Oregon mayoral candidate was involved in 1984 gay bashing but says he's changed

Douglas Barr, a candidate for mayor of Eugene, Ore., was involved in an antigay hate crime in 1984 that resulted in the death of a San Francisco activist, although he was found not guilty of murder.

Barr talked about the crime to The Daily Emerald, the student newspaper at the University of Oregon, saying he’s educated himself and changed since then.

The attack on gay activist John Dennis O’Connell occurred July 29, 1984, in San Francisco. Four young men beat O’Connell simply because he was gay, and he fell to the ground and hit his head on a curb, causing his death, according to a contemporary account in the Los Angeles Times.

Three of the men were found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, but Barr was acquitted. However, that same night, the four men attacked three others they perceived to be gay. Prosecutors said the assailants participated in a night of “homophobic rage.” Barr pleaded guilty to assault in those attacks. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but did not serve the full term. He was 19 at the time of the crime.

Barr has “strived to be better” since then, he told the Emerald. He said he has “educated” himself but did not offer details.

“We have to give people a second chance, especially if they’re trying to do good,” he said. “We have to reach back and include them. If they have ideas, we need to know that we need to participate. … We want to uplift them anyway.”

“A lot of people want to frown upon [me] because I was a felon,” he continued. [“But] do we want to frown? Do we want to stop people who come out of prison, [from] helping our community? I have a lot of good thoughts about how to cure the homeless. Should I just be on the sidelines and not step up?”

Barr received federal disability benefits after being released from prison and lived in subsidized housing for a time. He has gotten involved with a “network of good-doers” and become a volunteer driver for Food for Lane County. He collects unused food from University of Oregon cafeterias and distributes it to unhoused people. He is also on the board of a food pantry.

If he becomes mayor, his priorities would be addressing Eugene’s homelessness crisis and attracting a hospital to the city. Its only hospital closed last year, and the nearest hospitals are in the neighboring towns of Springfield and Cottage Grove.

He ran for office once before — for Eugene City Council in 2020 — and lost.

Also running for mayor are architect Kaarin Knudson, who has the endorsement of outgoing Mayor Lucy Vinis, and Shanaè Joyce-Stringer, an educational program coordinator, evangelist, and life coach. Eugene is heavily Democratic, but city elections are nonpartisan. All the candidates will run in the primary May 21, and if no one receives a majority of the vote, the top two will compete in a runoff November 5.