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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1995)
14 ▼ d a cem b er 1, 1905 T just out TWENTY-THIRD AVENUE local news BOOKS Fringe no more 1015 NW 2 3rd A venue, Portland, O regon 97210, (503) 224-5097 The transsexual community takes RTP to task for perceived exclusionism ▼ Monday-Friday 9:30 - 8 pm □ Saturday 10 am - 8 pm □ Sunday 11 am - 4 pm by Inga Sorensen ranssexual rights advocates say they want Right to Privacy PAC, Oregon’s largest sexual-minority-rights orga nization, to change the name of its flagship fund-raiser and push for state wide legislation that protects not only lesbians and bisexuals from discrimination, but transsexuals as well. “We are really tired of being ignored and mis treated. The TS [transsexual] community was pur posely excluded from the ADA [the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law barring dis crimination against people with disabilities] and HIV/AIDS activists didn’t do anything. We had to fight like hell to be allowed to participate in the Gay Games. We are a part of this community, too, and we want to be treated as such,” proclaims 38- year-old Candice Hellen Brown, a local trans sexual-rights advocate. Brown says she is concerned about Right to Privacy’s decision last legislative session to push a bill that excluded language she believes could have covered members of the transsexual and transgendered communities, in addition to gay men and lesbians. Right to Privacy PAC has been lobbying state lawmakers for more than a decade to pass legisla tion that could protect gay men and lesbians from discrimina tion. During the 1995 session, Right to Privacy put forth a bill p ro h ib itin g d iscrim in atio n based on sexual orientation in housing, employment and pub lic accommodations. According to Brown, more inclusive options were pre sented during an earlier brain storming session among mem bers of the sexual minorities community. She specifically points to a draft offered by state Rep. George Eighmey (D-Port- land). It read, in part: “Sexual ori entation means having or being perceived as hav ing an emotional [or] physical attraction to another person without regard to the sex of that person, or having or being perceived as having an orientation for such an attraction or having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not commonly associated with one’s biological sex....” “That draft proposal incorporated inclusive lan guage which could have covered transsexuals, but Right to Privacy went with something else,” says Brown. “What that says to me is that Right to Privacy views the TS community as some fringe group that is expendable. They want us to disap pear. Well that’s not going to happen.” According to Eighmey, several proposals were discussed during that strategizing session. (On hand were representatives from Right to Privacy and several community organizations, as well as gay, lesbian and bisexual legislators.) "We got together to discuss what we thought could pass, and how to do that,” he says. “The majority decided the best thing to do was to go with a sexual orientation omnibus bill with a couple options in the wings, including an employment bill. “1 presented my draft," continues Eighmey, “but I think there may have been some people who thought if you included tran ssex u al o r transgendered people, it would frighten too many legislators. But this just wasn’t Right to Privacy. T Discover the Fine Art of American Craft Great gifts in glass, clay, wood, fiber, and jewelry by America’s test Colorful art-glass, vases, and perfume vials. The Real Mother Goose - A Shop and Gallery in Portland, Oregon Eustside_____ Doumtown Westside Portland Airport (503) 284-9929 901 S.W. Yamhill (503) 223-9510 Washington Square (503) 620-2243 Extended hours in December !!! ^ W More than you remember - or even hoped for Jewelry - Gifts - Decorative Ware jL Candles - ^ Aromatherapy • • 8c other Enlightenments Rubber Stamps - Cards - Journals - Toys * Solstice; Uanukkah 8r Christmas ^ 3633 SE Hawthorne - 2 3 0 -7 7 4 0 - Open everudau • There were other people there.” “We were exploring different possibilities,” says Right to Privacy chair Lisa Maxfield. “We had considered defining sexual orientation by list ing various groups, but when you do that you’re actually gay men, limiting yourself. “On the flip side, you can get into trouble by using language that is too vague and ambiguous. If you do that, a lot of lawmakers will simply drop- kick the bill by claiming it is technically un sound. ... We decided to go with a very clean bill.” According to Maxfield, specifiers of sexual orientation— such as homosexuality, heterosexu ality or bisexuality— were not included in the bill that Right to Privacy ultimately went with. “Which we believe actually made the legislation more inclusive,” says Maxfield, adding that perhaps it is best there be a separate bill covering the trans sexual and transgendered communities. “All I’m saying is that maybe that’s the best way to handle it,” she stresses. That is an option that doesn’t sit well with Brown. ‘T o the OCA there is no difference be tween being gay and being part of the TS commu nity. To them we are all the same.” Brown and other transsexual rights advocates also want Right to Privacy to change the name of the Lucille Hart Dinner, its w ell-know n annual fund raiser. The event is more than a decade old and attracts pow erful political figures, includ ing the governor and members of Congress. The dinner was named for Alberta Lucille Hart, an ac complished physician and au thor who lived in Oregon from 1890 to 1962. Bom female, Hart lived an adult life as male—dressing as a man, claiming a male pronoun, and marrying a woman. Some be lieve that Hart was actually a lesbian who lived outwardly as a man as a way to better deal with society’s homophobia. Brown and others, however, maintain that Hart was actually transsexual—someone whose essence was male, both internally and externally. “This is a part of our transsexual history that has been stolen from us,” says Brown. ‘T o put Alan Hart out as a lesbian dressed as a man is inaccurate. We want the name of the dinner changed to the Alan Hart Dinner because that’s who this person really was.” Says Maxfield: “How do you or I know the truth about whether Lucy was a lesbian or a preoperative transsexual? I’m not yet convinced that was the case.” And then there is the whole issue of tradition and name recognition. “People know this event as the Lucille Hart Dinner. For that reason alone there is some reluctance to change it,” she says. Maxfield encourages those who want to see a name change to present the Right to Privacy board with written information that they believe bolsters their case. “Right to Privacy wants to be more inclusive. We will be discussing all of this during our board retreat [in January],” she says. "I would also be surprised if anyone on this board wasn’t fully supportive of backing legislation that pro tects transsexuals and transgendered people from discrimination. We are in total agreement with that goal.”