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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 1995)
ju st o u t ▼ n ov sm b u r 3 , 1 0 0 3 ▼ 17 S ig n ific a n t in flu e n c e s Continued from page 15 S ylvia H ackathorn customer service representative, Irish musician and lead guitarist with the rock band Unknown Soldiers * came out, finally, in my mid-20s, although my sexuality had really been defined at an early age. Mary, my best friend from about 10 years of age, heard me question aloud and saw my emotional and intellectual struggle with the con cept of being gay. Her support and unwavering acceptance of who I am was a primary influence, not to mention a virtual lifesaver. But my realiza tion that I was not an island came from lit e ratu re. V irgin ia Woolf, Vita Sackville- West (her son Nigel’s Portrait o f a Marriage especially, when it came out in 1979), Audre Lorde and Kate Millet were all excep tionally recognizable and comforting. I was always a romantic, and the putting to words by these women writers of their heart and souls helped me find the courage to walk as a lesbian through this world. “I also have a keen memory of first hearing Ferron. I happened upon her performance without knowing anything about her. 1 couldn’t believe my ears when I heard what she was singing about! Ah, the relief and joy of meeting up with a kindred spirit.” I significant literary influences: Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, E M. Forster and Essex Hemphill were all very important to me. Their works were inspiring portrayals of gay life, what it could be, what it should be.” L eslie G riep McKenzie River Gathering office manager, self-proclaimed Myers-Briggs ESTJ * here was a professor in college. She was a total intellectual challenge for me. Her name was Laura Mumford. She was a straight woman, but a lesbian-positive feminist. She and her husband were both very androgy nous. I took a feminist theory class from her. She really got me thinking. I was also really influ enced by A drienne Rich’s Lies, Secrets and Silence. That was pow erful. Oh, and Marilyn Frye. I think though, one of the most powerful in fluences on me was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I really iden tified with the main char acter. It’s been so long ago that I forgot her name. I want to remember her name. [Was it Pecola?] Yeah, that’s it, Pecola. I identified with Pecola’s being the outsider, hating herself, want ing to be something other than she was, then accepting herself. “On a more personal level it was my first childhood crush, on a girl named Patty Kramer. I was 6 or 7 years old. She was an older woman, like 10 or 11.1 learned to play Mambolina onlhe piano because she could play it, and I wanted to be able to do everything she did.” T “/ would I z. have to say Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the Olympic athlete and pro golfer, and my volleyball coach , Roberta Basko. ” •ÿ S I B arry P ack Right to Privacy executive director, avid tennis player and self-proclaimed Myers-Briggs INTP [for those who may not know, Myers-Briggs is a standardized method of personality testing] * artina Navratilova was it for me. My mom is English and her mom came over from England, so we watched Wimbledon every year. We knew Martina was lesbian, and she was the world’s greatest tennis player. Although my mom was a Chris Evert fan. my whole fam ily— even my mother— ac k n o w ledged that Martina was the best. She won more cham pionships than anyone else in history! She was the first public figure I knew who was gay or lesbian, and she was so successful. She was a very p o sitiv e role model for me. “It’s funny you mentioned Boy George. I dressed as Boy George one Halloween in junior high. And when I was a freshman in high school, our drama class used lip-synching as a way to learn acting techniques and stage presence and I I'P u n c h e d .to Boy George I - ^ h ^ <K?me M —Mickey Lee A ndy M angels publisher o f In Uniform, The M agazine rowing up a small-town farm boy in Mon tana, there were no role models for me until The Village People came along. They were the only sem i-openly gays who were famous enough to reach Big Fork, M ontana. They were mascu line role models who shaped my view that gay men could be as masculine, or hyper- masculine, as any of G thego^ql’.tioy^in pickup tfuejf^.