MOVING FORWARD,
LOOKING BACK
This is 1987, the eighteenth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots
in Greenwich Village. The commemoration of the beginning of
the modern gay movement is a time to celebrate. It is also a time
to take stock, to question: How far have we come? What have
we accomplished? Where do we go from here? W.C. McRae
asked members of the community for their
opinions and reminiscences.
W
M c R A E
B Y
David Fredrickson
Second Foundation
Portland Town Council
Phoenix Rising
lot of the changes you can’t see,
personal changes. It’s really reward
ing to see young people grow up
without ever having to face the kind of
oppression and negatives we had in the
’50s. I was angry when I came out.
Remember, this was the 1970s: we could
break windows.
The message of early Gay Prides was to
develop organizations: the more organiza
tions, the stronger you’ll be. We had
services, a political arm, a gay service
center, library, a blood bank. There’s
much more going on now. We even have
gay groups who make a distinction
between hiking and mountain climbing.
There’s just so many more people
involved. The biggest change in the move
ment is numbers.
The first Gay Pride was a celebration of
Stonewall in 1972, at a mansion in Irving
ton. A group came in, claiming they were
gay Mormons. They let us use their man
sion for a party and dance. About two
weeks later we found that the “ Mormons”
were a front for a teen-age prostitution ring
that had been kicked out of San Francisco.
What liberation meant caused a lot of
debate in the early days. There used to be a
lot o f pressure from within the gay com
munity not to be too activist. There was a
fear of being too visible. I was told by
someone that in Portland the police would
never harass us because so many people in
the power structure have gay kids.
When the Second Foundation in 1973
had its Golden Awards at the Benson, the
two big debates were whether to charge
$2.50 or $3.00, and whether we should
enter and leave by the front door. It was a
question whether there were enough gay
people who would walk through the front
door to attend a gay event. Now, at the
Lucille Hart Dinner, we have five hundred
people at $60 a head, plus half the power
structure of the state.
People aren t doing us a favor
by backing lesbian and gay
rights. They are taking the
only moral stance possible.
— Kristine Chatwood
’
A
Jusi Out 14 June. 1987
If we can elect as mayor some
unknown man who owned a
bar, we can elect an openly
gay or lesbian city
commissioner.
— Geri Craig
Steve Fosler
Architect
NW District Association
K ristine Chatwood
Cascade AIDS Project
ACLV Commission on Lesbian and Gay
Rights
here have always been lesbians and
gays involved in the forefront of
social change movements, and there
always will be. But we need to start work
ing in these movements as lesbians and
gay men.
Within the community, it’s important to
feel we can take care of ourselves. But we
must be careful not to mistake a lack of
discussion of issues with the absence of
issues. Racism and sexism still exist in the
gay community and need to be addressed
by groups which have structural guarantees
of minority representation.
Gays and lesbians should be proud this
year of coming together to rally aound HB
2325. Legislators may face flack for sup
porting the bill, but legislators have to live
with this issue one day out of their lives.
Two-hundred-thousand Oregonians have
to deal with this issue every day of their
lives. Our whole community trips over
itself when a politician or public figure
says they support the rights of lesbians and
gay men. We don’t give ourselves credit.
We deserve and have a right to civil protec
tions. People aren't doing us a favor by
backing lesbian and gay rights. They are
taking the only moral stance possible
T
G
ay people have freedom of expres
sion, but also freedom from the
expectations of other people. Gay
people are never going to do it “ right.”
It’s about time that we realize that we’re
not going to be acceptable and draw
strength from that. There’s no point in
trying to get people to like us and respect
us by trying to live up to other people’s
expectations. We’re revolutionary just be
ing who we are.
Battles are fought by Lesbian and Gay
Pride committee about how we look from
the outside, about how we present our
selves. The underlying philosophy of
people who plan gay events is to homo
genize gay people. It’s a lack of confi
dence, always glancing over your shoul
der, wondering what people will think. We
are forced to break down our differences to
present a united front» which means you
take the lowest common denominator. De
spite what people say about diversity, they
are never concerned about the same three
concerns that anyone else is, at any one
time. Gay pride has turned into a series of
15-minute polemics which appeal to no
more than five percent of the audience at
any one time. By making an event that’s
palatable to everyone, wc can’t succeed.
By homogenizing the interests we lose our
interest. Portland Town Council had a
purpose, then it tried to serve all interests,
and it fell apart.
Gerì Craig
Right Step Recovery Program
feel very excited by a resurgence of
energy in the last couple of years. One
of the positive things I see about the
AIDS crisis is the organizing by people
who were ‘burnt out.’ people who became
disenchanted by the movement. There’s
also new blood, young people who are
paying a debt to those who broke ground
for them. People who are just coming out
don’t have to stumble around reading the
Well of Loneliness anymore.”
There’s another epidemic in the gay and
lesbian community —- chemical dependen
cy. I see gays and lebians who were chemi
cally dependent being able to seek support
within the community, and some people
who were dependent are re-emerging as
leaders.
There’s healing going on between men
and women. Gay men and lesbians are
coming together to deal with the AIDS
crisis; there are women who are directors
of AIDS programs. I must admit that I
want gay men to pay attention to this, that
women are there. Not in terms of ‘them
owing us,’ but believing that the struggle
for liberation is for men and women to
gether. I know, as former director of the
Portland Feminist Women’s Health Center,
that the same people who are picketing in
front o f the clinic against abortion rights
are the same people who deny us gay and
lesbian rights.
Gay rights are important but there are
many fronts we need to focus on. We need
to involve more people in the community.
There are issues o f health and social
services support for the hungry and sick.
We can’t wait for existing structures to
take care o f us. We need to set up our own
support systems. Multnomah County
didn’t start CAP. Oppressors have never
taken care of oppressed people. We need to
elect openly gay people. If we can elect as
mayor some unknown man who owned a
bar, we can elect an openly gay or lesbian
city commissioner.
I