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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1985)
first tim e a wom an leader. Increasingly the PAC was seen by certain o f the rem aining m em bers o f the PTC as an extension o f an "o ld boys" network striving for legal rights and not m uch more, while the PTC was seen by som e PAC m em bers as a group o f "radical fem inists” o r "separatists," and in that they favored a social-issue orientation to poltics. were seen as politically m a la d ro it Funding becam e a problem , since any funding activity in the gay com m unity targets the same group: gays. And the gay com m unity no longer seemed to be behind the PTC. "You can't keep a g ro u p going w ithout the backing o f the co m m unity,” says Kinnard. Seen positively, the PTC's jo b was done. More pessim istically, it was a victim o f in-fighting and o f a male prerogative to stream -line “ effictiveness" and "p u rp o se " to those areas where "effective ness" and "purpose” are m ost tangibly rec ognized and accom plished — politics and fund-raising. The consequences o f these issues, K innard claim s, are the fragm entation o f the presen t There is a sufficiently strong and well-organized presence representing the co m m u n ity at the upper reaches o f power. referendum as an exam ple — none o f it should have com e on the com m unity with such surprise o r lack o f organization. This kind o f adversity is ongoing, and one's re sponse should not be m erely reactive. “ We need to understand these m ovem ents, and how they feel." A healthy PTC-style group w ould, in K innard’s estim ation, have the ob li gation, through perhaps a newsletter, to keep its m em bers inform ed and prepared. This newsletter could take in and distribute in fo r m ation from around the country, as well as be an inform ation source for local news and for what exists in town. There needs to be m ore than just politics. We need to educate ourselves about ou r selves. K innard believes, for instance, that gays and lesbians should be made m ore aware o f the benefit o f counselling — there is to o m uch drinking, drugs, unhappiness in the com m unity w ithout sufficient realization that m ethods exist to deal with these prob lem s. K innard is involved with a Black lesbian and gay group, and would be interested in putting together an educational forum , in the m anner o f the Diversity Alliance, dealing with social concerns. B ut there are problem s. Organization Kinnard: G ays n eed m ore than ju s t rights. W om en s m ovem en ts stress the n eed for equality, recognition o f minorities, age-related problem s - inside and outside the com m u n ity — in short, a m ore total view. B ut what Kinnard feels is m issing, and where w ork needs to be done, is with other m ore social gay issues, and with groups and indi viduals whose needs differ from those ad dressed by politics. W hen K innard was in the PTC, he was involved w ith what was called the “ D iversity Alliance,” a group that in its m em bership represented the breadth o f the Port land gay com m unity — racial m inorities, the aged, the hearing- and sight-im paired, even recalls Kinnard, straights. We have, as a group, m any facets and m any things to say about ourselves. It is this self-education, and the need to cohesively express diversity that the Portland gay com m unity lacks at present For Kinnard. the problem is symbolized by the single- m inded drive at the m om ent, for gay rights, a m ovem ent w hich is a distillation o f what K in nard sees as the spirit o f the white male gay com m unity: “ Give me legal rights and then let m e go back to the bar.” But gays need m ore than ju st rights. W om en’s m ovements, fo r instance stress the need for equality, rec o g n itio n o f m inorities, age-related problem s — inside and outside the com m unity - in short a "m o re total view.” Men, says Kinnard, are "obsessed with rights,” and think that any oth er issue weighs down the rights issue. Even though Kinnard has "n o anticipation o f change" regarding the fragm entation o f the com m un ity by its own diversity, he would like to see a return to a PTC-like organization. We need a “ watch-dog organization,” he says, to m o n ito r problem s. He cites the Drew Davis Juat Out. May 1985 takes money. B ut all the m oney in the com m unity goes to the PAC. O rganization takes energy. B ut fragm entation and apathy hold the day. Social outreach and educational ac tivism fo r the gay com m unity cannot exist w ithout the backing and interest o f the co m m unity itself. Keeston Lowery If politics had not already existed. Keeston Lowery is one o f those people who would have had to create it. G rowing up in Arkansas at the height o f the Black civil rights m ove m ent in a fam ily involved with political ac tivism , Lowery has arrived unhesitatingly at his role as chairperson for the Right to Privacy PAC, and as the nom inal spokesman for Port land's gay com m unity. For Lowery, as for others com ing out o f the ’60s and early 7 0 s, it was never a question of w hether o r not to have political com m itm ent, but when and where. W here was Arkansas, and when was after being suddenly dis m issed fro m his position in a clinic as a phys ical th e ra p ist Lowery publicly pressed his em ployer fo r a reason fo r his being fired. “ I ju st wanted him to say it: gay." The em ployer co u ld n ’t or d id n ’t and Lowery was re-hired. Later Lowery helped tabby at the Arkansas State Legislature, and started a gay rights group in Little Rock. "If it hadn't been