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."
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