ju s t o ù t ' y July 2 1 , 1 9 9 5 T 13
local news
Reality bites
This year’s state legislative session could have been
a lot worse for lesbians and gay men
T
by Inga Sorensen
t was a state legislative session that started
with a particularly homophobic flare.
I
For instance, you may recall a bill intro
duced by Rep. Kevin Mannix (D-Salem)
that would have barred unmarried women
from receiving alternative insemination, a concep
tion method often used by lesbians. Mannix was
also the man who pushed legislation that required
the state “favor” heterosexual marriages above all
other relationships and that would have prohibited
local governments from
adopting measures “incon
sistent” with that policy.
Luckily for Oregon’s
sexual minority community,
those measures died a fast
death, but not before creat
ing a bit of a stir. Unfortu
nately for the community,
however, legislation that
would have extended civil
rights protections based on
sexual orientation also bit
the dust, despite a flurry of
parliamentary and publicity
ploys that simply didn’t take.
“The best way to gauge
this legislative session is by
looking at what we were up
against,” says the seemingly
alw ays optim istic Rep.
George Eighmey (D-Port-
land). “While wedidn’tnec-
essarily gain much, we
didn’t lose either, so 1 guess I’m somewhat pleased.”
As a gay lawmaker and a liberal Democrat,
Eighmey had his work cut out for him this session,
which ended June 10. That’s due to the fact that
following last November’s election, Republicans
gained a majority in both chambers of the state
Legislature for the first time in 40 years. The GOP
sweep included the election of a handful of Oregon
Citizens Alliance-backed candidates.
"I have to admit it wasn’t the best environment
for people supporting civil rights for gay men and
lesbians,” says Eighmey.
Indeed. During a Republican caucus gathering
early on, House Speaker Bev Clamo (R-Bend)
read aloud the agenda for incoming-Gov. John
Kitzhaber’s inauguration. On that list was a quartet |
from the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus. When Clamo
mentioned the choir, some GOP members started
snickering and making loud derogatory remarks,
as though they were sitting in an elementary school
instead of the House of Representatives.
By session’s end, House Republicans had in
voked the “Rule of 18,” which required that all
“controversial” bills receive majority support—or
18 votes—from the GOP caucus. Sponsors of an
omnibus sexual-minority-rights bill maintained
“While we
didn 7 gain
much, we
didn 7 lose
either. ”
—George
Eighmey
they had enough votes overall to pass the measure,
but not necessarily 18 Republican votes. Thus the
bill was denied a hearing and died. That’s gener
ally the kind of session it was.
“Nevertheless, I’d like to think that we changed
some minds about sexual-orientation civil rights.
We had a chance to talk with Democrats and
Republicans on a regular basis. Shattering stereo
types and building a support base simply takes
time,” says Eighmey, who is hopeful that he and
other human rights supporters have laid the ground
work for a more productive session in 1997.
Eighmey believes he was able to do that this
session with two bills that gained House approval
but failed to make it through the Senate. Those
measures include one which would have allowed
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people to decide what will
happen with their bodies
once they die, or to decide
who may make this deci
sion on their behalf. The
bill gained House approval
by a 51 -4 vote but was killed
by the Senate Judiciary
Committee. The other bill
would have permitted ter
minally ill single parents to
designate a tem porary
guardian without surren
dering parental rights or
permanent custody of their
children. Eighmey intro
duced the legislation to help
single parents who often
lose custody of their chil
dren when they become
temporarily incapacitated, a common occurrence
for people living with AIDS or cancer. The House
passed it 56-1, but it never received a hearing in the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
One full victory Eighmey is pleased with is the
passage of House Bill 2661, which allows unmar
ried partners to administer intravenous medication
for home-based care. Prior to the bill’s passage,
only legally married partners or family members
were allowed to administer home IV medication,
obviously excluding the partners of gay men and
lesbians.
“You have to define success within the con
fines of reality,” says Rep. Gail Shibley (D-Port-
land). Like Eighmey, Shibley is a liberal Democrat
who also believes the session could have been a lot
worse.
“I’m very pleased we were able to block the
anti-abortion-rights legislation, particularly the
parental notification bill. That was very important
to me,” says Shibley, who became Oregon’s first
openly gay legislator when she was appointed to
her seat in 1991. She had been hailed as a rising
star—and a possible contender to become House
speaker had the Republicans not gained the major
ity. A few weeks ago, Shibley was described by
one anonymous political observer in a Willamette
Week article as being disengaged this session:
smart but no longer emotionally invested, and no
longer a star.
“I wasn’t disengaged at all. In fact, I would say
my constituents got a better return from me this
session than any other. I’m smarter. I know the
process better. We were just up against more, and
we held our own,” she says, adding she is particu
larly proud of the passage of a bill that would
require companies that seek to purchase life insur
ance policies from terminally ill consumers in
Oregon to register with the state and agree to abide
by legitimate business practices.
Shibley, who has been nurturing the bill’s
progress for a couple of years, says these compa-
“You have to
define success
within the
confines of
reality, ”
—Gail Shibley
nies are virtually unregulated. “So if you’re termi
nally ill and you need money for whatever reason,
you now have a way of learning how credible the
company you’re dealing with is,” she says. “You’ll
be able to compare companies because there will
be some information out there for consumers so
they can protect themselves. That wasn’t required
before.”
As for word that Shibley is considering leaving
the state Legislature to make a bid for the Portland
City Council, she says, “That’s true. I’m very
seriously considering that.” A decision will come
"very soon,” she says. Under term limits, the 1997
session would be the last time Shibley could serve
in the state House. “It may be that one chapter is
closing and another is opening,” she says.
Perhaps the same can be said for Rep. Chuck
Carpenter, 33, an openly gay Republican who
completed his first term this session. Carpenter,
who is a fiscal conservative and social liberal,
gained widespread approval from his colleagues
and sexual-minority-rights advocates. Even though
he was a freshman, he was assigned to highly
sought-after posts on the House Judiciary and
Labor and Commerce committees. He refused to
back down from supporting a sexual-orientation-
discrimination amendment even though he was
facing fierce pressure from a GOP committee
chairman. Despite the occasional clashes with his
own party, Carpenter was invited by House leader
ship to be part of negotiations involving the speaker,
the Senate president and the governor over collec
tive bargaining and lottery dollar issues.
“It was an eye-opening experience,” Carpenter
says of his first term. “I have to admit I am a little
nervous that next election the Republicans are
going to run a conservative against me in the
primary.” Carpenter says his stands on abortion
and sexual minority rights have made him a target
of the increasingly powerful right wing of the
Republican party. “It’s going to be tough.”
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