^v* M arcy W esterling C hristopher C uttone Rural Organizing Project organizer, quitter aspiring writer, self-described dysfunctional Leo * can only think of one real-life influence. His name is Stephen Ruth, and he is a friend of my aunt. They have been friends since they were in high school together in the ’60s. Before I was old enough to know what gay was, 1 knew that he was different from most ence was OK with my family. When 1 finally did realize how he was d iffe re n t, before I knew that I, too, am different, it made me rethink some things. t wasn’t a heavy, thoughtful process for me. It For in stan ce, as a was the woman I fell in love with. Because of youngster I knew that her I came out as a lesbian and moved to to call another boy a Scappoose, Oregon. She’s the reason I’m here.” ‘faggot’ was the worst thing you could say. After I realized that Stephen was a faggot and he was such a nice man, I knew T he R ev . R oy C ole it wasn’t bad to be a faggot. Portland Metropolitan Community “Then there was the movie Grease. I saw it Church pastor when I was about 6 years old. I couldn’t decide on * whom I had the bigger crush, John Travolta or he person most responsible for helping me Olivia Newton-John. It was many years later that come out was a Jesuit priest named John I realized that others were different from me— in McNeill. His book Taking a Chance on that most focused their sexual attention on just God helped me as a minister in a conservative one gender. There are also a few homo-erotic church to see that faith, homosexuality and Chris scenes in that movie I could mention, but I won’t.” tianity are not incompat ible. I was so moved that I wrote a letter to McNeill M ickey L ee filled with questions that Independent media specialist and arose for me from read all-around jock-butch-babe ing his book. McNeill * called me on the tele would have to say Babe Didrikson Zaharias, phone and spent 30 to 45 the Olympic athlete and pro golfer, andgny minutes answering my volleyball coach, Roberta Basko. They were questions. both very positive, athletic role models. Being a “I always knew that I jock is how I express myself. It’s my connection was gay, but I repressed to who I am. In my early coming out, sports were it until I was 31 years old because I believed that my only outlet to be butch, at a time when being I could not be a Christian and a homosexual, until butch wasn’t acceptable. I don’t know their sexual I read McNeill’s book. Another person, well a orientations, but those women gave me powerful couple actually, who were instrumental in help models and, by their examples, the courage to be ing me come to terms with being gay were Jan and who I am.” J. A. Barber. J. A. was once my pastor, and he was my mentor in the ministry. Finally, there was an Episcopalian priest, Father Julius Rogina, who S cot N akagawa helped me develop my personal understanding of National Gay and lesbian Task Force God, the Bible, spirituality, sexuality and human national field director ity. This allowed me to fully integrate each com * ponent and establish a healthy view of my entire he most significant influence in my entire self.” life is my grandmother, Tsune Nakagawa. She raised me and instilled in me the most important values that guide me to this day. She F loreid W alker was an agricultural worker who was widowed Waddell and Reed Financial very young. Raising eight children on 75 cents a Services senior account executive day taught her the i mportance of collecti ve struggle * and the need to organize workers. My grand he person who influenced me most to mother inspired me to come out as a lesbian was my public health become an organizer instructor in nursing school, Judy. I was a by sharing stories with 22-year-old nurs me of her involvement ing student who in organizing agricul was e ag e r to tural workers in Ha learn, and Judy waii. Among the val taught me the ues I learned from my finer points to the grandmother are rec art of home vis ognizing the real con its. O f course, trib u tio n s w orkers with lots of prac make, understanding the true meaning of power, tice sessions, I and the importance of keeping very few secrets. learned quickly. That’s a core value for me. I keep very few That semester of unnecessary secrets. pu b lic health “My gay influences were the street youth in nursing was fol Hawaii with whom I spent most of my teen years. lowed by seven They call queens ‘mahu,’ and all lesbians are years o f young called ‘butchies.’ Among those youth, many were lesbian love to lesbians. I went on to become a social worker, and gether. She was a great teacher, both in the class I worked with those kids." room and the lab.” I I T I T T PHOTO B * TER! VENTURA it’s OK to be who you are, whatever that is. The most influential person in my life has been Christine Jorgenson. Her autobiography and the movie about her were very inspirational to me. She showed me, and hopefully others, that for some it is a natural human trait to question and change the outward appear ance of gender if what you look like doesn’t fit what you really are.”