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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1985)
R O S E B G R G Tribute to Jim Mahoney by Billy Russo On Sunday evening. December 16. the phone rang. My lover, Doug, answered it: Oh, no!" he gasped. "That's terrible!" I could tell from his sorrowful tone that someone we knew had died. I waited for him to get off the phone and say who it was. "Jim Mahoney died." Doug said. J im Mahoney was a founding president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GALA) of Douglas County. Jim was very active during the first year of G ALA He was there for that very first meeting November 29, 1980, at Mixed Company. Jim was a big man, square at the shoulders. His voice was deep and he wore a warm smile. The man was a traditional patriarch in m any ways. He was a well-respected Roseburg executive, a father and a grand father. He was well informed, and like most of us, he was only out to trusted friends. J im was more sophisticated than most of the local men. He followed the growth of the hom ophile movement for many years and participated in some lesbian/gay activities in Eugene, Portland, Ashland and Northern California. He was one of the first men to realize the dangers of sexism within the m ovem ent and was one of the first local men to do som ething about it. W hen Lillene Fifield, then co-president with Jim . established a gay m en’s conscious ness raising com mittee, he was one of the first men to participate. Besides help ing write the format, he facilitated the first group to com pletion in our com munity. His perception of the dangers of sexism and his co m m itm e n t to com batting it were powerful examples for other men of this com m unity to follow. Jim was there when the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard was formed. He played an active role in the first marathon training session we did in Myrtle Creek in 1981. He helped lay the foundation for Oregon's only 24 hour hom ophile helpline, a helpline that is still serving the com m unity today. The m em ory that I hold dearest of that year we worked together is the m em ory of the day he publicly came out. It was the first meeting between us and the local paper. Now, every one in the paper knew Jim as a spokesperson for a local state agency. He was well-known. He was not known as a gay man. You could have heard a pin drop in that big — big for Roseburg — bustling office when fou r adm itted homosexuals walked through to the conference room at the other end. Jaws dropped when people started realizing that that was Jim Mahoney with us. It was very exciting for me. It was a big day in his life. He was fully aware o f the risk he was taking. I remember how he fidgeted \yhen we grouped outside the build ing before we walked in. It takes a lot of courage to do what he did and I was proud to be there. The meeting with the newspaper that day was quite fruitless. They wanted to do a story on the lesbian/gay com m unity. That was okay with us, but we wanted final editing rights to the story. The editor said they'd never go for that. Well, it took awhile. But three years later they gave in and we cooperated for five stories, one of which won a national award for the journalist. I believe to this day that the effect J im ’s com ing out had on those people R E P O R T went a long way to raise their consciousness towards us. J im moved to Eugene near the end of 1981 to return to school. He wanted to do some graduate stuff and pursue a new career. He was about 50 years old then. He rem ained in contact with us through these few years and was last here in Roseburg d u r ing the installtion at MCC of Roseburg's first gay minister. His com m unity awareness and his understanding of the group process has left a distinct mark on our com m unity. He will be missed. “I advertise in Just O ut because I think it’s a good business decision. I know there is no better source to reach persons with alternative lifestyles than in the pages of Just O ut. Israel H u g h e s o f S to re fro n t T h e a tre We do more than treat illness — we treat people A l t Medical Center Hospital we A mbelieve that chemical dependency iS a CO is a treatable illness. ¥ JK T e view dependency on alcohol W and other drugs as a medical problem and not a moral one. A lcohol and drug abuse are not a /mresult of your lifestyle or sexual preference. ^ 7 our family members, partner, lover, I spouse are encouraged to participate in the treatment program. O X 0) c a) Ü 15 CJ s Chemical Dependency Treatment 511 SW 10th Avenue Portland, OR 97205 • 503/295-2992 Just Out. ^ebruorv 1085 7