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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1992)
1992 ▼ 13 Oregon Supreme Court “Although the argument is really novel, we still think it’s very sound, and we will be pursuing it one way or another,” said Stevie Remington of the ACLU. Remington said that if the ballot measure remains on the ballot and is voted into law, the lawyers will challenge its constitutionality. Jeff Williamson Specter of Springfield measure taints proceedings Interviews of ten applicants for three open seats on Springfield’s Human Rights Commis sion were laden with questions about that city’s anti-gay-rights measure. Applicants were ques tioned by members of the Springfield City Coun cil about their views on the measure and whether they would follow its intentions. City Council man Ralf Walters led most of the questioning on the gay-rights issue, seeking to discern if appli cants supported the intent of the measure. W alters and Councilman Larry Schanz publicly admitted that they would use the issue as a litmus test in their consideration of candidates for the vacan cies. Both men said they would work to shift the commission’s membership to a conservative ma jority. None of the applicants said that they would seek to overturn the measure. However, some admitted their feelings against the charter amend ment and their belief that it would be challenged in the courts. Applicant Joyce Shiro, a Springfield attorney, commented, “It’s vague and very broad. So what it means will be what the courts tell us it will be.” Other applicants said they hoped to facilitate healing within the community in the aftermath of the measure’s enactment. Candidate Darrell Neet, a maintenance supervisor at the University of Oregon and husband of Loretta Neet, OCA member and chief petitioner for 20- OS, spoke freely about his support for the mea sure. In a written statement he proclaimed he wanted to be on the panel because “ the rights of legitimate minorities are being stifled nation wide, and it is time to halt this descent into social irresponsibility.” One of the vacancies arose after Chairwoman Sydney Kissinger was asked to resign by the council on June 9. Kissinger had made an unflat tering reference to Springfield at a statewide meeting of human rights groups the day after the four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. LaFay Floyd re signed some months before. The third open posi tion is a student seat on the 15-member board. Jeff Williamson OCA and Robertson group link arms Pat Robertson’s “Christian” soldiers have al lied themselves with the OCA’s battle to pass Ballot Measure 9. The Virginia-based political group, the Christian Coalition, set up an Oregon charter in mid-August. At the same time, the group presented its intended moral, financial and staff support for the OCA’s discriminatory mea sure. Earlier, officials from the Christian Coalition announced that they would give $20,000 to No Special Rights PAC coffers. Ralph E. Reed Jr., executive director of the national Christian “edu cation” and lobbying group, visited Medford, Eugene, Salem and Portland. Reed said of Ballot Measure 9, “It will clearly have an impact on what will happen in this nation throughout the next decade.” He said the coalition would be expand ing its grassroots organization into every state, adding that in Oregon, the group plans to distrib ute 500,000 of its voters’ guides and place a full time lobbyist in Salem for the next legislative session. The non-profit group was created out of Pat Statewide organizations mobilized to fight the OCA Coos Bay Citizens for Equal Rights, Hany Viar, 954 Commercial, Coos Bay, OR 97420. No on Hate, Portland Metro, Sharon Hill, PO Box 6611, Portland, OR 97229, 222-9885. No on Hate, Lane County, Alan Brown, 135 N Seneca, Eugene, OR 97402, 688-1601. Gorge Alliance for Human Dignity, Spike Livermore, POBox 321, Hood River, OR 97031. No mi 9, Peggy Norman, PO Box 3343, Port land, OR 97208,232-4501. G rants Pass Group, PO Box 182, Grants Pass, OR 97527. People for Human Dignity, PO Box 2995, La Grande, OR 97850. Columbia County Citizens for Human Dlg- nity, Marcy Westerling, PO Box 262, St. Helens, OR 97051. C orvallis H um an R ights C oalition, Annabelle Jaramillo, PO Box 1828, Corvallis, OR 