Where have all the
politics gone?
by W.C. McRae
The goal o f these interviews is to introduce
gay Portland to those people who are, in one
way or another, its leaders and friends, and to
present the history o f the m ovem ents that
affect us now. And into the bargain, hope that
if there is m ore awareness o f ourselves as a
com m unity, then we m ight be interested in
becom ing involved in a m ovem ent, and with
people, that have been made m ore fam iliar.
M ore interviews forthcom ing in future is­
sues o f
Just Out.
Tia Plympton
Tia Plym pton, presently vice president of
the Portland chapter o f the National O rg a n i-y
zation fo r W omen, has been working with
NOW for seven years, years that have seen
m any changes for wom en and for fem inist
social m ovem ents in this country. Many carry
a perception o f NOW from the past — a
strident arch-fem inism that seemed so radi­
cal and d ifficu lt ten years ago. That NOW
today doesn’t make the headlines and cause
the astonishm ent that it did a decade ago
doesn’t mean it has softened or becom e
m ore m ainstream . Instead, according to
Plympton, the mainstream, at least in fem inist
issues, has m oved leftward.
In the Portland m etro area, there are four
chapters o f NOW with about 400 m em bers •
in the Poprtland chapter alone. The m onthly
m eetings are a forum for speakers, programs,
mx,
n
X
,'s J /
o r discussions o f action. For NOW nationally
— and fo r each chapter — there are four
priorities: reproductive rights (rights to one's
body); the passage o f the ERA; the struggle
against racism ; and advocacy o f gay and les­
bian rights.
This last priority indicates, says Plympton,
“that NOW has not m oved into the m ain­
stream " and that it has also internally healed
the rift that threatened NOW in its earlier days
when the lesbian left was seen by m ore con­
servative m em bers as a highly visible, vocally
dangerous faction o f the wom en's move­
m e n t But gay and lesbian rights are "on the
agenda." NOW is "am iably involved" with
other w om en's groups, and NOW passed a
resolution fo r all chapters to attend Gay Pride
Day.
Even though Plym pton gave testim ony at
the original hearings when the County C om ­
m ission recently passed a gay rights o rdi­
nance, the entire situation was “ very unfortu­
nate." The radical right is very well organized,
and even if a City gay and lesbian rights bill
were proposed, passed, and won the inevit­
able referendum , Plym pton wonders if it
w ould be w orth it As sym bolic legislation, a
gay rights bill at the city or county level would
be a very positive statem ent both for the gay
and straight com m unities. But there are other
concerns. A referendum , even if it upheld gay
civil liberties, would aid the radical right in the
com m un ity by enabling it to organize. M inori­
ties respond strongest when the enemy is
stro n g e st and that goes for the right as well
as fo r the le ft An “ even m ore m obilized" right
w ould probably be the inevitable outcom e of
any referendum .
•
Plym pton also rem inds that the costs —
and not m erely m onetary — are very high:
T N H E1GH
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1 r ^ l I V.
RHOOD
Massnge for women nml men
Cfi.
there is a large price to pay in hum an costs. In
term s o f hum an resources, an electoral battle
depletes people's energy to such a degree that
those involved tend to bum out and disas­
sociate themselves from the m ovem ent And
when "rig h ts" becom e the sole issue of im ­
portance to a m ovem ent and to a com ­
m unity, then other, equally im portant issues
are forgotten.
Plym pton is one o f many women active in
C om m unity Health S upport Service (CHSS),
and in Personal Active Listener (PAL), groups
that have been form ed in response to the
AIDS epidem ic. Plym pton emphasizes that
w om en are concerned about and involved
with AIDS. As is becom ing apparent AIDS is
not exclusively a gay problem , for one out of
three new cases involves a straight person.
And, ironically and tragically, AIDS, by
becom ing a public health crisis, m ight well
break down the barriers between straights
and gays. Remember, says Plympton, gays
did not cause AIDS. It did surface am ong gay
m en but it could have surfaced anywhere,
and once in the straight com m unity, it will
spread ju st as quickly. And in fa c t Plympton
speculates, a tragedy like AIDS could streng­
then civil rights by exposing, in light o f the
hum an suffering involved, "the ludicrousness
o f the counter-m ovem ent” Perhaps som e­
thing as horrible as AIDS could be the catalyst
to cod ify inform ed opinion against ignorant
m oralizing opportunists.
B ut what o f m ore positive ways to organize
the left? “ Young women today just aren't
political. We d o n 't have enough social en­
gineering skills to rally the youth." There is a
sm all, though vocal, group o f people on the
far rig h t w ho are able to be organized and
m obilized by lies and scare tactics. But it
rem ains a question o f how to organize the
center and le ft One can’t fo r instance, use
scare tactics: there is a large group o f indi­
vidualistic and educated people whom one
ca n 't reach or organize by lies and fear m on-
gering. It’s easy to move the ig n o ra n t but not
so the educated.
One o f the priorities o f NOW is the prom o­
tion o f gay and lesbian rights. But it is clear,
when talking to Plym pton that gay civil
liberties cannot be the only issue, especially
fo r wom en. Lesbians are not subjected to
discrim ination solely, or even prim arily, be­
cause o f their choice o f sexual partners, but
rather because they are female.
Robert Smith
Even though he has lived in Portland since
1961, Robert S m ith still thinks o f him self as a
“ H oosier" from Indiana. B ut since com ing to
Portland he has earned an im pressive set of
political credentials. Besides w orking at pre­
sent as controller at the N orth/N orthw est
C om m unity Mental Health Center, Sm ith is
treasurer o f the D em ocratic Central C om m it­
tee in M ultnom ah County, and is vice-chair­
person o f the state D em ocratic Party. He is
active in the Society o f Friends, and is a
m em ber-at-large o f the Friends Com m ittee
fo r N ational Legislation — its only openly gay
m em ber. He was treasurer o f PTC for two
years; in 1983 he was regional vice-chair­
person o f the Gay and Lesbian Caucus o f the
D em ocratic Party. A lthough he was not a de­
legate to the San Francisco convention last
year, he was on the flo o r and participated in
the gay and lesbian m arch during the con­
vention.
Despite others’ feelings to the contrary, he
doesn't feel that the D em ocratic Party has
reneged on gay issues. It is true that no
openly gay delegates were elected to last
year’s convention, but that is as m uch due to
the rallied determ ination o f organized labor
to have as m any delegates as possible as to
the alleged desire o f Hart and Mondale to
keep gays o u t Also, the lack o f high profile
gays in the party is, at least in part, due to gays
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