ju s « o u t ▼ July 1. 19© 4 ▼ 13
he new face at Right to Privacy may be a
Jackson said. “And we have two more running.”
familiar one to some Portland residents. A
Right to Privacy will continue education, lob
former local television news reporter and
bying and outreach efforts throughout the state
producer, Greg Jackson became the executive di
under Jackson’s leadership.
rector of the civil rights group in April. Right to
“My vision is to let people know that gays,
Privacy advocates full
lesbians and bisexu
civil rights, human
als are in every walk
rights and social equity
of life,” Jackson said.
for lesbians, gay men
“By being out, we can
and bisexuals by in
break a lot of stereo
forming and educating
types. For som e
policy-makers and the
people,
th a t’s
public. It has been in
spooky—but it’s im
portant to have role
existence 13 years.
models, and to remain
Jackson says that
visible, to let people
civil rights work is
know that gays and
very much like media
lesbians are not so
work. “You’re craft
threatening.”
ing a message, and
Right to Privacy
getting it out to the
is planning a fund
public,” Jackson said.
raising event July 10.
He added that, with the
Tickets to the Garden
radical right groups
Party are $25, and
distributing informa
Jackson expects 300
tion about gay men,
to 400 people to at
lesbians and bisexual
tend. Local politi
people, “Our job is to
cians will speak, and
balance that effort, and
the party is a chance
to get the correct in
for those in atten
formation out there.”
dance to talk to their
Right to Privacy
elected officials.
seeks to take a pro-ac
“You do have ac
tive role in Oregon
cess,”
Jackson said.
politics, Jackson said.
“I was lucky, in that
The group supports
Greg
Jackson
people invited me to
gay and lesbian candi
get involved in the po
dates as well as those
litical process—before, I was intimidated.
straight candidates who are supportive of sexual
“But it’s all of our responsibilities to become
minority rights. The group also writes legislative
involved. Politically, the gay, lesbian and bi
bills and works to get them passed.
sexual movement needs to have everyone in
“Change takes time," Jackson said. “It takes a
volved in making phone calls, giving their time,
long time to change the hearts and minds of
stuffing envelopes, walking door to door. It's not
people.” But, he added, the five openly gay legis
a thing that’s up to somebody else— it’s up to
lators in Oregon are proof that change is possible.
every one of * j s .”
“No other state has this level of elected officials,”
zaaz
T
Washington campaigns go
ail-out to keep initiatives
off ballot
A statewide effort is underway to prevent dis
criminatory initiatives from getting on the ballot in
Washington. Leading these efforts is Hands Off
Washington, a group that learned from Oregon’s
fight over Measure 9, according to spokesman
Robert Harkins.
“We’re very excited at the energy and the
progress we’ve been mak
ing,” Harkins said. “We
learned a lesson from the
No on 9 campaign.”
Harkins said the Wash
ington group started their
efforts early and targeted
their
cam paign
on
nonurban areas. The state
wide group has 30 coali
tion councils around the state, including a chapter
across the riverfrom Portland in Vancouver, Wash.
The Vancouver-based chapter is the Southwest
Washington Coalition Council. Headed by Arlene
Blair, the group welcomes Oregon volunteers for
fund-raising efforts and voter-identification drives.
For more information call (206) 696-1002.
Statewide, Hands Off Washington has aired
some television ads during newscasts. The ads,
which were also seen by viewers in the Portland
area, define the two initiatives as seeking to pro
mote and legalize discrimination against sexual
minorities.
The recent efforts have been aimed at educat
ing people about the initiatives, to try to prevent
them from reaching the November ballot. If enough
signatures are gathered to get the initiatives on the
ballot, campaign efforts will be switched to defeat
ing them at the polls.
Two groups are organizing the initiatives. The
Citizens Alliance of Washington, spearheaded by
Lon Mabon’s Oregon Citizens Alliance, is collect
ing signatures for one initiative, while the Wash
ington Public Affairs Council is collecting signa
tures for another. Both groups must file their peti
tions with the state by July 8.
The two initiatives are very similar, Harkins
said. Both would legalize discrimination by undo
ing current laws and preventing future protections
based on sexual orientation.
Both would prevent schools
from presenting homosexu
ality in anything but a nega
tive light.
In addition, Initiative
608, sponsored by the
Washington Public Affairs
Council, seeks to prevent
gay men and lesbians from
having custody of their own children. Initiative
610, sponsored by the Citizens Alliance of Wash
ington, includes an attack on transgender people
and is seen as trying to prevent same-sex marriages
though its definition of “natural gender.”
“We’ll know after July 8 whether one of them,
none of them, or both of them make the ballot,”
Harkins said. He added that Lon Mabon’s group,
the Citizens Alliance of Washington, had been
very quiet during the signature-gathering process.
The other group has been gathering signatures in
churches and through organizations opposed to
gun control, and recently has been showing up in
malls, he added.
Martha Allen
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