Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1992)
ju st ou« ▼ July 1 0 0 2 ? 2 7 Urvashi Váid Being gay is her job, and sheys good at it. Vaid is the Executive Director o f the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force by Marilyn Davis hen I press the “record” button, nothing happens. Urvashi Vaid reaches for the tape player. “Let me try to fix it,” she says. “It’ll give me something to do while we talk.” It’s 8 am on Monday morning, and Vaid has been in Oregon only a few days. During that time she has traveled from Portland to Eugene to Rose burg and back, conducting workshops, speak ing at rallies, and m eetin g w ith gay and lesbian groups around the state. In an hour sh e ’ll be standing on the step s o f the Multnomah C ounty Public Library, surrounded by media microphones, de livering a speech about the nationwide signifi cance of the Oregon Citizens Alliance’s referen dum. She’ll try to make sure that the newspapers spell her name right. By noon she’ll be on a plane, flying home to Washington, D.C., where she is the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. She likes to do things, to fix things, and she doesn’t like to waste time. As we talk she fiddles with the tape recorder, pulling out the batteries and pressing buttons. Vaid is a public person. More than anything else her position at the Task Force demands that she be a totally out lesbian, all the time. Being gay is her job, and she’s good at it. She is a hard working, highly skilled, professional spokesper son for the gay and lesbian community. “I ’ve struggled a lot with the increasingly public persona I have become. My self identity is different from what people see. I say my reputa tion exceeds me. I still regard myself as a commu nity organizer; that’s what I wanted to be in school and that’s what I feel I am. Suddenly (as Execu tive Director of NGLTF) I have enormous visibil ity. It may seem as though I ’ve just popped up on the scene, but people who think that don’t know me. In fact. I ’ve worked in the gay and lesbian community for many years, and for the Task Force for the last six years. Six years. That’s like 15 dog years-24 hours adayof activity, everyday. My time here in Portland is an indication of that.” At the end of the year Vaid will leave the staff ▼ W Urvashi Vaid at community leadership institute, June 6, Portland State University of NGLTF to study, travel in India, write and live in Boston and Provincetown, Mass. She’ll con tinue to be involved in the gay and lesbian move ment as a strategist and political leader. “I ’m excited about changing roles. I ’ll be doing more of what I ’ ve been doing in Portland this weekend, more community organizing, less institution build ing. T hat’s what I’m leaving behind.” Vaid will also leave behind some political controversy. According to Rex Wockner, writing for Outlines News Service, she has been attacked by “those who feel the Task Force is overly beholden to so-called ‘political correctness’ and thus devotes too much energy to non-gay ‘pro gressive’ causes.” Such “progressive causes” include opposition to the Gulf War, the fight for abortion rights, protests against the Rodney King verdict, and ‘ ‘allegedly providing preferential treat ment to women and people o f color in the name of battling sexism and racism.” Vaid is vehement in her response to these attacks. “I ’m proud to be attacked for fighting SCENTIALS MOISTURIZING LOTIONS AND OILS ARE DESIGNED TO MEET ALL YOUR SKIN NEEDS. OVER 130 SCENTS TO CHOOSE FROM. REFILL FROM BULK OR BRING IN YOUR OWN CONTAINER. eceiTia L O T I O N S A O I L S * 710 NW 23RD AVEN U E 248-9748 3638 SE H A W TH O RN E 236-7976 racism, sexism? and homophobia. I see it as a badge of honor. The attacks on me are an indica tion o f the backlash in the lesbian and gay com munity against progressive politics. At the Task Force we have a spectrum of political views. We engage in hard political conversations. If we come out on the side o f a progressive agenda, it doesn’t mean we haven’t argued about i t The fact is that all of us who are marginalized have to fight together to win. We need all parts of ourselves. T h a t’s w hy w o rk in g a g a in st sexism and homophobia are central. Conservatives in the gay and lesbian movement see these issues as side lines. To them they are a distraction. To me they are a necessity. A unified community is a neces sity.” Vaid herself represents the multiculturalism of the gay and lesbian community. “My own background is multicultural; I was bom in India and emigrated to the states when I was eight years old. So my experience is an immigrant experi ence. But I think the increasing multiculturalism o f the gay and lesbian movement has more to do with this historical moment, than with any indi vidual experience. Gays and lesbians of color are more out in the movement, largely I think as a result of HIV and AIDS. Gay men and women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV. AIDS organizing has created people o f color institutions to deal with the crisis. In the last four or five years there are more activists o f color coming into the movement from AIDS work. It’s like lesbians in the late ‘70s, becoming more and more involved in what had been gay male institu tions. It’s not that sexism in gay institutions has disappeared, of course, but now it’s a given that gay men and lesbians can work together. “Vm proud to be attacked fo r fighting racism sexism and homophobia. I see it as a badge o f honor.” , , “Feminism has done a lot to prepare for the increasing multiculturalism of the movement. Lesbian of color writers like Barbara Smith have provided the theoretical basis. Charlotte Bunch articulated diversity politics years ago. Now in 1992 comes the fruition of those ideas. “ And it’s interesting that at this very instant multiculturalism is coming under ruthless attack from conservatives. The attack on ‘PC’ is part of this. It’s conservatives attacking us for having a multicultural vision, for liking people of color! And it’s completely about power. Whenever someone is trying to maintain or create divisions between people, ask who does it benefit? Cer tainly not lesbian and gay men o f all colors. As a society w e’re obsessive around division, and the Right uses that as a wedge to divide people. We are a diverse community in every possible w ay- there’s even sexual preference diversity in the gay and lesbian community. But we have to say, yeah w e’re diverse, but w e’re united around these objectives. T hat’s the only way we can win.” Vaid believes the fight here in Oregon against the OCA referendum is an important part of the fight on a national level against cultural fascism, the “bullies picking on a whole society, trying to impose their view of morality on all of us.” She was encouraged during her visit here by the number o f gay and lesbian groups. “I felt energized by so many dynamic leaders and won derful activists all over the state. I called the [NGLTF] office and described my trip to Roseburg yesterday; driving along past farms, then you turn a comer, and there’s a gay and lesbian center.” The challenge is to find ways for all the different parts of the state and the community to be actively involved. “The referendum provides the impetus for groups to get together. Everyone’s looking around for someone to have a plan. We have to develop our own plan. Individuals and organiza tions have to talk and argue, and I don’t think there will be much arguing. The meetings this weekend were a beginning. They brought people together and began to build the trust for talking.” Vaid also was impressed with the amount o f support gays and lesbians have from the non-gay community in Oregon. “Gays and lesbians don’t live in a ghetto here, but as neighbors, as part o f a community. I felt that especially listening to the gays and lesbians from rural areas. They’re not always friendly with their neighbors, but the most important thing we can do is communicate on a personal level with other people, communicate the beauty and joy of who we are. That’s what will defeat the Right in the long run.” REPORT HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE W O M EN 'S G O D D ESS R E T R E A T Portland: July 17 — 19, 1992 Seattle: July 24 - 26, 1992 Join Nancy Black, Clinical Psychologist, and Oz, Cere monial Artist, for an extraordinary weekend Journey into imag ery, art, ritual, movement and magick. Creative activities will be combined with valuable information, shared experience and beautiful ceremony designed to find and celebrate the Goddess Within. The weekend includes a single room, nurturing meals and snacks, art and ceremonial supplies, and wonderful shared experiences in a safe, comfortable environment for $299. For information call: Connie (503)775-0295, Portland or Myra (206) 488-4786 in Seattle.
