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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
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Tuesday, June 25,2002
Oregpn Daily Emerald
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor:
Jenni Schultz
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Sapphire, who was Miss Gay Texas in 2001, performs at a drag show Sunday afternoon during the Eugene Pride festival in Alton Baker Park.
Local residents celebrate annual
Pride festival in Alton Baker Park
■The Eugene Pride celebration
provides food and entertainment
for the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer community
By Jillian Daley
Oregon Daily Emerald
Rainbows were the rage Saturday as
the 11th annual Eugene Pride celebra
tion hit Alton Baker Park from 11 a.m.
to 8 p.m.
Amidst a plethora of booths and
performances mushrooming around
Alton Baker, Eugene’s lesbian, gay, bi
sexual, transgender and queer commu
nity members had a chance to be visi
ble and experience a safe space.
Some attend partly because they en
joy the safe space. “I just like the open
ness (and) people getting together,” fes
tival attendee Lisa Alitzer said.
A full roster filled the Pride stage.
The event’s performance list included
local groups and artists Cris
Williamson, Paula Vaden, Deb Cleve
land Band, Soromundi and Jordan
Blumberg-Enge.
“I love that a lot of (the) queer
community can come together,” gui
tarist and vocalist Blumberg-Enge
said. She performed original scores,
such as “Not Your Boy” and “Blown
to Bits.”
Also featured were the square-danc
ing Rainbow Wranglers and a drag
show put on by the Imperial Sovereign
Court of the Emerald Empire, which is
a local drag show organization.
“I like my performance to be Vegas
like,” drag show artist Sapphire said.
Sapphire was dressed in patriotic col
ors with ostrich feathers in her hair
and long veils flowing from her arms.
She plans to enroll at the University in
the fall.
Vendors at the event included Wom
enspace, Wicca, the group Q and the
University LGBTQA. Q-booth volun
teer Stephanie Carnahan explained the
group’s plans to start a queer commu
nity center in Eugene.
“Our mission is to promote queer
progressive social change,” Carna
han said.
Other booths included the Human
Rights Commission, the HIV Alliance
and a child care area. Pride sponsors
included PFLAG, the Equity Founda
tion and Ruby Chasm.
People at the event had a range of
reasons for attending Pride.
River Jeffries and Rosemary Childs
took advantage of the free child care
while attending their first Eugene Pride.
Jeffries and Childs explained what
brought them to Eugene Pride this year.
“I was looking forward to seeing
more of the queens,” Jeffries said,
pointing out her daughter, Amber
Rose, in the play area. Childs, howev
er, “was looking for the free veggie
dogs,” she said, while her son, Palaram
Brashers, held her hand.
Eugene resident Gary Miller said
his reason for attending was his
friends. “There are a lot of people
(who attend Pride) that I don’t see
very often,” he said.
Pride was a day of celebration for
both festivals patrons and the commit
tee who set up the event.
The Pride committee’s main goal is
for its committee members to have fun.
“If it’s not fun, we’re not doing it; be
cause if we have fun, everyone there is
going to have fun,” coordinator Amber
Lunch said.
“It’s a nice day to bring people to
gether. It’s just a safe, healthy venue,”
Pride committee member Harriet Mer
rick said.
Contact the reporter
atjilliandaley@dailyemerald.com.
New contract
increases UO
GTFF salaries
by 10 percent
By Jillian Daley
Oregon Daily Emerald
University graduate students have a reason to smile 10
percent wider.
The University signed the Graduate Teaching Fel
lowship Federation’s new contract, which increases the
minimum salary for graduate student workers 6 per
cent this year and 4 percent next year. Ten percent is
the “largest raise (University graduate students have
seen) in nearly a decade,” Temporary Staff organizer
Ashley Overbeck said.
The contract went into effect on May 20 and continues
to the end of March 2004.
Overwhelmingly, GTFF members were in favor of the
contract. Before sending it in to the University for ap
proval, GTFF members ratified it 330 to 3, said Overbeck,
also a GTFF member.
“I think overall (the University is) very pleased with
the contract,” Vice President for Research and Graduate
Studies Richard Linton said.
The GTFF has been campaigning for a better contract
since the group first began meeting in September, GTFF
Negotiating Team member David Cecil said. Over the
summer, the GTFF hired researchers to work on the cam
paign, so they would be prepared for the fall meeting,
added Cecil, who is also the acting union executive coun
cil chairman.
The GTFF was in a good position to fight for change
this year. “For the last several years, we traded wage in
creases to maintain health insurance. We made wage con
cessions for years, and (the University was) willing to
work with us,” Overbeck said.
However, Overbeck said tactics are what won the
plum contract this year. The group’s victory was based
“very much on the presentation of hard data,” Vice
President of Member Communications Sasha Tavenner
Kruger said.
One ot the GTFF s key tactics in implementing the
hard data to get the raise was a simple comparison to oth
er universities, Kruger said. Before the raise, University
GTFs made about “30 percent less than the average grad
uate employee at comparator institutions,” she said.
Cecil said the difference in pay can hurt graduate
recruiting.
“The University can’t attract and retain graduate work
ers if they can’t pay them,” he said.
Renewing the contract gave the University a chance to
show graduate students their value to the campus.
“I think it’s a strong statement on the University’s
commitment to graduate students and also recognition
of the importance that GTFs play in meeting the mis
sion of the University,” said Linton, who is also the
Graduate School dean.
However, money was not the only issue at stake. The
GTFF added a clause protecting transgender workers
from discrimination in the workplace, making it “the
most comprehensive contract in the country,” Overbeck
said. Only one other contract in the nation mentions
transgender people in its text, Overbeck added.
Contact the reporter at jilliandaley@dailyemeralcl.com.
LTD routes undergo changes in response to decreased budget
■ University students who rely on the
bus may need to find new routes now
that the Lane Transit District has made
significant schedule changes
Students who rely on Lane Transit District
for summer transportation may have trouble
finding a bus schedule to fit their needs.
Spokesman Andy Vobora said LTD cuts
frequency every summer because many bus
riders are students. This year, however,
changes usually saved for September will
take effect this month.
“We also made more substantial changes
because of budgetary concerns,” Vobora said.
Below is a list of major changes effective
June 16:
• Service to 4J schools, the University and
LCC has been adjusted to reflect the reduced
demand during the summer months.
• Weekend final departure times from
the Eugene Station have been changed.
The last bus will leave the Eugene Station
at 10:40 p.m. on Saturdays and 7:30 p.m.
on Sundays.
• Route 11 Thurston will operate every 15
minutes on weekdays until 5:30 p.m. and
then every 30 minutes until 11:40 p.m.
• The Breeze will operate every 15 min
utes on weekdays and every 30 minutes on
weekday evenings and Saturdays.
• Route 62 VRC/Oakway Center has been
eliminated.
• Route 27 Fairmount and 33 Jefferson no
longer will operate on Sundays.
• Because of summer activities at the Lane
County Fairgrounds, there is a temporary
Park & Ride site for riders of Routes 75X Sa
cred Heart and 7 UO/Westmoreland. The
Park & Ride will move to the west parking
lot of the Faith Center, located at 13 th Av
enue and Taylor Street, and will return to
the fairgrounds on Sunday, Sept. 22.
Schedule changes can be found in
the Rider’s Digest or online at
http://www.ltd.org.
— Jan Montry