How Will Connexion Help LGBTs Now That They're Closing Down?". Queerty. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  27. Stuart, Sophia (January 8, 2016). "Forget Alexa: Josh Is Your New AI Butler". PC Magazine. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  28. "About Josh". Josh.ai. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  29. Perez, Sarah (July 7, 2017). "Josh.ai raises $11 million for a premium home automation system with a smarter AI". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  30. Johnson, Khari (July 7, 2017). "Josh.ai raises $8 million to build an Amazon Echo competitor for smart homes". VentureBeat. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  31. Park, Penny (April 13, 2009). "Parker: Tim Gill ties the knot in Massachusetts". Denver Post. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  32. "NOGLSTP to Honor Bertozzi, Gill, Mauzey, and Bannochie at 2007 Awards Ceremony in February". NOGLSTP. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
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