I N S
Roseburg:
report
G
a rural
by Billy Russo
In recent years large numbers of gay men
and lesbians have been resettling in rural
America. Some of us simply want to get
closer to nature and basic ways of living.
Others are disillusioned by urban living and
the ways homophiles are assimilated into
mainstream society. In comm on we all envi
sion finding the space to live our lives as we
choose.
Once in rural America we find ourselves
relatively alone. We live among strangers,
work am ong strangers and by virtue of the
nature of our oppression, we return to the
darkness of earlier closets. We feel isolated
and alone.
Those of the rural gay and lesbian com
munity who were raised locally are also
closeted. Although comfortable with who
they are, most rural homophiles live in isola
tion, trying to live as free as possible and still
pass in heterosexual towns in order to
survive.
We are constantly reminded of our ‘‘place"
by periodic scapegoating by the media and
the rash of homophobic commentaries,
letters-to-the-editor, jokes and sermons
which follow.
Here in Douglas County, 200 miles south
of Portland, we rebelled against that homo
phobia, and in doing so, added a new dimen
sion to rural gay life. We didn't riot or bar
ricade ourselves in a local cocktail lounge.
We fought back by becoming a visible ele
m ent of the community.
In November, 1980,30 of us answered a
call to com e together and discuss establish
ing a helpline to serve the gay and lesbian
community. Under the guidance of our
E ssen tially w e w ere ignored by the larger,
hetero-dom inated society around us. We
h ad som e m inor run-ins over use of public
sp ace an d m edia coverage, but b asically w e
w ere left alone.
founding mother, Lillene Fifield, we learned
how to work together as a group. We learned
how to listen to each other and to rely on the
group process to work out our differences.
Together, we took a giant step in the coming
out experience.
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The county seat Roseburg, which has al
ways been known as the redneck lumber
capitol of the world, now boasts having the 24
hour Gay and Lesbian Switchboard, the
Tuesday night Gay and Lesbian Discussion
Group, weekly Gay AA meetings, and MCC
services.
Essentially we were ignored by the larger,
hetero-dom inated society around us. We had
some m inor run-ins over use of public space
and media coverage, but basically we were
left alone. I guess they assumed we would
eventually go away.
All that changed dramatically last summer,
when MCC installed a new pastor, Betty
Pederson, in Eugene. Besides her primary
duty in that community, she also inherited the
small study group in Roseburg. She started
com ing down weekly, and with the assistance
of Glen Scott, who has since become full
tim e worship coordinator, soon started a
dialogue with the ministers and board of di
rectors of the First United Methodist Church.
Through these efforts they obtained
permission to use the Methodist chapel for
Sunday worship. Concurrently, two men had
arranged to have a holy union at the same
church. Betty Pedesen officiated. Both
Methodist ministers were among the invited
guests.
This was too much for the religiously
bigoted. They started crawling out of the
woodwork in protest A battle ensued which
resulted in MCC Roseburg being voted out by
the Methodist congregation. Hypocrites from
other denominations joined in the din and
eventually a loose-knit coalition of
homophobic ministers formed. They
escalated the situation by loudly calling for a
day of prayer and fasting after which they
issued a four part statement decrying homo
sexuality.
The result of all this oppression, of course,
was a general strengthening of the homo-
phile community. Many of us non-christians
joined forces under the MCC banner. And
today, MCC is at the forefront of our little
community.
In this colum n I’ll explore the evolution of
our community. I’ll talk about the things that
have brought us together and those which
have kept us apart I’ll discuss our triumphs
and our struggles in an attempt to portray
who we are, where we’ve been, and where we
are headed. The theme ‘‘Unity in Diversity” is
very applicable here where there are only a
handful of feminists, half-a-dozen faggots,
fewer drag queens (counting leather and
cowpersons), two male nuns, and no aspir
ing young political types. We have had to
learn to respect our differences in order to
work together.
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