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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1987)
Community center opens in Roseburg area Fifteen years and three gay I lesbian community centers later, Billy Russo believes there is no limit to what we can do when we work together. B JC P l Ove* JS yr.«i of icrv«e to ou> neighOOfj Frank Warrens- fiutom otive & Morine Services Inc. O ur complete Y B I L L Y R U S S O t was over 15 years ago that I first heard of a “ community center” for gays and lesbians. I was hanging out in my favorite drag bar when a “ hippy-type” approached me with a flyer (longhairs didn’t frequent Manhattan drag bars in those days). The flyer was an invitation to volunteer at The Firehouse. It gave a Wooster Street address in the downtown industrial area. I stuffed the flyer in my pocket and went on dancing and drinking. During the following week I paid The Fire house a visit. It turned out to be an ancient four story horse-drawn hook ’n’ ladder firehouse, complete with indoor stables. It was staffed by an all-volunteer group called the Gay Activist Alliance. I volunteered almost every Saturday over the next 18 months. In the fall of 1972 I drifted out of the City. I visited the Gay Center in Detroit for two weeks and eventually made my way to Los Angeles. Using one of my last quarters, I bought a copy of the L.A. Free Press. Turning to the person als, I found a listing for the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center (GLCSC). This center occupied an old Edwardian man sion near downtown. During the four years I volunteered there, we eventually acquired the two adjoining mansions and finally bought a motel complex closer to Hollywood. Besides staffing one of the first-ever 24 hour gay and lesbian switchboards, GLCSC housed the first gay men’s health clinic, employment program, women’s program and many other services for the homophile community. During September of this year MCC Rose burg, with the cooperation of GAI .A, opened its community center. It is a bold effort by a small group who want to breathe new life into the local community. The 2,000 square foot Grange-style building, complete with parking, is located five miles south of Roseburg on Carnes Road. It is staffed from one to six p.m .. Mon day through Friday. The community center houses the hundreds of newsletters, flyers and announcements that come through the GALA, MCC and the Archi val Project’s post office boxes. It also contains a wide variety of AIDS information and serves as a meeting place as well. Besides GALA and autom otive repairs & I Service on A LL Domestics & Imports. The Roseburg Report 228-6607 50 N W 20th Approved Auto Ropolr ■ ■ .^7-n fhmj^ ny l(^f j Hi o ftn ÿ MCC, NOW and a small non-gay spiritual group use the facilities, and there is talk of a youth group forming. As Director of our little Center, and in an effort to develop it into an on-going project, I am applying what I've learned working at The Firehouse, GLCSC and Roseburg’s GALA. With other volunteers I intend to establish programs that will serve our community: peer counseling, minority affairs, prison/parole/ probation, health, archival, etc. — there’s no limit to what we can do, working together. a Mt live, W itiV ' H f; CARTER i (h¿ 4 1318 Northwest 23rd Avenue Open Tuesday-Saturday, Noon-Five or by appointment ARCAND 5 0 3 274-0121 - Presently, a dozen men and women are vol unteering their time to staff the community center; however, more volunteers are needed. Also — more importantly — program coordi nators are needed. I have all I can do to keep up with the routine tasks necessary to get this pro ject off the ground. I need help coordinating the programs that will add substance to this project, and I am optimistic that volunteers will come forth. If you would like to keep informed of our work here, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Gay OF Times: write GALA, P.O. Box 813, Roseburg, Oregon 97470 or call the community center at (503) 679-9144. The newsletter is distributed free of charge. • (otttfotf, tfw k lv U J (Juiamui & 'food O U C m U a . * Sin ce 1940 Oregon-m ade natural supplem ents. O nly the highest quality. Trained Nutrition Consultants C om e Visit (Js — O ver 5,000 Nutritional Products. A thletic Supplem ents, too. Mail Orders 2 2 8 -9 5 0 3 524 S W 5th Downtown Lloyd Center W ash. Square Eastport Clack. Town Ctr. l Without it, luxury is just expensive. Our bed is portable, versatile, and like everything else w e sell, affordable. Northwest Futon Company altogether comforting. 400 SW 2nd, Portland 242-0057 Hours Mort-Fn 10-6/Thurs 10-7/Sar 10-5 ----------------- *4 ------ M () r> 7 M \/\y F s 7 FUTON ('() M P A N V Come hear R AN D Y SHILTS author of A N D THE BAND PLAYED ON: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic (St. Martin’s Press, 1987) "The hook stands as a . . . reminder of the shameful injustice inflicted <m this natum by the institutions in which we put our tru.st” — Publisher's Weekly First Congregational Church 1126 SW Park N ovem ber 18th, 7 :3 0 p.m. Tickets $7.50 available at all Powell's bookstores Sponsored by Willamette Week and Powell's Bookstore. Benefit for Oregon AIDS Task Force Long Term Care Fund. Shilts' book is available for $24.95 at Powell's Bookstore, 10th & W. Burnside, Cascade Plaza Just Out • 31 • November. 19X7