LCP: Community beyond commonality
For LCP to exist, to function, it has to be more mainstream
than extreme ' says a board member. * If s not going to be all
things fo r all lesbians
it never will be!
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Jusi Out • 12 • November. I987
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H O C H M A N
board positions were designated for women of
color (who also could run for at-large positions).
A standing committee has the task of outreach
to minority communities and the Women of
Color Potluck Group, actively linked to LCP,
holds monthly gatherings.
Women o f color on the board say those ef
forts reflect a difference in sensitivity about
racism. “ I don’t see the same need to have fits
about things as I did [ten years ago],” said one
board member. “ Sure, racism still exists, but
it’s not as much of a problem as it was t he n. . . I
don’t know about the other women of color, but
I don’t feel like I need to be screaming a lot.”
“ The best part o f the experience, form e, has
been working with women of color,” said Eng
lish. “ Because, like all liberals, I’ve always
And Jesse Jordan has changed her mind.
• • •
mouthed everything proper, but I never was
“ The most powerful part of LCP . . . has
able to put it to the test. I am enlarged by the
been watching this group of women, who you
atharine English wasn’t sure she wanted
contributions o f the women of color— I learn
would never think would be in the same room
to try again. “ At first, I was very
so much about ways to look at things. I ’m a
together, watching them support each other,”
reluctant [to get involved in LCP] because I am
pretty self-righteous person. I never realized I
she said. “ l ’ve learned that it is possible to work
sort o f an oldtime dropout of the lesbian politi
had so much more to learn.”
in a diverse group and get something done.”
cal movement,” said English, now co-chair of
The bottom line, both within and outside the
That image — o f disparate voices finding
the LCP board. “ The work that I did before
community, said Enrico, is that now “ we can
common chords — surfaces again and again
ended up being not particularly rewarding be
be more of who we are, whatever that means.”
when board members try to explain the spirit of
cause we never seemed to move forward very
• • •
LCP. They talk about “ unity through diversity,”
far . . . It was the era of political correctness —
a phrase so simple and quick it could land on a
there was a lot of internal judging of each other
or some LCP leaders and members, it
bumpersticker. But beneath the cliché is a com
. . . I began to expand a lot of my interests and
means being partly— or fully — closeted,
plicated truth that board members credit for
become what others viewed as more middle-
a need that might have drawn derision ten years
L C P’s progress: the recognition that “ com
class, more mainline. I felt excluded by the
ago.
munity” demands looking beyond what its
lesbian community because of what was viewed
“ A really important thing for women to un
members have in common.
as my changing politics.
derstand about LCP is that you can choose
Among the ranks of LCP’s board — and its
“ But I really liked the feeling o f the confer
how much you want to be involved, and
membership — arc women o f varied ages, races
ence . . . I sensed a different environment, an
you can choose how public you want to be,”
and interests. There are chefs and attorneys,
attitude in the community, and thought maybe
said a board member who did not want to be
students and social workers. There are women
the time was right to try again to set up a
named. “ It’s not like ten years ago, when, if
w ho’ve never attended a meeting and women
broad-based lesbian organization.”
you came to one meeting — boom, that was it.
who were there in the 1970s as Portland’s les
Some LCP members say it was politics that
. . . Today you don’t have to jump out there in
bian community came together, and then
pushed them back into the fray. For others, it
your lavender suit.
fractured, along edges of differences that
was fe a r— concern that the “ New Right” was
“ [Previously] it wouldn't even have occurred
wouldn’t disappear.
gaining influence and momentum enough to
to me to participate” at the leadership level
Women who remember those years say the
erase civil liberties achieved in the last two
o f a lesbian organization and expect to remain
lesbian community’s ax le of behavior became
decades.
anonymous, she said. “ Today I don’t feel
too rigid, that the flip side of political fervor was
“ It’s really important that not only as les
guilty about it. I’m out here at work, and I’m
arrogance and bitterness. The price of “ pure”
bians. but as women, that we organize politi
out in lots of places, but it’s sometimes a risk to
activism meant the other person always had to
cally,” said Teresa Enrico, a member of the
be out in my field. There’s some value in people
be dead wrong.
LCP board. “ There’s a lot of hopelessness and
not knowing I’m a lesbian everywhere I go . . .
“ Ten years ago. everyone was feeling much
powerlessness — the feeling that it’s just too big
it’s a good chance to do some consciousness-
more intense about everything,” said an LCP
•out there.”
raising.”
board member who did not want to be named.
