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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1993)
4 ▼ n o v « m b « r 1, 1 0 9 3 ▼ ju s t o u t DRAW ME Finding kinship with a colleague AND WIN A FREE HAIRCUT! SUBMrr DRAWING BY NOVEMBER 3 O, 1993, AND MAILTO: CARY LUCKEY, DRAW ME CONTEST, 4016 NE FREMONT, PORTLAND, ORECON 97232. Gary Luckey WE USE AND RECOMMEND matrix ESSENTIALS 281-7831 *4016 NE FREM ONT PORTLANDS FIRST NON-TIPPINC SALON. \ l W hy Should You EQLJITY Have A Will? F O U N D A T I O N T his F rre S eminar W ill H elp You U nderstand : Why wills are important to help you protect your loved ones. What issues you need to consider in drawing up your will. How to build a strong gay and lesbian community by making Seminar will be held at: by Anndee Hochman t began over a beer. Renée LaChance and Jay Brown were both working at Portland’s gay newspaper, the Cascade Voice. They spent frequent after-work gripe sessions at Wilde Oscar’s, a gay bar a few blocks from the downtown waterfront, sharing frustrations about their jobs and the paper. Soon the meetings became planning sessions—for a new gay and lesbian newspaper. Sometimes Jay and Renée would sit on the lawn near the Willamette River, with Renée’s dog Funky in tow, and toss ideas back and forth. They scoured a thesaurus for suggestions on the name of their new publication, checking the listings for “out.” Leak out. Get out. Come out. Way out. Just out. I Just Out. That was it. They recruited Rupert Kinnard, a graphic designer, to design the proto type and began to publish a 24-page paper twice a month on a skeletal budget, from an office so small they had room for only one desk. Jay sold his antique couch for $300 so they could pay the first month’s rent and telephone bills. Workplace groups can replicate the worst of family life—rigid hierarchies, power struggles, communication sticky as a clogged rainpipe. Even in the best situations, co-workers are often tran sient figures in our landscape. The project—the play we’re producing, the fund-raiser, the cam paign—defines the terms and depth of our attach ment. But sometimes there is more. Renée and Jay slipped noiselessly over that boundary between work and family into limitless terrain. They made an incongruous pair. Jay was tall FREE cup of cocoa or cider while you browse! Good Samaritan Hospital, Neuro Sciences Center First Floor Auditorium NW 22nd Ave. between Lovejoy and Marshall, Portland November 8, 1993 7 pm Reservations Required: Call 220-0628 and leave a message Presented by Attorney Katherine Tennyson and members of the Equity Foundation Board Sponsored by Equity Foundation Oregon's Gay and Lesbian Community Foundation and gangly, with gray hair fringing both sides of a bald spot, gold wire-rims and a puckish face pitted with acne scars. Renée was short, stocky and 24 years younger. At first, they fought. Renée wanted to place an ad on an eighth page slotted for news. Jay insisted they needed the space to cover an important event. They made a stubborn, some times cranky match, yelling at each other in the tiny office or out on the ratty wooden platform they generously called their “loading dock.” But if Jay and Renée clashed over editorial matters, they agreed completely on the subject of family. Both were ostracized by their relatives, although Jay mailed a copy of the paper to his parents each issue. For each of them, biological family churned up feelings of loss, anger or the farce of having to pretend. They made a point of shunning traditional holidays. Instead, they cel ebrated their birthdays, Lesbian and Gay Pride e W Resources supporting and em powering women A LESBIAN-OWNED BUSINESS 4526 SE Hawthorne, Portland OR • (503) 236-0505 • 7 days a week