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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1985)
children as well as having as its m ain purpose providing a support system by parents o f gays fo r parents whose children are gay. Parents/FLAG "speaks up fo r us" says Parfiet, who considers the group to be “ go d parents” to W indfire. Ann Shepherd, found ing m em ber o f Portland’s Parents/FLAG and contact person fo r the Bridge Group, says that at each m onthly m eeting there is at least one new parent B ut where in all this are the young women? Jenkins adm its W indfire has not been able to attract w om en in the same quantity as men, separatism , not all are learning it from adult lesbians. Susan, a young wom an who had been to W indfire, said that she had attended Lesbian Forum , but that it had scared her m ore than W indfire. She did qu it going to W indfire because it "w asn’t helping," and suggests that W indfire find a fem ale co-counsellor. Young men in W indfire, she says, d o n ’t have the tim e or patience to deal w ith w om en’s issues (and most, I found, don t particularly know, after they had brought it up. w hat "women s issues " are: in response to my question as to w hat these ... in response to my question as to what these (women's issues) m ight be, one young man shrugged and replied, “ hysterectomies? M astectomies?" and has not been able to keep them as m em bers. W hen asked why, Jenkins cites figures fro m Kinsey — there sim ply are fewer les bians than gay men. Both Jenkins and Parfiet h in t th a t the “ separtist” nature o f the Portland lesbian com m un ity has som ething to do with the lack o f young w om en’s involvem ent in W indfire, w hich seems unlikely since neither is aware o f any organized group in the lesbian co m m u n ity that is specifically w orking with — o r “ proselytizing” — young women. B ut if young lesbians are “ learning” • .C-I&V € *:i; ‘J mm wi ¿ fí-tá St mm* m U -A Teenagers have always been inventive in sacrilizing places to go and be seen, and gay teenagers no less. Some o f the options: For the trendy, there’s hanging out w ith the inter national students at the Metro. The daring m ay favor Pioneer Square, while outdoor- m inded males lo ll at the “ F ruit Loop” in W ashington Park. Roxy Heart’s is strategically located near The City and gives access to w atch the male, older foot traffic on Stark S tre e t And those yet to young to cruise else where do so on 82nd Avenue. S cootchie’s (the other night club) is “ fine for dancing” and w hile displaying a sign proclaim ing "no overt hom osexual behavior allow ed" is, ac co rd in g to all, "fu ll o f closet cases.” And, at least according to some, the advent o f the W indfire and Bridge groups, w hich facilitate gay interaction outside a bar-type m ilieu, are allow ing the em ergence o f a generation of gay youth w ho are not bar-oriented and who fin d the r own, less structured ways to meet and socialize. m ight be, one young m an shrugged and replied, "hysterectomies?, m astectom ies?”) Susan said si ie hoped that their lack o f un derstanding, tim e and patience was due to th e ir age. (Ann Shepherd tells a droll, possibly sym ptom atic, story o f a young wom an who had contacted her about W indfire. After m uch urging and m uch hesitation, the girl finally attended a W indfire m eeting. O nly to sit throug h an otherwise all-m ale safe sex w orkshop.) A nd then there’s The City. Started in 1983, The C ity N ightclub has proved to be the m ost successful o f Lanny Swerdlow’s under-age clubs (the other ventures have been M ildred's Palace and the M etropolis). Prim arily a dance club, The C ity boasts som e o f the best and m ost recent m usic in town, as well as a front foyer where kids can talk. Swerdlow prefers to th in k o f The City not as an underage club, but as an all age club, though he estimates the average age to be 21. Sw erdlow adm its that he isn 't running a church. “ W hat goes on in society at large in P ortland goes on in The City.’’ Randall Parfiet considered The C ity to be w ilder than the Fam ily Zoo and C.C. Slaughter’s put together. N ot perhaps “ju st wilder, but different” 40% o f The C ity’s clientele is female, and, accord ing to Swerdlow, a significant num ber is s tra ig h t “They com e to be with their gay boy friends," offers one W indfire m em ber. The dance flo o r isn’t the only place o f interest there are often as m any kids ju st sitting in the fro n t room talking, discussing circum stances o f various em otional contests as if it were half tim e in a peculiar sort o f game. The perhaps anticipated spector o f older m en preying rem orselessly on innocent vic tim s is alm ost never the case at The City. First o f all, “ o lder” o r “ adult” to m any in The City m erely m eans old enough to go to the bars, i.e., 21. And according to Jenkins "older gays have gotten a bum rap" about their exploiting younger gays. Before clubs like The City or groups like W indfire existed, where could young gays go but to adult bars to explore the ir sexuality, and once there, with whom else but adults? Swerdlow adds that m ost kids go to the City to be with friends and, for better o r worse, do n’t want to get picked up and have their friends see it O lder men (al ternatively “ Chicken Hawks” o r "T rolls” ) co m in g to The City looking fo r young game are apt not to find it since young gays are scared o f being called names — "C hicken Queen," fo r example. (Swerdlow finds this Scootchie's (the other night club) is “fine for d a n cin g " a n d while displaying a sign proclaim ing “ no overt homosexual behavior allow ed" is, according to all, “full of closet cases." iro nic since kids com plain that there aren’t m ore older — 21-30 — men. “A lot o f kids can’t rlate sexually to som eone their own age.” ) A lthough both Jenkins and Swerdlow dism iss prostitution at The City as a problem , I was assured by others that “ ready m oney” m ig h t turn a young head. Sw erdlow ’s goal with The City is to make kids feel that what they're doing is OK. Bar- ring “ overt heterosexual behavior” in The C ity gives gay kids the freedom not to con fo rm to straight roles when they’re not straight themselves. It is a place — fo r som e perhaps the only place — to go and be gay w ith out consequences. And The City, according to Swerdlow, is som ething gay kids can be proud of. The City is “ as good or better than anything straight kids have.” B ut there are still problem s. In general, “ kids are sim ply ignored by the rest o f the gay com m unity," says Swerdlow. Adults do n’t seem to realize there's anyone under 21. Som e adult organizations allow younger m em bers, but these are then barred from attending functions o r m eetings because they’re held in bars. They gay com m unity needs to establish m uch m ore outreach to gay youth. A ccording to another form er m em ber o f W indfire, education and counseling about gay issues are still sadly lacking in high school. In his high school, there was no read ily available in form ation about gayness and he was left to explore his sexuality through textbooks and encyclopedias th a t labelled it — and him — as de vian t He also feels that the gay co m m un ity needs to address the situation o f street kids, and all the m ore so in tim es o f a health crisis. W indfire, however else it m ay w ish to see itself, is m iddle class, and male. And even th o u g h The C ity m ay get kids o ff the stre et the $4 do or charge is self-lim iting. To the street kids, W indfire m em bers and City habitues are "m id d le class stuck up faggots" w ho have “ cute sex," and prostitution, to som e, is "te m ptin g, easy money.’ And there needs to be increased outreach to young lesbian and bisexual wom en. One young w om an thinks it should be a top ic fo r W indfire and not just fo r the sake o f the young w om en. O ne w ould th in k that the tim e to educate people about the realities o f privilege and concerns associated with gendered identities in this society, w ould be while those identities are still being form ed.