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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1988)
can be hard, but you need that person-to-person contact to begin to educate each other, to see each other as human, susceptible to the hurt of oppression. The hardest part is overcoming your fear and going for it anyway. You don’t know who you will find as an ally, and we need people of good will to come together. Community activist seeks House seat / am a totally supportive ally , and I want to work with the community to figure out what initiatives, what legislation, what strategies are needed to pass gay rights nated against. The [gay] civil rights bill is not affirmative action, and people who equate it everly Stein, a community activist of long with affirmative action, for instance, are using standing, is seeking to represent District 14 that as a ruse, a smoke screen, to avoid the real in the Oregon House of Representatives. Stein issue. Civil rights protect people’s right not to aims to continue her work as a community be discriminated against, and that is absolutely activist. The candidate worked for former Port the bottom line. land city commissioner Margaret Strachan as I’m not only going to support gay civil liaison to the Bureau of Human Resources, and rights. I’m going to be out front on it. I will be a in 1984 managed Herb Cawthome’s campaign leader on this issue. I think it’s very important for the city council. not only to have people who will vote, but who will also talk to others about voting. B Y K E L L Y M A S E K B What message do you have for your gay and lesbian constituents? What do you want them to know about you? I want the community to know I am an ally for theirefforts. I think I’ve proven myself to be an ally through the Right to Privacy PAC endorsement. Beverly, as a civil rights activist, do you believe in the necessity o f a gay rights bill, or do you think gays and lesbians are asking for ‘ ‘spe cial rights'' ? Would you support and fight for a gay rights bill in the House o f Representatives? I think discrimination against any group is not acceptable. I believe no one should have to work in a situation or be worried about their housing because they are going to be discrimi How will you promote and support gay and lesbian interests in the House? My interest is in helping groups of people become more involved in the government pro cess, to feel hopeful and powerful. What I want to do is work with groups, I don’t want to do for them. I want to be part of the strategy discus sions about how to approach an issue, such as the gay rights issue. This is a strategic issue, and I don’t know what the best strategy is. I would want to work with people to try to find out what makes sense. Do you force a floor vote or do orthwesl GARDEN SPOT 263d N.W. Th u rm a n P o rtland, ©reöon 9721© 274-2439 V 1 'Æ M l' / ¡SH 1 W. ! $ * V W Beverly Stein you wait until you are sure of the votes because of those closet cases who are in delicate posi tions? If you don’t have the votes, they won’t vote for you anyway, but this is all strategy. My message is that I am a totally supportive ally, and I want to work with the community to figure out what initiatives, what legislation, what strategies are needed to pass gay rights. What advice do you have for gay and lesbian activists as they struggle to gain power and recognition in mainstream politics? I think they’ve been doing a great job! They’ve gotten involved in the electoral pro cess, created a political-action committee, raised lots of money. The Right to Privacy PAC is one of the largest in the state. These are all important steps. My general message is to en gage in coalition work, which I consider an important way to push forward an agenda for any group. Look for the links with other groups and agree to work together on common issues. It is necessary to build those bridges between groups because no one group is going to suc ceed — to meet their total hopes — without the support of other groups. But I don’t want one group to succeed at the expense of another. I want groups to understand each other’s issues. Gays and lesbians need to think about other groups, and now, for example, with AIDS they have the opportunity to do that as they deal with human-services budgets. I hope gay and lesbian groups take an interest in other human-services issues and build a coalition. We need to be moving toward this. What difficulties would gays and lesbians experience working with other groups? Homophobia! But you need to get in there and meet people on a personal basis. One thing you can’t expect is for everyone to be one hundred percent perfect before you work with them. When we got started in the Rainbow Coalition, we brought black people,and women, and lots of other people to work together. We had some very te ise meetings about racism and sexism because those issues came up. There’s no other way to work those issues out with people of good will unless you are there. It As you talk about gays and lesbians getting together with other groups, I am reminded of one group whose support we truly need, and that is the support o f our closeted members, all o f them, but most especially those who are currently in positions o f power in the main stream community. How can we reach them? The people who are the most out now are going to have to be the models. You need models, leaders. There are people emerging as leaders in the gay and lesbian community, and the next step for them is to become leaders in the mainstream community. One of my goals is to encourage leadership. I think many people have that potential. We need more people taking on the responsibility for thinking about how to move things forward and how to mobilize others. Can you highlight your other priorities, if elected as the District 14 representative? Healthcare is one. It’s a crime there are 450,000 people in Oregon without healthcare — the majority of whom are working. Child care is another priority. People need affordable, accessible childcare. I believe the government is going to have to take a role in making that happen, whether encouraging the private sector to provide childcare in the workplace or provid ing increased subsidies. Many home childcare providers are low-income women who need support, education, training and a sense of self esteem. A common thread in my priorities is self esteem. It addresses the issue of crime in the long term because we need to make sure the young don’t get involved in crime. It means making them feel good about themselves by giving them the opportunity for a living-wage job, by ensuring prenatal care, and by making sure they aren’t abused as children. We need to increase the minimum wage in order to create living-wage jobs with good benefits and a safe work environment. Bev, any final words o f encouragement or inspiration? I see an important step forward for the community in the creation of the Lesbian Com munity Project. LCP has taken an electoral component now, which is very important. I think people need to continue to build their skills in that area to be even more effective. The other thing that is important is to do this work with joy. If we want to do something to bring people together, to build something or change something for the better, it has to look attrac tive. Who wants to do something that is boring or no fun? I do this [politics] because I like it. I like working with people, thinking about pol icy. It gives me a charge! This is what makes people hopeful, doing it with joy. Politics is a wonderful way to meet people, to sharpen your skills, to move yourself forward. • Forever Bronze 25” h Jerry Joslin Opening Reception May 5th 6-9 pm oils watercolors sculpture glass ceramics Hilton Gallery 715 sw second avenue Just Out 12 May 1988 • portland, Oregon 97204 • 503-274-954