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Months before election day SOC PAC is working diligently to tell Oregonians what
the OCA’s latest statewide measure is really about: discrimination and intolerance
SOC it to ’em I
by P am ela Lyons
hen Measure 9 was de
feated in November 1992,
sexual minority communi
ties and their supporters
breathed a collective sigh
of relief. In Portland, they danced and
celebrated at a victory party at Montgom
ery Park. People felt they could get back
to their everyday lives now that the state
wide measure sponsored by the Oregon
Citizens Alliance had been warded off.
Don’t look now: They’re ba-ack.
The OCA is out about Oregon, work
ing to gather the 89,028 signatures it needs
to put another discriminatory measure on
the November 1994 state ballot. While
Lon Mabon says the wording for this one
is “toned down,” Julie Davis, executive
director of Support Our Communities Po
litical Action Committee, says it would
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have the same discriminatory effect that
Measure 9 would have had. It might not
matter at all how this mea
sure is worded if a Marion
County judge rules that it is
unconstitutional, and can’t
appear on the ballot. But if
that happens, the OCA
could come back with yet
another d isc rim in a to ry
measure, worded a little dif
ferently.
Out of all this political
and legal mumbo-jumbo,
one thing is clear: Queers
and their supporters are in
this for the long haul.
“We ran Measure 9 like
it was a 100-yard dash,”
Davis said. “We gave every
ounce of energy to the effort, because we
went into it thinking one election will
make it go away. But it didn’t go away.
It’s becoming clearer we have to train like
this is a marathon.”
Leading the marathon is SOC
PAC. With a strong commitment
to grass-roots political organiz
ing, the group is on the front lines
of the statewide struggle and has
been integral in assisting smaller
rural communities battle the OC A
in local elections. In the face of
the exhaustion many felt after bat
tling Measure 9, SOC PAC orga
nized a wide base of support and a
structure to directly challenge the
OCA. Clearly, the OCA isn’t go
ing to disappear on its own, Davis
said, but SOC PAC’s goal is more
than just battling Mabon and his
Continued on page 15