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the communities they represent, so that he could
raise his consciousness about issues important to
them. Unlike some aspiring politicians, he listens,
and he apparently modifies his belief systems to
“do the right thing.”
Francesconi lacks the political experience of
the other two front-runners. At forums he comes
across abrasively, although he was very soft-
spoken in the Just Out office. His heart is in the
right place, and there are many reasons to vote for
him. What turned the tide for us was his admitted
lack of experience working for issues pertaining
to lesbians and gay men, and the struggle that was
visible in his face when having to deal with issues
contrary to the teachings of his church.
G r a i l Shibley is not a
one-issue candidate, despite
some accusations to the con­
trary. As the first out lesbian
in the Oregon Legislature, she
supported the lesbian and gay
community and was part of
the legislative vanguard for
lesbian and gay rights. Some
community leaders criticized
her for not focusing enough
attention on lesbian and gay
issues; Just Out admired her
for the breadth of her focus.
As a legislator she has hon­
ored her commitment to other
communities in her constitu­
ency as well.
The very first legislation
she sponsored wiped the anti­
quated racist language from Gail Shibley
real estate law in Oregon. She
fought the anti-immigration legislation spawned
by the Republican-dominated House. She worked
behind the scenes to facilitate compromise and
diffuse confrontation within the Oregon House
and Senate chambers, thus earning the respect of
her peers— Democrats and Republicans alike.
She did all of this quietly and without great public
fanfare.
Though Shibley is not as hands-on as
Francesconi in dealing with some of the issues of
importance to communities of color, neither is she
ignorant of the issues. She knows the value of true
diversity.
As program manager for the City of Portland’s
Traffic Management Bureau she researched and
lobbied for a bureau-wide diversity committee
that reviewed hiring practices and prioritized the
involvement of marginalized communities in sol v-
ing traffic problems in neighborhoods.
As a city commissioner Shibley would advo­
cate for the Bureau of Personnel to adopt the same
diversity practices. She has a model for achieving
diversity on a citywide level that includes lesbi­
ans and gay men of all colors. We think she should
have the chance to implement it.
We need the staunchest, most unwavering ally
we can get on the City Council. Shibley does not
hesitate when asked whether she supports same-
sex marriage, whether her workplace has written
antidiscrimination policies for gay men and lesbi­
ans, or whether she would lead efforts on behalf of
lesbians and gay men.
Just Out endorses Gail Shibley for Portland
City Commissioner Position 1.
l .S. S i n v it :
We feel it important to focus on this race—
although none o f the candidates is gay or les­
bian—since Oregon’s next senator will help to
decide many national issues pertaining to lesbi­
ans and gay men in the coming years.
The Democratic candidates that we spoke
with who are vying fo r the seat being vacated by
Mark Hatfield appear to hold similar positions on
sexual minority issues, including: support for
same-sex marriage and publicly funded sexual
minority youth programs; sponsorship o f federal
legislation barring discrimination based on sexual
orientation in employment; and the abolition o f
the military ban on openly gay and lesbian service
members.
In the Democratic primary, voters will be
asked to decide among Tom Bruggere, Bill Dwyer,
Harry Lonsdale, Anna Nevenich and Jerry Rust.
'T o m Bruggere is a multimillionaire who
has never before held public office. He says he
would co-sponsor federal antidiscrimination leg­
islation, and that he backs legal marriage for
same-sex couples and supports public funding for
sexual minority youth programs. A Vietnam com­
bat veteran, B ruggere calls the C linton
administration’s “don’t ask,
don’t tell” policy “wimpy.”
Bruggere, who spent many
years in the Bay area, says he
never considered gay men and
lesbians to be od .ties.
“Gay people were always
a visible part of the culture
there,” he told us. “There was
never a particular defining
moment for me with respect
to first learning about gay
and lesbian people. That’s
like asking me if I remem­
bered the first time I met a
black person.”
When asked about his in­
volvement in the No on 9 and
No on 13 cam paigns,
Bruggere, the founder and
former chief executi ve officer
of Mentor Graphics Corp., a
local high-tech company, responded, “Which one
was the first one?”
When we told him it was 1992’s Ballot Measure
9, he said: “I think [Mentor Graphics] gave $5,000
to the No on 9 campaign. 1 wasn’t with Mentor
Graphics during Measure 13, and I don’t recall
whether I personally gave anything. I’m not sure.”
Bruggere supports women’s reproductive free­
doms, an increase in the minimum wage, protect­
ing environmental safeguards, and an increase in
educational funding for programs such as Head
Start, job training and middle-class college loans.
Bruggere favors the death penalty. When asked
about the system’s racial and class inequities, he
says: “I don’t think that’s an issue. If we got rid of
the death penalty, then people would say, ‘Most
of the people in prison for life are minorities.’ ”
Bruggere, who lives in Wilsonville with his
wife and two children, has received Right to
Privacy PAC’s endorsement.
I t strikes us as a tad ironic that a recent
Oregonian profile of state Sen. Bill Dwyer dubs
him a “people first” candidate. The newspaper
describes the 61-year-old Springfield resident as
a man who holds a "passionate belief in individual
freedoms.”
