“I educate people every chance I get.
When I was in college — I went to PCC on
Killingsworth — there was a church group
there. They were something else. This one
woman in particular, she was in love with me.
She had a crush on me. Well, First she
thought she could change me after she found
out I was gay.
“Then when she found out I was wear in’
dresses, I think she sort of gave up. She
realized she wasn’t going to change me,
because I was going to be me, and I wanted
the world to know who and what I was, and I
didn’t care what they thought. I think you get
along better in life that way.”
PROFILES
SNAP SHOTS OF DIVERSITY: THE YEAR IN
Portland gay m en, lesb ian s voice
range of p ossib ilities
share the same values, the same experiences.
Without culture, you lose your roots. You’re
kind of wandering through this map of
blandness.
“In small communities like Portland, it’s
really hard to be an out lesbian and feel good
about it sometimes. You read the papers, and
you see the lies they tell about us. You see
s the old buttons used to proclaim in the
women in the Marine Corps getting sentenced
heady first days of gay liberation, “We
are everywhere.” And we do everything. Gay for having ‘affection’ toward another woman.
men and lesbians produce radio programs and You see all these things, and you think, 'God,
I’m a piece of shit.’ We need women to say
raise teenagers, own coffee shops and lobby
‘No, you’re not a piece of shit. You’re great.
the Legislature, counsel and advocate,
You’re
wonderful. You’re beautiful. You’ve
perform and play.
made an incredibly good choice in your life,
That’s always been true. The difference in
and let’s celebrate it.’ ”
the 21 years since Stonewall is that more of us
are willing to say so.
In the past year, a dozen Portland lesbians
and gay men have discussed their lives and
their work in the pages of Just Out. In doing
so, they challenge our stereotypes and express
the astonishing diversity of this community.
In the movement toward equality for all
people, each step deserves celebration. Each
voice matters. When a lesbian tells the truth
about her life, or a gay man says what is really
on his mind, they stretch the limits of what is
thinkable, what is possible. If silence equals
death, then the words of lesbians and gay men
do nothing less than affirm all of our lives.
BY
ANNDEE
HOCHMAN
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lizabeth Waters, working in health care
for more than a decade, raising her voice
about racism, classism, elitism, reminding
people who ought to know better, living her
principles.
“I certainly don’t see any of the existing
AIDS organizations really doing very much in
terms of including people of color.... I think it
happens by omission. What happens is that
people look in the mirror and assume that
everybody thinks and looks and acts like
them. It goes beyond the issue of race; it’s
also a class issue.
“It’s hard to work with people who are
different than we are. We want to surround
ourselves with people who are like us. I
mean, I want to do that, too. But to me, the
issue becomes: do I want to get this message
out, or do I want to feel comfortable?
“When I was in the second grade, my
mother used to drive us to picket
Woolworth’s. We wanted to watch cartoons
on Saturday afternoons. But she took us there
from a very young age. And she told us, she
ingrained in us, ‘You have to stand up for
your rights.* That is very much a part of who
I am.”
AAA
B
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L
inda Shirley, KBOO’s "dyke behind the
mike,” New England expatriate with a
voice like 100 yards of Boston asphalt,
independent producer of lesbian artists,
musicians and writers.
“There is a lesbian culture. There are
writers, there are musicians, there are poets,
dancers. Women who reflect our lives, who
just out ^ 1%8 ▼ Jung 1990
r iii
ob Weinrich, one of the four partners
who run the MRC Counseling Center in
Southeast Portland, conducting groups and
individual sessions with gay and straight men,
learning as he teaches others.
“One difficulty that we are faced with on
an ongoing basis is how clients — our straight
clients — react and deal with the knowledge
that we serve all men, including gay men, and
ady Elaine Peacock, a vision in
how that raises homophobia... the fine line is
skintight sequins, with a shelf of
to educate without alienating.
cheekbone, an ocean of hair, legs long enough
“How do you know when you’re making a
to cross the state line. In the same body,
difference? Well, you see a change. You see
Elwood “Woody” Johnson, a friendly
a change in a person from when they First
businessman with a staccato laugh. The two
came to see you to when they’re ready to
of them, smashing society’s sacred gender
leave.
barrier — and loving it.
"The results feel very tangible in the
“A lot of people have never seen me out of
domestic violence program, when there’s
drag. Sometimes I go up to people and say,
solid evidence that violence has stopped that,
‘Hi, how are you?’ and they look at me so
guys are learning new behaviors. Sometimes,
funny, like ‘Who are you? I don’t even know
it's almost like you can feel it in the air, the
any black people.’ And then I tell them, ‘I’m
feeling that people have been helped and are
Lady Elaine Peacock.’ And they’re all
helping each other.”
embarrassed.
AAA
D
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ebra Jane (D.J.) Novgrod and
Gabrielle Duvall, renovating a
Waldport house into the Cliff House bed and
breakfast, learning as they installed copper
pipe, insulated floors, tiled the bathrooms,
nailed up the cedar wainscoting. The result:
the house that D.J. dared, the house that
Gabrielle dreamed.
D.J.: “It’s a homey atmosphere. And
people want to come home. They want a
sense of home. Because it doesn’t exist any
more. I think people are looking for that.
“We really complement each other. She’s
the theater, dramatic type, and I’m the down-
to-the-earth coach. I tell people what to do.
I’m the methodical, the goal oriented one. I
make my lists and cross things off.”
Gabrielle: “When we would lose
inspiration, we would look up and look out to
the ocean. It was awe inspiring. To think of
how different every wave is, when we were
confronted with so many different
circumstances we didn’t know the answer to.
And yet every one has its place. Every board
has a right place. We did break away and
come out here, that took our individual
courage. But anybody can do it if they want
to. It’s keeping the magic alive.”
L
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