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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1996)
t 14 ▼ fe b ru a r y 1 6 , 1 9 9 6 T j u s t o u t “The themes w e’ve dreamed” are at the local news Lesson plan by Inga Soren sen “Where the Pacific Ocean is open 365 days a year!” Y our hosts : G eoff P faff & D anny L eines A 421/423 N. Miller • PO Box 920 Rockaway Beach, OR 97136-0920 (503) 355-8610 Mention this ad for a 10% discount Coventry Cycle W orks ECCENTIAL is) UPHILL TECHNOLOGY. DOWN HILL PRICING. All 1995 models now available at reduced cost OPEN TUESDAY-SUNDAY 2 3 0 -7 7 2 3 • 2 0 2 5 SE Haw thorne lotions & oils 7K) N W sad Aw. • 248-9748 * 3638 SE \ lawthome • Ü3Ô-7V76 C an D o n ’ t S ay Y o u t G et A H ome Lorn U ntil Y o u ’ ve P ho ned H ome a First Time Home Buyers Programs a Manufactured Housing/Land a Self-Employed Borrowers a Credit Problems a Bankruptcies & Foreclosures a Debt Consolidation a Complicated Borrowers a 3% Down Programs a Investment Properties a Pre-approvals for Purchase re your full service mortgage company. C a ll today for a free qualification over the phone 503 / 698-5429 P a g e r 5 03 /8 7 0 -1 6 6 6 C h r is t in e C . H a ll Mortgage Broker HOME MORTGAGE CORP. i pending project seeks to educate pro fessionals who work with sexuai mi nority youth, particularly those liv ing in rural areas of Oregon and neigh boring states. ‘This will be different from most projects that deal with gay youth in that we will not work directly with young people,” explains Bruce Amsbary of the Bend-based Beyond The Closet, the sexual minority educational and advocacy organization that is launching the rural queer youth outreach project. ‘‘We want to get resources to those profession als—everybody from teachers to counselors to clergy— that come into contact with queer youth on a regular basis, but may not necessarily have the information they need that enables them to be as supportive as they should be,” he says. The mission of Beyond The Closet is to, in part, pro mote the understanding and acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Founded in 1994, Be yond The Closet also seeks to “form alliances that work for social, environmental and economic justice.” In January, the group’s board decided to focus on sexual minority youth, whose needs often go unmet. “Gay organizations typi cally shy away from youth because they don’t want to be viewed as recruiters,” says Amsbary. On the flip side, the broader community often ig nores this population or treats it with hostility. “I’ve heard of situations where teachers make blatant hom ophobic rem arks in class,” he says. “That can be devastating to a young per son.” Amsbary says although resources and information are increasingly available to and about sexual minority youth, this population’s general in visibility— and the typically unfriendly climate in which they experience their daily Bruce Amsbary lives— makes it difficult to successfully connect queer youth to appropriate services. He believes educating adults about the avail able resources— as well as accurate information regarding sexual minority youth— is critical if young people are going to have their needs met. ‘There may be supportive adults and profes sionals out there, but they may not have informa tion that makes it easier for them to assist youth,” says Amsbary. “A project like this could hope fully fill those voids.” Other attempts have been made to get infor mation to teachers, counselors and school admin istrators. For instance, the Portland chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays recently compiled comprehensive educa tional packets that included a potpourri of infor mation about sexual minority youth, and sent the r packets to schools throughout the state. According to Amsbary, the rural queer youth project will likely work with groups such as PFLAG, the many human dignity groups associ ated with the Rural Organizing Project, and others who are interested in creating safe climates for sexual minority youth. He hopes the project will be up and running by the beginning of the next school year. Scott Thiemann, the project’s outreach coor dinator, says that will depend on how much grant money can be secured. If enough funding is ob tained, Thiemann will travel throughout rural Oregon assisting residents who express a desire to create safe and equitable environments for queer youth. Such work is not new to Thiemann, who is the ¡III PHOTO BY BUCK AMSBARY Take the time to moisturize Plans are in the works for a project that will inform rural educators on the special needs o f queer youth former director of the “Outreach to Rural Youth Project.” In that position he spent three years journeying through eastern Washington meeting with hundreds of professionals and youth. ‘T here’s still a lot of misinformation out there. Look at the OCA’s ballot initiative that said ‘Child Protection Act,’ ” comments Thiemann. “Nobody seems to be responding to that.... We’ve got to get the facts to people.” Thiemann, who has a degree in elementary education from Oregon State University, was a planning committee member for the sexual mi nority youth conference held in Portland last fall. He is also a steering committee member of the Odyssey Project, which attempts to create a safer environment for all youth in Oregon by increas ing their awareness of diversity, and their respect for others regardless of their differences. » i » , . . i i i n ' • > « »> i i i j i j ii t *. U t i