In 1971, Norman founded the Lesbian Mothers Union ; it was concerned with custody problems and provided support for lesbian mothers, who were routinely stripped of their parental rights for being openly gay. As a counselor with the Center for Special Problems from 1972-1979, she wrote and implemented policy regarding mental health services for sexual minority communities. She also developed training programs for health workers who served these communities, training over 300+ staff members to become competent, sensitive, and aware of the needs of the LGBTQ+ communities. Norman was the first openly gay employee of the San Francisco Health Department. While employed with the San Francisco Health Department from 1978-1987, she created the position of Coordinator of Lesbian/Gay Health Services in which she served the gay and lesbian community in San Francisco and helped initiate community response to the AIDS epidemic, which became a main focus for the department in 1982. She was also the first openly lesbian African-American on the San Francisco Police Commission. Pat Norman was portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg in the docuseries When We Rise, which was released in early 2017.
Activism
1971: founded the Lesbian Mothers Union ; it was concerned with custody problems and provided support for lesbian mothers, whose children were taken from openly gay parents.
1979-1987: Coordinator for Lesbian/Gay Health Services at San Francisco Health Department;
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In the 1980s, Norman was a leading activist against apartheid.
Further, in 1980, Pat Norman was a speaker at the First Black Lesbian Conference which took place at the Women's Building in San Francisco. In her speech, Norman shared her personal experiences and spoke on internalized racism and how it was a major obstruction and cause of divide and oppression. Further, she connected internalized racism and the difficulties it presented to the emergence of African American lesbians during the time.
In 1984 she became the first open lesbian to run for San Francisco city supervisor and co-chaired California's Mobilization for Peace, Jobs, and Justice rally.
In 1990, she co-chaired the United States' Nelson Mandela Reception committee, and in 1991 she was elected to the California State Democratic Party Central Committee.
In 1991, while the Executive Director of the California AIDS Intervention Training Center, which was to be later renamed the Institute for Community Health Outreach, Pat Norman participated in the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
In 1992, Norman and her partner Karen appeared on billboards across San Francisco as part of an anti-defamation campaign advertisement that was sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
In 1994, Norman served as the National Co-Chair for "Stonewall 25," a Lesbian and Gay Rights March on the United Nations which took place in New York City.
