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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1995)
'* 1 S :a mm Wmii -t m * 1/ /•"' IML ■>* A lesbian mother o f Mexico (left, name unknown) and lesbian grandmother Bonnie Tinker o f Portland in Beijing I n an apartment in India, two women commit suicide rather than allow their relationship with one another to be broken up by their families. PRESENCE 77/c L . V. Conference in Beijing resounded with women \s voices , lesbian voices were strong among them. Regional representatives were there to bring the story I none to Oregon in I\<. \ S orknsi n m o m s in llo w n I’ in m k promotes visibility of lesbian and gay families. “When I heard that [the anti-gay) Focus on the Family was planning to send six of their own representatives, I knew I had to be there, too.” Despite persistent rumors that Chinese offi cials might search luggage, confiscate materials, or ultimately deny entry into the country to women who were clearly affiliated with lesbian causes, Tinker brought with her a stack of Love Makes a Family newsletters, leaflets, buttons and business In a house in Zimbabwe, a woman is raped repeatedly with the consent of her family in their hopes that she will become pregnant, get married and cease having relationships with women. In a psychiatric institution in the United States, a teenager is subjected to coercive While lesbian and bisexual women “treatment” to “cure” her lesbianism. In a courtroom in Germany, a often understand the risks they are woman loses custody of her child taking simply by being true to because the court finds that her lesbi anism disqualifies her as a fit parent. themselves, others remain ignorant In a prison in Uruguay, a woman about the persecution is isolated in a cell because her cap- government-sanctioned or otherwise tors know that she is a lesbian. For women-loving women, hu these women may be forced to endure. man rights violations almost seem par for the course, no matter where they cards to distribute to activists during the confer live. While lesbian and bisexual women often ence. understand the risks they are taking simply by “I had heard those rumors and it did make me being true to themselves, others remain ignorant a little nervous, but I’m happy to report that I was about the persecution—government-sanctioned or never searched,” says Tinker, a lesbian mother and grandmother who attended both the non-govem- otherwise—these women may be forced to endure. mental organizations forum, held Aug. 30 to Sept. Decreasing that ignorance—and hopefully al tering this harsh reality—was one of the primary 8 in Huairou, and the official U.N. conference, reasons lesbian and bisexual women from across held Sept. 4 to IS several miles away in Beijing. the globe— including several from Oregon—gath The forum attempts to influence the conference ered with tens of thousands of women and men in and its Platform for Action. While the platform is China for the United Nations Fourth World Con nonbinding on the 189 nations that are party to it, ference on Women and the accompanying Non- the United Nations hopes that the document will Governmental Organizations Forum on Women. become the blueprint for women’s advancement in “I went because I felt it was critical there be a the coming decade. voice representing lesbian families,” says 47-year- old Bonnie Tinker, executive director of the Port- Continued on page 17 land-based Love Makes a Family Inc. The group — —