97339,757-1532. Southern Oregon Human Rights Coalition/ Jackson County, PO Box 3176, Ashland, OR 97520. Citizens for Human Dignity-Blue Moun- tain Region, PO Box 152, Pendleton, OR 97801. Human Rights Coalition, Bob Lobe, 555 Bond St., Astoria, OR 97103,325-8438. GALA, PO Box 813, Roseburg, OR 97470. Lambda Eastern Oregon Association, PO Box 382, Baker City, OR 97814. Malheur County, Yasha Sitz, PO Box 745, Ontario, OR 97914, 889-6316. Newport Citizens for Equal Rights, Tom Gravon, POBox 1427, Newport, OR 97365,563- 4510. Columbia County Citizens for Human Dig nity, Marcy Westerling, POBox 262, St. Helens, OR 97051. Tillamook County Citizens for Human Dig nity, PO Box 763, Tillamook, OR 97141, 842- 1068. OUTPAC, POBox 5263, Eugene, OR 97405, 687-9226. Coalition for Human Dignity, Box 40344, Portland, OR 97240, 232-5070. Deschutes County, Mike Craven, PO Box 5676. Bend, OR 97701,388-2395. Klamath County Coalition for Human Dig nity, 1504 Oregon Ave., Box 7, Klamath Falls, OR 97601, eves. 882-7531. Mid-WUlamette Chapter Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon, Anne Bounds, 1420Bellview, Salem, OR 97301,399-7025. Robertson’s unsuccessful bid for president of the United States in 1988. The Christian Coalition does not have a political action committee, unlike many political groups, so they do not report con tributions and expenditures to the Federal Elec tions Commission. Currently, the group is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. The OCA and the Christian Coalition will remain separate organizations. The two groups have eyed affiliation for more than a year. Lon Mabon will be the state chairman of the Christian Coalition. OCA members that will serve on the board include Darrell Fuller, A1 Mobley, Scott Lively, Phil Ramsdell and OCA’s Springfield City Councilwoman Loretta Neet, who champi oned that city’s anti-gay charter amendment. Other board numbers include James Atkinson, the president of Chrome Data Corp. in Portland; KDOV-M edford General M anager Perry Atkinson; Stuart Barr, presdient of Indudstrial Finishes and Systems, of Eugene; Portland real estate developer Louis Beres; and Bill Witt, presi dent of Wittco Systems of Tigard and an Oregon delegate to the Republican National Convention. us .... This is one more defeat for the OCA,” claims Rogers. Lively and OCA lawyer Bruce McCain imme diately used the occasion to rally support for Ballot Measure 9. Lively told reporters that the event would galvanize Measure 9 supporters in Multnomah County. McCain attacked the court room presence of Mary Wendy Roberts, saying, “I think it’s rather telling that in a challenge to a local ordinance, [the labor bureau] was repre sented by Mary Wendy Roberts. You have to wonder what her interests are.” Roberts’ agency filed a brief in support of the city, and a spokesper son from her office says that she was pleased with the ruling. The state labor bureau is the enforce ment arm of the city ordinance. McCain said the OCA was not certain whether they would appeal the ruling. “I think time and resources are geared to the passage of Measure 9, which would make this [city ordinance] moot,” asserted McCain. Jeff Williamson OCA loses court fight After only minutes of deliberation, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Lee Thomas dismissed an OCA-supported lawsuit to overturn the Portland ordinance that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Aug. 27 decision ended the suit, which was filed late in 1991 by William Casey, former OCA director for Multnomah County. OCA spokesman Scott Lively told the court that Casey was no longer a member of his organization but that the suit had been filed on behalf of the OCA. The case was the first legal challenge seen by the civil-rights ordi nance, which would become invalid if Ballot Measure 9 were to pass in November. Casey’s suit asserted that Portland’s ordinance is illegal because it is pre-empted by a state civil- rights statute that does not prohibitdiscrimination on the basis of either sexual orientation or income, two areas covered by the city’s ordinance. The city’s attorney, Jeffrey Rogers, says that local governments can enact local ordinances to ex pand on state laws, as long as no conflict exists between the two, “as long as it goes in the same direction.” Rogers saw