just out ▼ October 20. I M S T i l
local news
To the rescue
A new Crisis Response Team will be there for sexual
minorities who are the victims o f crimes or accidents
T
by Ten Ventura
the special issues of sexual minority victims. For
instance, emergency technicians may be unfamil
iar with cross-dressers, transsexuals and others not
in the mainstream. There will be members from
each of those groups on the Crisis Response Team
to ensure that all sexual minority victims and their
families are treated with sensitivity and compas
sion. Team members will be able to facilitate
communication between lovers and biological fami
lies of victims. Lewis notes that this assistance can
be crucial when biological families do not know
the sexual orientation of their relative or, if they do
know, are uncomfortable with or disapprove of
sexual minorities. Team members can advocate
for visitation and decision-making rights on behalf
of the lover of a victim. This is of special impor
know to contact your same-sex partner.” Lewis
he Sexual Minority Roundtable Crisis
Response Team was o fficially
advises, “Live openly so that the police and others
will know who you are. Think about how you
launched Oct. 11, on National Com
ing Out Day. The team works in part
would want your lover to be treated in the event
nership with Portland police officers
you were incapacitated, and take the necessary
who respond to calls for assistance involving
sexual
steps
now to see that your wishes will be carried
minorities. It is the first of its kind in the United
States and is mandated by the Partnership Agree
ment, signed Oct. 11, 1994, between the Portland
Police Bureau and the sexual minorities commu
nity.
The Crisis Response Team—an all-volunteer
group— provides emotional and practical support
to sexual minority victims of crime, and their
families, in the first few hours after a tragedy. The
Crisis Response Team will be called upon in cases
of homicide, serious assault, accidental death, rob
bery, sexual assault, domestic disturbance and
assistance with death notification, and to dispel
tension when an incident occurs that may draw a
large crowd. The team members are called to a
crisis scene or to a local hospital by authorized
police officers, either at the initiative of an officer
at the scene, or at the request of the victim.
LaVeme Lewis, executive director of the Les
bian Community Project and a Crisis Response
Team work group member and team leader, is very
involved in the project.
“The Sexual Minority Roundtable Crisis Re
sponse Team is different from our [LCP’s] Anti-
Violence Project in that hatred or bias does not
have to be involved for this Crisis Response Team
to be called,” says Lewis. “We are there for all
sexual minority victims of crimes and crisis, for the
(From left) Crisis Response Team volunteers William Warren, Elizabeth Allen, LaVeme Lewis, Reisa
everyday tragedies all humans face. Traffic acci
Morehouse and Roni Lang with the Police Bureau’s sexual minority community liaison, Bruce Prunk
dents don’t pick sexual minority victims. They
happen to everyone.” She continues, “What’s dif
out.” (See box for legal information about protect
tance when the biological family is resistant to
ferent for sexual minority victims is that we don’t
ing your rights and those of your partner.)
accepting the partner and the victim has not estab
have many of the safeguards in place, such as
lished legal rights for the partner.
The Crisis Response Team will provide vic
marriage, that the majority does. For example, in a
tims and their families with information about
The Crisis Response Team unit consists of four
fatal traffic accident, how is the partner of a lesbian
teams, each with four volunteers. Team members
victims’ assistance programs and benefits; notify
victim notified? How do the police know she exists
receive comprehensive training that includes 30 to
family, school or employers, when necessary; ac
or how to contact her?”
35 hours of base training, two ride-alongs with
company the victim and/or the family to the hospi
This brings to mind another important issue for
police officers, a tour and overview of 911 opera
tal; arrange for emotional support from family,
Lewis. “This is a very good reason to come out and
tions, and additional training specific to sexual
friends and neighbors; and assist with funeral
live openly as gays and lesbians. One never knows
minority issues. Members must undergo an exten
arrangements.
when he or she may be a victim. When you are
sive background check, including fingerprinting.
Through life experience and training, the team
They are provided with picture identification cards
incapacitated, you will not be able to let the police
will also be able to deal sensitively with some of
T
and a pager, which they are required to wear during
their shifts. Volunteers commit to rotating shifts of
no less than 24 hours.
Some volunteers have expressed concern about
getting time off from work to respond to a crisis
call. Says Lewis, “This is an opportunity to come
out to your boss, or at least to express your support
for the sexual minority community. Employers
should be proud to have a well-trained crisis inter
vention specialist working for them. It is an honor
to be paged by the police to respond to an emer
gency. It’s very similar to the work of volunteer
fire fighters, Red Cross disaster relief workers and
National Guard personnel. Employers should grant
employees time off for service on the Crisis Re
sponse Team as they do for any of these other
important community services.”
