Sharon Bishop-Baldwin

TCC 50 Notable Alumni

Exploring possible careers and then eventually narrowing in on Journalism, Sharon attended Tulsa Junior College, now Tulsa Community College, straight out of high school and earned two associate degrees. She was Editor of The TJC Connection, the student newspaper. “These experiences and so many others at TJC helped create the person I have become – one with an open mind who is willing to explore options; one who understands the importance of not only meeting expectations but exceeding them; one who is willing to make a mistake and learn from it, apologizing along the way when appropriate; and most of all one who refuses to have anything less than the courage of her convictions.”

She later became Editor-in-Chief of The Oklahoma Daily at the University of Oklahoma, where she earned her bachelor’s degree, and then worked more than two decades as a Copy Editor at the Tulsa World.

She and her wife, Mary, are champions for marriage equality. They were the lead plaintiffs in a 10-year federal civil-rights lawsuit that brought marriage equality to Oklahoma and nearly a dozen other states on Oct. 6, 2014, roughly nine months before the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land. She subsequently wrote a book about the lawsuit, Becoming Brave: Winning Marriage Equality in Oklahoma and Finding Our Voice.

She also has advocated for LGBTQ rights on such issues as adoption and public accommodation before the Oklahoma Legislature and the Tulsa City Council, among others.