the judge’s ruling as im portant “The city’s ordinance is precedent-set ting in this state and is a very important issue for the many Oregonians who believe that the mea sure is wrong. “This was a real grassroots effort from all over this state to fight the measure,” she commented. Meanwhile, Lon Mabon claimed that the OCA had collected 25 voters* pamphlet statements from several organizations, but that they "lim ited” themselves to 11 submissions. Jeff Williamson GAP speaks out Cascade AIDS Project has issued a statement saying Ballot Measure 9 would be “catastrophic” for Oregonians living with HIV. The statement, signed by Executive Director Mica Smith, ex plains that the measure could eliminate govern ment-funded case management positions and jeop ardize fundraising efforts. County health clinics could also be affected. “Organizations providing these services stand to lose moneys which support prevention and outreach programs because they are currently targeted to gay and bisexual men,” Smith’s state ment read. Pro-OCA chaplin ousted A chaplain at Eastmoreland Hospital claims he was presented with a forced resignation after The Oregonian reported he gave money to the OCA and called homosexuality an “abomina tion.” David Hardisty said Scripture was the basis for his anti-gay sentiments. The Oregonian recently ran an article about Ballot Measure 9 supporters in which Hardisty was quoted as saying that gays and lesbians ”... are not going to see the kingdom of heaven. Plainly, people who live according to that lifestyle are thumbing their nose at G od.” Perhaps Eastmoreland officials felt that his attitude would prevent him ministering to the spiritual needs of their gay and lesbian clients. Hardisty does not plan to pursue any legal action. Fighting the OCA more urgent than party politics State Reps. Gail Shibley and Beverly Stein announced at a Democratic fundraiser that they considered defeating Ballot Measure 9 more im Jeff Williamson portant than regaining Democratic control of the House. “I’d rather have [House] Speaker Courtney Bye-Bye, SLAPP than [House] Speaker Campbell,” said Shibley. The suit filed by Paul de Parrie against almost “The last I heard, conventions aren’t coming every liberal in Portland (as well as the city of here, and people aren’t turning back at the borders Portland) was thrown out of court. DeParrie could because Larry Campbell is speaker. He just always appeal the ruling, but it is thought that he doesn’t enjoy that prestige.” won’t Several countersuits are being considered at this time. Only four OCA supporters were in the courtroom to hear the dismissal. The room Not your everyday was filled with many supporters of the defen shopping trip dants, including people from Seattle. The Hundredth Monkey Theater Collective of Portland is staging a series of theater actions in Oregon’s biggest voters’ Portland metro-area shopping malls in an effort to educate people about the negative implications of pamphlet ever the OCA’s BallotMeasure 9. The feminist theater They came in by the dozens. Lon Mabon group will tour the malls and stage impromptu jealously called them “overkill.” Whether voters and scripted conversations “in the hopes that will read them all or not, the number of voters’ innocent, yet nosey bystanders will overhear our pamphlet statements against Ballot Measure 9 stories and begin to think about the ramifications broke records at the secretary of state’s office. if Ballot Measure 9 passes, ” says Laura Graves, More than 40 statements against the measure met collective member and actress. the submission requirements, in contrast to 11 Individuals who wish to join the group’s mall statements supporting the measure. Groups rang actions or other collective projects should call ing from ACT UP/Columbia to the National Or 284-1705 for a complete update on planned ac ganization of Women to the Oregon Psychiatric tivities. Graves adds, “No prior theatrical experi Association submitted statements against Ballot ence is required. We will provide a brief training Measure 9, as well as numerous businesses and before the mall actions, but you need only give a few hours, if that’s all you can commit” individuals. Jeff Williamson Sherry Oeser, chairwoman of the No on 9 campaign, called the statements a cross section of
