Jira* out ▼ January 1002 ▼ 0
OCA watch
by Inga Sorensen
Ballot title
reworded
Human rights supporters are applauding the
latest changes made to the title of the Oregon
Citizens Alliance’s statewide, anti-gay ballot
initiative.
The Oregon Supreme Court has reworded the
title to read: “Amends Constitution: Government
cannot facilitate, must discourage homosexual
ity, other ‘behaviors!’” The Right to Privacy Po
litical Action Committee and American Civil
Liberties Union both mounted challenges to the
last ballot title put forth by the state attorney
general’s office. That wording said government
could not “promote” homosexuality. Civil rights
backers disapproved of that language, saying the
title did not reflect the view that the initiative
would not simply ban government “promotion”
of homosexuality, but would essentially require
discrimination against lesbians and gays. The
proposed constitutional amendment seeks to forbid
the state from using money to “encourage and
facilitate” homosexuality. It also requires public
schools to set a standard which deems homo
sexuality as “abnormal, wrong, unnatural and
perverse.”
The alliance's No Special Rights Committee
must gather 89,028 valid signatures by July 3 to
get the measure on the Nov. 1992 ballot.
OCA confuses
the issue
Civil rights supporters are exploring possible
legal avenues to counter the latest insult lodged
against the lesbian and gay community by the
OCA. Many were caught off balance when the
OCA announced it was filing a “No on Hate”
initiative designed to stiffen penalties for crimes
motivated by prejudice that are committed against
gays, minorities, and political activists. No on
Hate is the formal name of a statewide, grassroots
campaign that has been organizing against the
OCA’s ballot initiatives. “This is clearly a public
relations ploy designed to confuse voters," says
No on Hate spokesperson Sharon Hill, a lesbian
activist “The OCA has taken our name to confuse
the public, but I believe they’ll see through this
manipulative tactic.
“We’re currently looking into legally chal
lenging the OCA’s use of our campaign name.
We’re working with the secretary of state’s office
and the ACLU to see if we have any recourse.”
The OCA’s initiative does not simply toughen
penalties for crimes committed out of prejudice.
Current law requires such penalties for crimes
committed against people due to their “sexual
orientation.” The OCA’s proposal says crimes
against those “engaging in abnormal and unnatu
ral behavior,” classified as “homosexuality,
pedophilia, sadism and masochism,” should re
quire tougher penalties.
“People don’t realize that once again the OCA
has tried to deem gays as abnormal and perverse,”
says Hill.
Another note-if approved, the OCA’s original
statewide, anti-gay initiative would fully remove
from state law stiffer penalties for crimes com
mitted against gays because of their sexual orien
tation. It would also nullify any laws guarantee
ing gays and lesbians basic human rights.
Portland
Fairness
Coalition
A new group known as the Portland Fairness
Coalition Political Action Committee has been
formed to fight the OCA’s efforts to repeal
A Rabbi’s view
by Rabbi Joshua Stampfer
The Oregon Citizens Alliance has launched a
campaign on behalf of an initiative that it is
sponsoring, which has the effect of denying full
and equal rights to citizens inour state who belong
to the gay and lesbian community. This is one
more example of the intolerance that is all to
rampant in our society which does not tolerate
norms and views that are different from the posi
tion of the self-appointed guardians of morals in
our society.
As a Jewish community we are especially
sensitive to such blatant discrimination. The
Nazis under Hitler decreed that Jews were not
acceptable members of society and undertook a
•program of extermination which led to the de
struction of six million human lives. The Nazis
also undertook an extermination program for ho
mosexuals which subjected them to the same fate.
Let us all remember that Hitler began his
program with small steps. First, civil rights were
denied and then he felt free to go further and
further, ultimately to Auschwitz and Treblinka.
The price of freedom is constant vigilance and our
immediate goal is to defeat this initiative. When
anyone’s rights in this land are denied, our own
are in jeopardy.
This was reprinted with permission from the
Congregation Neveh Shalom.
Portland ’ s ne w ordinance banning discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
v According to Shane Hensinger, the coalition’s
community liaison, the group will host its formal
kick-off on Jan. 21, one day after the OCA’s
deadline to submit signatures for a proposed local
initiative it filed following the Portland City
Council’s unanimous Oct. 3 passage of the civil
rights ordinance. The OCA’s initiative would, if
approved by voters, nullify the council’s action.
The No Special Rights Committee must gather
17,542 signatures by Jan. 20 to get the local
initiative on the May 19 primary ballot.
Hensinger says steering and advisory commit
tees are being formed* and a campaign manager
will be hired. Oregon U.S. Rep. Ron Wyden has
agreed to act as the advisory committee’s co
chair, and the coalition hopes Gov. Barbara Rob
erts will join Wyden in that capacity. The steering
committee includes members of Queer Nation,
RATS, the No on Hate campaign, and Right to
Privacy.
The coalition is seeking volunteers and finan
cial support. Those interested in further informa
tion should contact the Portland Fairness Coali
tion Political Action Committee, c/o Right to
Privacy, 921 SW Morrison #518, Portland, OR
97205.
grassroots anti-OCA campaign, have organized
their own Mall 205 demonstrations. They've been
picketing outside the establishment and have been
urging shoppers not to sign the OCA's petitions.
The OCA has also threatened a statewide
boycott of Fred Meyer stores after the food chain
sought and received a court order prohibiting the
group from collecting signatures on its property.
Fred Meyer management received an esti
mated 500 calls from people angered that the No
Special Rights Committee was petitioning at the
entrances of its stores throughout Portland.
