On getting involved
Our legal system allows individual involvement . Our lives and
rights depend on it.
BY
BRADLEY
T
. CcuM^tf
your bar stool and act oh-so-tired about the
life-and-death struggle against AIDS and
against those who would discriminate against
us. This column invites you to get involved and
do it now.
There is no American political institution
older than that of direct action by the people to
assert our rights and make the government and
power brokers respond to our needs. From the
Boston Tea Party, Revolutionary War and
Shay’s Rebellion to the anti-war movement of
the late ’60s and the Stonewall Riot, our people
have a proud history of speaking loud and clear
to the government, to those in power and to
each other on the important issues of the day.
The right of the people freely to assemble, to
associate, to picket and protest, to make noise
and to demand action is uniquely American.
Perhaps no other people in history have had
such sweeping rights to control their own lives
and political destinies and to Fight for change.
Right now there are countless ways one can
be involved in the struggles for gay rights, for
the rights of AIDS patients and for fair reporting
of lesbian and gay news. If you are not yet
involved, please get busy! Your time, energy,
ideas and money are needed now.
A huge effort is needed to beat back the
religious right and ultraconservatives who have
placed on the ballot a measure to overturn Gov.
Neil Goldschmidt’s executive order banning
job discrimination against gays in state
executive-department employment. This
executive order is the one solid achievement
But do electoral politics leave you cold .’Then
join the direct-action group Queers United
Against Closets. QUAC sponsored the highly
successful picketing of Hinson Memorial
Baptist Church and The Oregonian, and will
organize other fun — yes, fun — protest actions
this summer and fall. Those who were involved
in the anti-war or free-speech protests in the late
’60s recall the exquisite exhilaration that comes
from a mass of people united in purpose and
struggling together. Those who never were in a
real protest march don’t know what they’ve
missed. You’ll remember your First demonstra
tion for the rest of your life, and you’ll feel good
about being involved.
Don’t like politics? Then get involved in a
service organization. Phoenix Rising, Cascade
AIDS Project, Outside-In, the Brinker Fund
and others all have needs that you can help to
meet. If you don’t have money, donate time,
equipment or food. The CAP fund-raiser
“ From All Walks of Life” is coming up; so is
the second annual shopping-cart parade for the
Brinker Fund. Contact these organizations to
learn how you can become involved. Not only
will you be helping others, you will help your
self by taking power, taking control, making a
contribution. You just can’t lose, unless you sit
on your hands and do nothing!
The time to sit and whine is long gone. This is
the year for action. Our political and legal
system permits it, and our lives and rights
demand it. Do your part today!
•
rfimi i iniL
Psychological
Services
for
W omen, Men,
and C ouples
J. W O O D W O R T H
we’ve won in this state, and those religious
zealots want to take it away from us. But what
his writer has observed and participated in
can you do? Plenty: donate money, get others to
the Oregon gay rights movement since
donate money, get ready to do door-to-door
1975. In that time there have been the ups and campaigning and education this fall, join
downs, ins and outs, unity and backbiting that
Oregonians for Fairness (the gay community's
accompany most political movements. There
organization to beat the initiative measure), talk
have also been long periods of apathy where it
with your straight friends and family about the
seemed as if no one cared any more. But apathy
measure, write letters to the editor, read the gay
and non-involvement are going back into the
press, bring your friends and join the marches
closet now — it’s really not fashionable to sit on
and rallies that are announced and attend the
fund-raisers — even sponsor a fund-raiser of
your own.
PEOPLE'S
////////J° ° d store-
/
nn
! * • * • * . * . * .* .
Kristine L. Falco, Psv.D.
c»*«
• '.» f . r r
Psychological Resident
Supervisor Jean A. Furchner, Ph.D.
GOOD FOOD- FRIENDLY PEOPLE
654-9866
3029 s.e. 21st
Milwaukie, Oregon
•
•
•
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•
oils
watercolors
sculpture
glass
ceramics
Mixed Media Painting
by Lee Bogle
rHt. 1Hilton Gallery
715 s w
seco n d a v en u e
•
portland, Oregon
97204
•
503-274-9544
ROSETOWN RAMBLERS
Portland’s Gay & Lesbian Square Dance Club
Bradley J. Woodworth is a lawyer in private
practice and maintains an office in the Oregon
Trail Building in downtown Portland.
N E W BASIC CLASS
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ju st out •
23 • August 1988