Paul Thomas Francis O'Grady (14 July 1960 – 18 January 2015) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1988 to 1996 and was the first openly gay member of the New South Wales Parliament. Early life and career O'Grady was born in Ryde in Northern Sydney, and worked as a shop assistant and a union organiser for the shop assistants section within the Australian Workers' Union. He joined the Labor Party in at the age of 15 in 1975, becoming involved within Young Labor. Having known he was gay from an early age, O'Grady came out to his parents at age 16: O'Grady soon joined the moderate 'Soft' Left faction of the party and won a ballot for the Assistant Secretary of Australian Young Labor 1984, but failed to gain enough support to run as President of NSW Young Labor. O'Grady also worked as a party research officer for the NSW Treasurer, Ken Booth, from 1981 until 1988. Political career He was elected as a Labor member of the Legislative Council in 1988. Making his maiden speech to the council during a debate on the Summary Offences Bill on 2 June 1988, O'Grady spoke out against excess of NSW Police Force powers and for the decriminalisation of prostitution while also thanking his primary supporters and inspirations in the Labor movement: "I owe a great deal to the faith and trust that people such as former Deputy Premier Jack Ferguson, Delcia Kite and John Faulkner placed in me during the years that I have been active in the Labor Party. I thank also the person for whom I worked for seven years–Ken Booth. He really is one of the most genuine, decent and humane human beings I have ever met." Although O'Grady was gay, he did not openly declare it until 1990, several years after his election, thus becoming the first openly gay member of the New South Wales Parliament. In June 1990 O'Grady gave an interview with the Sydney Star Observer, which served as a catalyst for his public outing, and which was then followed by a television interview with Jana Wendt on the Nine Network. This interview was the catalyst for a media avalanche that surprised even him. Some of his conservative upper house colleagues were less than enthused, with the ALP President of the Legislative Council Johno Johnson