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Sookane
(308)
he campaign manager for the No on
13 Committee— the group which
raised and spent nearly $2 million to
defeat Ballot Measure 13, an anti-gay
and -lesbian rights initiative— says
the group will likely transform into a permanent
organization designed to educate voters about
human rights issues.
“We’ve been holding meetings around the
state to hear people’s thoughts about the cam
paign,” explains No on 13’s Julie Davis. “Gener
ally the feedback has been positive. They liked the
literature we used and our message about defend
ing everyone’s basic civil rights. What we are
hearing is that people want a permanent organiza
tion that is electorally focused and one which will
continue to educate and work with voters year
round.”
Ballot Measure 13, which would have amended
the state constitution to bar state and local govern
ments from enacting measures prohibiting dis
crimination based on sexual orientation, was de
feated during the Nov. 8 election by a 51 percent
to 49 percent vote. (State officials have until Dec.
8 to certify the ballots and announce official
election results. Currently, figures show that
621,450 Oregonians voted against Ballot Mea
sure 13, while 582,544 favored it.) The measure
was sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance—
backer of 1992’s Ballot Measure 9 which lost 53
percent to 47 percent. The OCA plans to take
another crack at passing discriminatory initia
tives in 1996.
“We’re just beginning to look at the numbers.
It will take a few weeks to sit down and look at
how people voted on a precinct-by-precinct basis.
Once we do that we can assess which of our
strategies worked, which did not work, and why,”
says Davis.
Following that, she says, there will be a more
in-depth discussion about creating a full-time
organization: “We’d have to explore what the
structure and goals of the group will be. Do we
want to go ahead proactively with an initiative of
our own? That could be tricky because we’ll
likely be fighting an OCA initiative, thus we’d
essentially have ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigns going
on at the same time. That could be confusing, to
say the least.”
Davis says the new organization would likely
be fashioned after one in Kentucky known as
Project Fair Vote, which makes ongoing contact
with voters a top priority. “They do this all the
time, not just in the heat of a campaign,” says
Davis. “That’s what we want to do. People are less
pressured and can really think about issues when
they are not in the midst of a volatile climate
leading up to an election,” says Davis.
For now, Davis says, the No on 13 Committee
is attempting to retire a $20,000 debt; volunteers
are also needed for a variety of tasks. “Donations
would be greatly appreciated and we have lots of
data entry that needs to be done,” she says. No on
13 can be reached by calling (503) 222-6151.
C o u n cilw o m a n S h e rry ^ a rris
& S enator Elect Cal Anckipson
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DENEIVE
n neighboring Idaho, the Lesbian Avengers—
a national direct action group— says gay and
lesbian visibility does not have to be compro
mised in order to defeat an anti-gay and -lesbian
rights initiative. The group, which is among those
taking credit for the defeat of Proposition 1, a
discriminatory initiative which was defeated Nov.
8 by a 51 percent to 49 percent margin, says the
proof is in the election returns.
"We worked with local gays and lesbians who
felt it was important not to bury the gay issue. We
feel lesbian and gay visibility iscriticaltoourcivil
rights movement,” says Christina McKnight, who
was among a group of eight Lesbian Avengers
who journeyed from the East Coast to work full
time on the anti-1 effort. “That sometimes made
the No on 1 campaign [the Idaho equivalent of
Oregon’s No on 13 Committee] a little agitated.
They focused more on a ‘discrimination’ mes
sage.”
McKnight says her group concentrated on
three counties in northern Idaho where local gay
men and lesbians— supported by the Lesbian
Avengers Civil Rights Organizing Project— ran
an "out, visible, grass-roots campaign [which]
defeated Proposition 1 by much higher percent
ages than the average Idaho vote.” LACROP held
forums in which lesbians and gay men spoke
openly about their lives, danced together at a
“traditionally homophobic and violent nightclub,”
and held a lesbian and gay freedom day picnic.
“These events were designed to empower gays
and lesbians living in Idaho,” she says.
Greg Jackson
Colleague Eileen Clancy adds: “Successful,
long-term political movements are not formed by
gathering a thousand recruits to lick postage
stamps. LACROP’s strategy is to bring lesbians
and gay men into the movement to share ideas
about what direction that movement should take.
Hierarchical, centralized campaigns with a single
‘message’ do not provide room for individuals’
political growth.”
The group focused on Latah County, which it
describes as historically more liberal than the rest
of northern Idaho— “but not by much.” After
three months of queer-visibility actions and “out”
door-to-door canvassing, McKnight says Latah
County defeated Proposition 1 by a 61 percent to
39 percent vote, the second highest “no” vote in
the state.
The other two counties LACROP worked in—
Bonner and Nez Perce— are also conservative,
says McKnight. Nez Perce is a predominately
working-class timber and manufacturing county;
Bonner County is very rural and has a strong
conservative presence. McKnight says both coun
ties showed an unexpected 54 percent “no” vote,
higher than the capital city of Boise and the Idaho
average. By comparison, Kootenai County—
where LACROP did not campaign, and which is
often considered the second most liberal county
in northern Idaho— showed a 46 percent “no”
vote.
“What that says to us is that you can win a
campaign without compromising gay and lesbian
visibility,” says McKnight. “Statewide campaigns