According to Cheryl Perrin, vice president of
public affairs for Fred Meyer, the company had
initially been under a Multnomah County Circuit
Court order to allow such petitioning, but felt it
was at a "competitive disadvantage" if the OCA
continued its signature collecting.
"People were calling to say they would no
longer shop here if the OCA remained on our
property," she says, adding the company went
back to Circuit Court and received a temporary
restraining order prohibiting OCA petitioning
through Jan. 3. "We’ll then go into federal court
and try to get an order that will prohibit such
activity permanently."
Members of the OCA’s No Special Rights
Committee are out in full force collecting signa
tures in their effort to repeal Portland’s anti-
discrimination ordinance. They’ve been making
the rounds at area shopping malls, including Mall
205, where they’ve setup a booth on the premises.
Ed Geller, an attorney representing the mall, says
a 1989 Oregon Supreme Court ruling allows
public petitioning in shopping malls as long as it
does not cause disruption.
The OCA is said to be doing brisk business,
though mall management has reportedly received
numerous phone calls protesting the OCA’s pres
ence there.
Meanwhile, members of No on Hate, a
the measure took effect Nov. 3, city officials have
had no means to enforce it They had hoped to
have a contract with the state’s Bureau of Labor
and Industries, which enforces Oregon’s civil
rights laws, intact by Jan. 1.
Keeston Lowery, aide to City Commissioner
Mike Lindberg, says the city is now looking to
have the contract completed by Feb. 1. “The City
Council has to set up a funding source to pay the
state to enforce the ordinance, and Labor Com
missioner Mary Wendy Roberts has to receive the
necessary approval to accept the money. All that
should be taking place in January,” he says, add
ing his office has received three complaints from
people who say they have been discriminated
Civil rights
OCA is collecting enforcement
Portland’s new anti-discrimination ordinance
signatures
is still without an enforcement mechanism. While
III support of human dignity
At the requestor the Hispanic community, the
Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs adopted
unanimously this response to an initiative petition
introduced by the Oregon Citizens Alliance.
lence in accordance with our mission, and
WHEREAS: Discrimination and hatred does
exist in Oregon with frequent and repeated at
tacks against lesbian and gay people and others.
Therefore
BeitResolved: The Commission on Hispanic
WHEREAS: The mission statement of the
Commission on Hispanic Affairs directs the Affairs denounces and opposes all actions, in
commission to work for economic, social, legal cluding initiative petitions or ballot measures
and political equality for Oregon’s Hispanic which contradict the mission of the commission
and which foster and encourage devisiveness,
community, and
WHEREAS: The commission ought to be a hatred and fear and increase the potential for
leader in Oregon in helping to create a climate in violence toward members of the gay and lesbian
which all persons may live free of fear and vio- community.
against in employment because of their sexual
orientation.
“All I could tell them was that until we have an
enforcement mechanism in place, there’s nothing
we can do," says Lowery. ‘They can either wait
until we do, because the applicability of the or
dinance still dates back to Nov. 3, when the
ordinance took effect. Or they can handle the
matter privately now, but that means they’d have
to pay for it themselves.”
Salvation Army
under fire
The Portland chapter of the Salvation Army
was bombarded with phone calls protesting its
alleged support of the OCA’s anü-gay ballot
initiatives. The Salvation Army received so many
calls that it issued a press statement denying the
charge.
“Our organization takes no position on this
issue,” says Salvation Army spokesperson Alice
White. ‘The Salvation Army has absolutely no
involvement with the OCA. I don’t know where
people got that idea.”
According to Commissioner Mike Lindberg's
office, the Salvation Army sent a letter to Port
land City Council members denouncing homo
sexuality prior to its passage of the anti-discrimi
nation ordinance. Lindberg aide Keeston Lowery
says the Salvation Army sent a letter to city
officials saying the organization was “disturbed
about certain elements of the legislation which
deal with sexual orientation...our experience and
conviction is that those who expound and wish to
promote deviant sexual behavior... is contrary to
the basic elements which contribute in a construc
tive way to a wholesome society and to the Judeo-
Christian belief system we expound.”
Attached to the correspondence were two Sal
vation Army position statements, published in
1984 and 1985, concerning homosexuality. This
is a sampling:
“Homosexual behavior, both male and fe
male, promoted and accepted as an alternative
lifestyle...presents a serious threat to the integrity,
and solidarity of society as a whole.”
“Homosexual practices unrenounced render a
person unacceptable as a Salvation Army sol
dier...”
The letter, dated August 22,1991, is signed by
Mervyn L. Morelock, divisional commander for
The Salvation Army’s Cascade Division.
"That letter would have come from this office,
and I can tell you we would not have sent it,” says
White. “I’ve never even seen it”
OCA video on TV
The OCA’s anti-gay video aired several times
last month on Multnomah Community Television,
Channel 21.
Rose Read, manager of the non-profit televi
sion station's public access department says any
one is allowed to produce and air programs at the
station as long as the programming is non-com
mercial.
“I had previously heard about the video and
knew it was controversial,” says Read, “that’s
why I contacted people in the gay community to
come on in and produce some counter-program
ming, which they did."
Read says members of the American Friends
Service Committee, a pro-gay and lesbian rights
Quaker organization, produced a video titled “Our
Lives,” which features members of Portland's
religious community speaking publicly and posi
tively about lesbians and gays.
“We rarely see such one-sided videos," says
Read, describing the OCA’s video. “We felt it
was important to present a diversity of opinion,
and we’re pleased the gay community responded
to our request.”