In addition to providing immediate assistance
to sexual minority victims in crisis, Lewis sees the
Crisis Response Team as a vital community ser
vice in other significant ways. “We are, in essence,
second-class citizens. We lack many of the protec-
The Crisis Response Team
an all-volunteer group
provides emotional and
practical support to sexual
minority victims of crime,
and their families, in the first
few hours after a tragedy.
—
—
tions that other victims have, such as the right to
marry and share insurance benefits. The assistance
the Crisis Response Team offers helps level it off.”
Lewis maintains that having a sexual minority
Crisis Response Team will also serve to decrease
the attacks of the radical right. “There is no way
that victims’ rights can be equated with ‘special
rights,’ ” says Lewis. “Having a victims’ response
team is something every victim needs.”
According to Lewis, there are no reliable statis
tics on sexual minority victims of non-bias-related
crimes and accidents. She sees an added benefit of
the Crisis Response Team as providing those sta
tistics. “Although I would prefer that no one suffer
tragedy, it’s important to know that sexual minori
ties also experience the same crimes and accidents
as the majority community. It’s another bridge to
educate society about who we are.”
Applications to volunteer for the Sexual Mi
nority Roundtable Crisis Response Team can be
obtained by contacting LaVeme Lewis at the Les
bian Community Project, 223-0071.
I
l
Protecting
your assets
Portland attorney Jennifer Kimble
suggests five practical steps that,
when taken together, will increase
the likelihood o f your wishes being
carried out in the event o f your
incapacity or death.
1. Carry an emergency identification card
with you at all times. It should include any perti
nent medical information such as chronic medical
conditions and drug allergies and the name and
phone numbers of the person(s) you want con
tacted in an emergency.
2. Prepare an advance directive. As die name
suggests, an advance directive is a type of future
planning for possible incapacity. It is a legal docu
ment that details your wishes about your medical
care, including life support and in which you
appoint the person you would prefer to make
medical decisions for you if you become incapaci
tated. Kimble suggests that you also select an
alternate appointee in case your first choice is
unable to serve. For instance, you may have ap
pointed your lover, but if you are in an accident
together, he or she may also be incapacitated.
Kimble notes that the advance directive forms
available at Stevens-Ness Law Publishing Co. in
Portland are adequate, inexpensive and easy to
complete. Kimble advises that your signature on
the form must be witnessed.
3. Select a guardian and conservator. This
procedure is best carried out through an attorney,
according to Kimble. A guardian makes decisions
in all areas of an incapacitated person’s life, except
for financial matters. Some examples include ques
tions of daily care, medical treatment, visitation,
and where and with whom the incapacitated person
will live. A conservator makes financial decisions,
including investments and spending, for the dis
abled person. You may choose the same person or
a different person for each.
4. Decide on your beneficiaries and have your
care for your child or children in the absence of a
partner’s name entered on titles of property with
second legal parent, if you die.
rights of survivorship. Kimble suggests that you
name your partner, or other person, as the benefi
Kimble states that without these protections in
ciary of your life insurance, retirement and other
place, the right to make decisions for you and to
such benefits. Kimble recommends that some
inherit your property passes in descendi ng order of
couples may want to place the names of both
preference from your legal spouse (read not your
partners on titles to vehicles and real and other
lover or partner) to your children, your parents,
properties, especially those with rights of
your siblings and, finally, to the state.
survivorship. This will commingle your assets,
Kimble stresses that these suggestions are in no
and Kimble cautions that it is much more difficult
way meant to be a substitute for comprehensive
to break ties with another once you have done this.
legal advice, and she urges readers to contact an
However, Kimble states, for life partners and oth
attorney for a thorough consultation about future
ers who are absolutely certain of their desire to
and estate planning.
share assets with one another, this will allow your
For more information about establishing legal
partner to have full use of those assets if you are
rights
for same-sex and unmarried couples, or
incapacitated, and those assets would transfer to
future and estate planning, consult attorneys who
your partner if you were to die.
S.
Make out a will. According to Kimble, a will advertise in Just Out or call the Lawyer Referral
Service at 684-3763 and ask to be referred to a
not only controls disbursement of your assets when
lawyer who practices domestic relations, wills and
you die. but also allows you to designate the
probate for same-sex and unmarried couples.
guardian of your minor child or children. This
With some modifications, the above-listed con
designation will not override the rights of the other
siderations
and suggestions also apply to gay men
biological or adoptive parent, if one exists, says
and lesbians without partners.
Kimble. But it does allow you to decide who will
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