For others, the conference was the spur; the
“ People get very judgmental about, ‘Oh,
‘’I don’t think people feel that same urgency. . .
presence o f hundreds of lesbians, the work
so-and-so’s not willing to be out,’ ” said
part of the problem ten years ago is we all felt
shops, the discussions, the exchange of ideas
Siemens. “ It’s easy for people to say that when
that we were right. We just couldn’t compro
made them believe “ community” was some
they don’t have children or aren’t in jobs where
mise because o f that intensity . . . Ten years
thing that could actually happen.
it’s prohibitive, like teaching. The thing about
ago, if people disagreed, they both went away
“ I attended only the last part of the confer
LCP is that they can have the best of both
thinking the other one was a pig ”
ence.” said Juanita Lopez Baldwin, another
worlds: an organization that is very out, which
“ Isms” o f class, age and race became divi
board member. “ I was really impressed because
can also protect individual anonymity.”
sive. not educational. Slowly the economy
there were . . . over 100 women there. Prior to
Although some LCP board members believe
receded and, with it. many lesbian activists
that, I had never put any energy into the wo
all lesbians should “ come out” to help end
withdrew into quieter, more private,
men’s community . . . I didn’t think there was a
stereotyping and discrimination, tolerance and
lesbian community in Portland.”
lives.
moderation prevail in LCP’s official stance on
• • •
• • •
the issue. The message is clear, printed on the
glossy lavender-and-cream-colored brochure:
he seasoned organizers say it's different
Because we are part of a society with pro
he line between Cathy Siemens's private
this time around. Some of the changes
found homophobic prejudices, we respect
life and LCP is sometimes hard to locate.
are obvious; for instance, the board doesn’t every individual's need for discretion and confi
The top floor o f her house includes an alcove demand consensus — if discussion of an issue
dentiality regarding her participation in LCP.”
filled with overstuffed LCP files; her phone
doesn’t yield agreement, they eventually vote.
Despite the caveat, many women recoil from
rings often, frequently with LCP business. She
( ‘ Shocking! jokes English.) Women show up
involvement in LC P— and members say reach
is embarrassed to tell the length of her workdays
at meetings in Birkenstocks and spike heels,
ing that group is their most delicate challenge. It
dresses and Levi’s.
since she became LCP’s only paid staff member
means overcoming homophobia enfolded
more than a year ago
Other differences run deeper From its first
deeply into the lives of those it most affects; it
Siemens says she is exhausted, but when she
days. LCP took steps to achieve economic and
means vaulting fears that keep women isolated
talks about LCP. enthusiasm nudges her for
ethnic diversity among its leadership and mem
and closeted; it means creative ways of bringing
ward in the chair
bership. A low-income membership fee of $10
information to someone who will not attend a
“ Here we were, in 1985. looking out at the
is available in addition to the regular fee of $20,
meeting or sign her name to a mailing list.
lesbian community.” she said. “ Many of
and a scholarship fund can help foot the bill for
Ask how homophobia affects LCP, and
us who had been here in the early ’70s noticed
women who can't afford to pay Six of the 24
Siemens claps a hand to her forehead in frustra-
esse Jordan took her first look at the twenty-
four board members of the Lesbian Com
munity Project and decided it would never work.
“ We had a couple of lawyers and a CPA, a
recovering drug addict, a 17-year-old, a
56-year-old, black women, Hispanic women —
the most diverse group of people you could
imagine being in one room. My first thought
was: w e’re never going to decide on anything;
w e’ll never get anything done.”
Now, five months after that first board meet
ing, one year after Portland’s first lesbian con
ference, LCP boasts more than 400 members.
More than 150 make monthly pledges of up to
$50. A bimonthly newsletter lists classes and
dances, lectures and meetings.
J
that it was very disorganized and very inactive.
We sort o f wondered where it all went. The
lesbian community needed a shot in the arm.”
Last November’s conference, titled “ Build
ing Community: Common Ground for the
Future,” was part of the prescription. Shortly
afterwards, an interim steering committee be
gan to develop bylaws for LCP through a series
o f open meetings. A membership drive began
in April and, in May, LCP held the first
community-wide elections for leadership of a
lesbian organization.
“ The current effort is another turn on the
spiral,” said Siemens, who recently gained the
title o f LCP Executive Director. “ I really sense
that the time is right — people are ready to try it
again.”
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