Thalia Zepatos, a Portland writer and champion of reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights, will receive the 2025 Soapstone Bread and Roses Award on March 8 — appropriately enough, International Women’s Day. The award recognizes the work of a woman who has positively influenced the writing community throughout her career. It is traditionally given on the day that officially celebrates the social, political, and economic achievements of women worldwide. International Women’s Day first was observed by the United Nations in 1975 to raise awareness of women’s inequality.
Soapstone, the grassroots nonprofit organization that grants the award, was founded by Ruth Gundle and Judith Barrington in 1992 to provide writing residencies for women in Oregon’s Coast Range. The group successfully invited 375 women writers to generative retreats before eventually selling its property in 2013 and continues to support women writers through study groups, grants, and workshops. The Bread and Roses Award consists of $2,000 and a bouquet of roses.
A lifelong writer, Zepatos spent decades as an activist, dedicating her days to protecting reproductive freedom and LGBTQ+ equality. Her work has been heralded as more important than ever with the approaching 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that struck down state bans against same-sex marriage and the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and the federal right to abortion. Zepatos’ steadfast commitment to change for the better has led her to take on leadership roles and participate in successful campaigns through Freedom to Marry. Through that group, she helped create the “love is love” slogan that swept the nation in solidarity with LGBTQ+ rights.
Zepatos, who moved to Portland in 1979, served as a statewide organizer for the abortion rights group NARAL and on its national staff. In 1988, she utilized her prowess in the written word and activism experience to help defeat Measure 8, which sought to revoke an Executive Order that banned discrimination within the state executive branch on the basis of sexual orientation. Zepatos again aided in messaging coordination and campaign strategy in 2012, leading to victories for marriage equality in Washington, Minnesota, Maine, and Maryland.
Zepatos also championed women travelers. She is the author of bestselling travel books A Journey of One’s Own and Adventures in Good Company, chronicling the possibilities available to women who yearn to see the world alone.
“Some adventures are harder to organize on your own,” Zepatos told me via email as she traveled internationally, “whether it’s whitewater rafting, climbing high mountain peaks, or learning to surf, and it can be easier to take on those challenges with a group to support you. There is a terrific network of women-owned and -operated adventure travel companies, and I wanted to encourage readers to achieve their travel goals in the company of those groups.”
Zepatos continues her work globally, advising campaigns to protect gay, lesbian, and transgender rights in various countries through Freedom to Marry Global and inspiring Oregon’s writing communities to form inclusive and welcoming spaces.
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I recently talked with Zepatos about her work. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
When did you begin writing?
Zepatos: I grew up reading voraciously and came from a family of people who like to tell stories. Those influences inspired me to join a writing class in high school. Our group sent a letter to Kurt Vonnegut, and he invited us to meet with him! That was inspiring.
What brought you to Portland from Washington, D.C.?
I was trained as a community organizer in Washington, D.C., but quickly learned what residents of the District know innately — that too much power in the city is controlled by Congress. After learning that we would have to lobby senators from Kansas to fund a small playground for neighborhood children, it was time to leave. I wanted to live someplace where politics was more accessible and where people could influence local and state government, so I moved to Portland in 1979.
Your work is deeply rooted in LGBTQ allyship and standing up for women’s rights. How did you begin participating in activism?
My first foray into activism was as a high school student in the early 1970s. I was inspired by coverage of activists opposing the Vietnam War on television news and saw that people working together could achieve change. It seems funny when recalling this now, but at the time, girls attending public high school were not allowed to wear pants to school. So I organized a group of girls to wear jeans one day, and we disrupted classes by staging a sit-down strike in the hallway. The only reason I was not suspended was that I had recruited the daughter of the superintendent of schools to join the strike. We won our demand the following day.
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Soapstone calls you the “message guru” for the Freedom to Marry campaign. Can you talk about your involvement with the organization?
In the 1990s in Oregon, we faced more anti-LGBTQ ballot measures than any other state in the country, and we gained useful experience learning how to fight and defeat those attacks. When anti-LGBT forces in the U.S. grabbed onto the marriage issue to create fear, they drew on a deep well of homophobia to fuel their campaigns. I saw the fight to legalize marriage for same-gender couples as an opportunity to break down homophobia, and took on the role of director of research and messaging for the national campaign with Freedom to Marry. I coordinated a group of national and state organizations to figure out how to talk about the topic in a way that calmed people’s fears and helped them reflect on the importance of marriage in their own lives. Oregon became the testing ground where we first discovered the catchphrase “love is love” and realized the power of telling the stories of same-sex couples and their families. Nowadays, the vicious attacks on transgender people are the latest attempt by those same groups to create fear and division in our society.
Can you discuss your activism work with the abortion rights group NARAL and your work in relation to ballot measures aimed at gay rights? How did these experiences affect your writing?
Activism is about building power to make social change. Whether my role was helping to ensure Oregon would be a stronghold for reproductive rights or a state that celebrates and respects gay and transgender people, I have seen people change when they get new information or hear stories that inspire and transform. Ballot measure campaigns not only work to shape the opinions of the general public, they build leaders whose lives are transformed through political engagement.
My work as a nonfiction writer was focused on a similar goal, to share stories and information that can help empower readers to change their own lives.
Your 1993 book, A Journey of One’s Own, is a national bestseller. What was your experience writing this book?
At one point in my career, I took a break from my political work and traveled around the world for 18 months. That was a transformative experience, and when I returned home to Portland, I quickly realized that many people — especially women — had concerns about traveling solo and questions about organizing a trip for a year or longer. I offered workshops to answer those questions and found a large audience of women who wanted to travel solo but were hesitant to do so. My book offered them the help and inspiration to achieve their travel dreams. It’s been wonderful since then to get letters from readers who said the book gave them the courage to quit their job and take off on a motorcycle trip to Patagonia or wherever.
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Talk about your time as a staff member with The Flight of the Mind: Writing Workshops for Women, held between 1984 and 2000 on the McKenzie River.
The Flight of the Mind was a very special gathering where women writers could gain insight and practice their craft alongside nationally known writers and teachers. I joined the support staff for a chance to spend time with inspiring writers and poets. Writers would schedule time to come in and read their work-in-progress to the kitchen staff, so even if you were chopping vegetables for dinner, you were embedded in the creative process.
How does your work overseas in Asia, Eastern Europe, etc., impact the creative work that you do in the United States?
I provide support and training to emerging leaders of social movements in many parts of the world, and their progress and victories continually inspire me. With the political headwinds we are facing in the U.S., it’s been uplifting to see how social justice activists are winning victories in countries where the political conditions are much more daunting than we face here.
What advice can you offer emerging writers seeking to establish themselves in Oregon’s literary communities?
Writing is a solitary undertaking, and for me, the support of other writers was especially crucial. I would encourage emerging writers to find a setting where they can share their work and get helpful feedback. If you can’t find a group that feels comfortable and welcoming, start one of your own.
What advice can you offer for writers hoping to make a social impact with their work?
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Social-change organizing has a long tradition of “learning by doing.” It’s important that movement leaders and organizers periodically take the time to share strategies and the lessons they have learned so that others can follow them. Your writing has the power to inform and inspire someone else who can help change the world, so don’t hold back.
