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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 1994)
I . 5 1994 know what they are speaking, you see, and they space for ourselves. So I hope people will see our want to know what is going on. budget and send us some money for office rental. “The gay language is more than 100 years old. “I get a small grant from the government be It’s very familiar in the colored and black town cause I have rheumatoid arthritis. It pays for my ships. I can have a complete conversation in the food. My lover got this good job. That helps a lot. gayle language and other people will not under I work full time for ABIGALE. stand it. My lover is teaching all of the white “Gay people need education so that other people lesbians to gayle. I can’t take advantage of don’t teach them, be them. Education is the ‘7r is very difficult for women cause I want to gossip weapon. I think that it is about them ,” she to come out as lesbians. We had very im portant for laughed. ABIGALE members to “We are all colors, two cases in ABIGALE. They told get an education. Some shapes and sizes in one woman she was a witch , and gay youngsters ran ABIGALE. Because of away. We gave them they wanted to burn her. ” apartheid the govern jobs and put them back ment separated our into school.” people into the white, the black, the colored. I I asked Theresa what she would like to see always say I am a colored, but my lover says, no, happen for lesbians now. you are a black woman. She wants it to be just one “There are different things that different gays people. and lesbians want. Like some lesbians want to get “For white lesbians the situation is different married. I don’t want to get married. But if they because of education. They can go off on their own want it, then I will fight for it. We need to do a at 16 or 18 to varsity [university]. In the colored or survey on that. That’s what we did for the gay black community, you don’t get that. I left school rights charter for the Bill of Rights. when I was 14 to help support the family because “We must be careful because the right wing is my mom had eight kids and my father couldn’t coming out now. They didn’t come out earlier. support them all, so the girls left school very early. That is why it is important for ABIGALE to make F o r th e P rice o f O n e W eek s V acation, Yon C onlcl V acation 3 6 5 D ays a Vear. B efore you f>uy a spa, any spa, c o m p a r e t h e q u a l i t y a n a s i m p l i c i t y or a H ot S p rin g Spa from o r e g o n Hot S p r i n g S p a . We ve h e e n h e l p i n g o u r J u s t O u t c u s t o m e r s r e l a x in sty le f o r 1 1 y e a r s , i f you deserve the best, a I l o t S p r i n g S p a is t h e s p a t o b u y. We o f f e r : • A c o m p le te ly u n iq u e lin e o f sp as. • P r o fe ssio n a l sa les tea m to a n sw er all y o u r q u e s tio n s . • 5 year c o m p r e h e n siv e w arranty. • L ow en erg y u sa g e g u a ra n tee. • C o m fo r ta b le , ea sy -ca re E n d u r o F su rfa ce. • S tr e ss r e lie v in g M o to-M assage® jets. ABIGALE The boys did finish school. They say the girls don’t need education because they will marry and have kids. “I always say every one o f us has got a little bit o f racism in us, and it will take a long time for us to work that out. We don’t appear to be racist, but we are. In many ways, it comes out. I think that’s also why it’s difficult for white and black lesbians to mix, as well. “We need money now for education because we need to upgrade our people’s English and bookkeeping and gay literature. If ABIGALE elects a chairperson there must be two— one knows what is going on and the other one is learning. Two treasurers, two secretaries, because then one can give the skills to the other one. “It will be easier for us to work if we have an office. W e’re working from the place where we live. That is a bit difficult because we don’t have • A h e a lth fu l, r e la x in g retreat. themselves visible and to say ‘we are here, and we are here to stay. We must all stand together.’ ” P le a se m e n tio n th is ad w h e n c a llin g . Despite our efforts, a photo o f the members o f ABIGALE was unavailable by press time. ABIGALE sells T-shirts o f two women kissing ($15) and the book Defiant Desire—the first stories o f gay men and lesbians in South Africa ($25). These mail-order fund-raisers are available from ABIGALE, PO Box 16534, Vlaeberg 8018, South Africa. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission monitors human rights abuses against sexual minorities and people with AIDS and HIV. Write IGLHRC, 1360 Mission St., Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94103, or call (415) 255-8680, fax (415) 255-8662. Oregon Hot Spring F O I T P ortland , B eaverton SA LEM , , ABLE S 1904 NE 82nd, Just North of 1-84, ph. 253-3551 10367 SW Canyon Rd., Just East of 217, ph. 6 4 3 - 5 0 0 2 3966 Silverton Rd. NE, Just West of Lancaster, ph. 3 6 3 - 4 0 0 0 ▼ 17