gay politics, it would have been som ething else." O regon, though, had been on his m ind. The state has always been, after all. politically progressive: It had caught Lowery's attention that O regon had nearly passed a gay rights bill in the m iddle 70s. He packed and moved west to Portland in 1977. Socially. Lowery finds Portland to be m uch the place described by E dm und W hite in States o f Desire: people here are a blend of tough-m inded independence, countrified in nocence. and libertarian nonchalance. “Any thing goes." Even those who do n’t approve of you generally allow you to do as you want. A m ore political way o f saying the same thing (the way Lowery would say it), is that "repres sive forces don’t dictate our lives and identities. We are in control o f ourselves." Being in control o f ourselves as gays is the m ain thrust o f Lowery’s politics. This fits nicely enough with the independence and self-determ ination that Lowery characterizes as the O regonian social s p irit B ut it also means, that as the “ good old days" of de rigueur activism o f the ’60s fade further from the m em ory. Portland gay and lesbian p o liti cal and social organization has tended to becom e m ore and m ore loose-woven. In the 70 s. the main focus of political and social organizations for gays was the Portland m ore affluent and established, "involve m e nt" can mean, at its sim p le st once a year attending a big meal in glittering com pany. B ut Lowery rem inds one that what the PAC does, it does well — it raises m oney fo r p o liti cal causes. That a m ore com m unity-oriented organization is not m uch in evidence is not Low ery’s, nor the PAC’s fa u lt N or its intention to displace. The reason that Lowery sees fo r the failure o f a PTC-type organization at the present (that is, a gay/Lesbian "sup po rt g ro u p " that effectively provides day-to-day social and educational services to the com m un ity) is derived at least in part fro m historical prob lem s w ithin the Portland gay com m unity. The eventual dispersal o f the PTC stem m ed, in Low ery’s opinion, from a too-strident sense o f self-criticism and self-purification. The tendency in the latter days o f the old PTC was to enforce on the group a "p u re r and purer" self-definition. A ccording to Lowery, thp at tem pt was being made to m ake political or social “ correctness” an issue w ithin the group, thus causing schism s and in-group hard feelings that still exist today. There was to o m uch ideology, claim s Lowery, and too little practicality. To draw the circle sm all L ow ery: Get involved. Take responsibility in n o matter h o w sm all a way. A b o v e all, do not let others decide the issues or battles for us. Town C ouncil. Lowery joined the PTC when he m oved to Portland, and was subsequently involved w ith the PTC’s political action com m ittee when it was form ed in 1977 When the PTC ceased to exist in the early '80s. am id still-present hard-feelings and resentment, Lowery was instrum ental along with other ex-PTC m em bers, in form ing the Right to Privacy PAC. The PAC, w hich Lowery chairs, continues the political side o f the old PTC. It’s functions are to raise m oney and to endorse political candidates. The unabashed and single-issued political nature o f the PAC has drawn criticism : its role in the com m unity is sim ply to raise money and influence politicians. Lowery wishes that those who critize Right to Privacy o r his role in the gay com m unity should look at what is being done by the PAC, not at what is n o t Lowery is not, he states, responsible for what isn t there, but rather for what is. W hat there is to his, and his fellow PAC m em ber’s credit, is the Lucille Hart dinner, a $60 a plate extravaganza at the Benson w hich last year netted $30,000 (m ore than any gay PAC in the country save MECLA in Los Angeles). The m oney is used to support candidates and prepare a voter's guide. Money, Lowery believes, is the m ost efficient way o f political influence. B ut there is the charge that the Lucille Hart dinner and the PAC in general have helped to create an atm osphere o f political and social nonchalance. As Portland gays becom e enough to include only those o f the correct beliefs is possible but divisive. This tendency tow ard political coteries, Lowery sees as a “ m asturbating am ongst ourselves." And as a re s u lt he cites the present fragm entation into groups and forum s, and a m istrust o f leadership). Lowery is nothing if not a positivist, and practical into the bargain. “ Draw the circle large enough,” he says; "and eventually everyone is included." He sees gay sports associations as congenial — and politically useful — outlets fo r the com m unity. So is the Portland Gay Mens Chorus. People are ready and w illing, but ju st not organized in a con ventionally political way. There is Phoenix Ris ing, and a counselling service fo r teen-aged gays. B ut get involved, he urges. Take responsi b ility in no m atter how sm all a way. It may be as sm all as Harvey M ilk’s adm onition to "te ll everyone." It m ay be as am bitious as in stitut ing, fo r instance, inform ational luncheons w ith local candidates. Above all, do not let others decide the issues o r battles fo r us. The m ovem ent m ust not be reactive only, nor self-defining. "W e are in co n tro l o f ourselves." W hat needs to be done is to create, as well as to air. feelings about what we m ust do ourselves fo r ourselves. B ut do n’t criticize for what is not being done. We m ust build on what we have. “And it depends on what ive do." 9