Unfortunately, Just Out did not have the op­
portunity to find out. The day we contacted
Dwyer—after having our initial phone call go
unretumed—he curtly told us: “I will not answer
your questions. I will not pander to any commu­
nity, including yours.”
When we asked Dwyer whether we could pose
him a few specific questions about issues he
might likely deal with as a U.S. senator, he reiter­
ated, “I’m not going to answer your questions.”
He hung up on us.
A Dwyer campaign aide called us back to
apologize, saying the candidate was “cranky” due
to having recently traveled so much. Later the
aide told us that he didn’t think Dwyer "realized
[Just Out] was a big publication,” and quickly
added: “Not that it should matter. No one should
be treated that way.”
H a r r y Lonsdale feels “all of our citizens
should be treated fairly.”
Lonsdale, 64, a progressive Democrat, lives in
Bend.
“That definitely includes same-sex marriage,
which I support.”
Lonsdale, who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S.
Senate in 1990 and 1992, has made campaign
reform and the environment the focus of his
campaign. He has vowed not to take any money
from out-of-state contributors or political action
committees, or individual contributions exceed­
ing $500. He says he will not spend more than
$25,000 of his own money on this race.
“It’s time to get big money out of politics,” says
Lonsdale, who like Bruggere, acquired his ample
personal fortune by starting a high-tech company.
“I used to be a millionaire but spent a lot of my
money on those previous campaigns,” he says.
In addition to backing legal marriage rights,
Lonsdale says he would co-sponsor federal anti-
discrimination legislation. He describes the mili­
tary ban as “wrongheaded.”
Lonsdale says he actively opposed measures 9
and 13, “especially Measure 13,” but admits he
never really thought much about gay and lesbian
issues until 1989, when he first ran for the Senate.
Lonsdale says that Bruce Amsbary, founder of
Beyond the Closet, a Bend-based gay and lesbian
rights group, has some duties at his campaign
office.
“Bruce was the first openly gay man that I had
ever really talked with and spent much time with,”
says Lonsdale. “I have to admit a lot was new to me.”
Lonsdale is a fervent environmentalist, op­
poses the death penalty, and would like to see cuts
in military spending and corporate welfare.
T /a n e County Commissioner Jerry Rust, 53,
is taking at least partial credit for getting "the
commission to adopt language in the early 1980s
that forbids discrimination based on sexual orien­
tation.”
“Now it’s politically safe to do that,” says
Rust, who has served on the
Lane County Commission
since 1976. “But back then, it
wasn’t. I felt strongly then, as
I do now, that we have a re­
sponsibility to stand with our
gay and lesbian brothers and
sisters.”
Rust is a solidly progres­
sive candidate who admits,
however, that he’s “just out”
on the question of legal mar­
riage for same-sex couples.
“There was a moment of
hesitation when I first thought
about it,” says Rust, a lifelong
Oregonian, “but having really
thought it through, I have psy­
chologically, emotionally and
intellectually concluded that
two consenting adults who want Anna Nevenich
to formalize their union with
the approval of the state should have the right to do
that, whether heterosexual or gay.”
Rust, who grew up in Prairie City, says his
initial hesitancy stemmed from the fact that he
“was raised in the same society as everyone else.”
He says he actively opposed measures 9 and
13, going so far as to send a letter to Lon Mabon
in which he called the Oregon Citizens Alliance
chairman a “purveyor of intolerance.”
Rust opposes the death penalty, and would
also like to see big money removed from the
campaign.
“Why do people with money always want to
start at the top?” says Rust. “I’ve been in the
trenches. I’ve been elected five times. I have a
record of accomplishments.”
e won’t lie, Just Out likes women with
spunk, and Anna Nevenich, who has been written
off by the mainstream media as a fringe candidate,
is one of those women.
Nevenich, a registered nurse and business­
woman, admittedly lacks campaign money, but
she has lots of desire.
“And compassion. What’s missing from Wash­
ington is a sense of compassion and understand­
ing of other people,” says the 48-year-old
Nevenich, who came to the United States from
Yugoslavia nearly three decades ago.
Nevenich is a “proud feminist” and self-de­
scribed “freedom fighter.”
“Even as an 8-year-old child, when I saw a
man abusing a woman, I said something,” says
Nevenich, who earlier this year made an unsuc­
cessful bid for former Sen. Bob Packwood’s seat.
Nevenich is pro-choice, supports “tutorial ser­
vices and counseling for at-risk children,” and
wants to “reduce our military budget and put the
savings into human services.”
“Of course, of course I would co-sponsor any
legislation giving people equal rights,” says
Nevenich, when asked about same-sex marriage
and antidiscrimination legislation. “People must
have aright to personal freedom. We shouldn’t be
so judgmental.”
Nevenich, who has been virtually erased from
all mainstream political coverage, says: “It’s frus­
trating, but it can’t kill my spirit.”
O f all the candidates, Rust is the only one
with experience in elected office. Rust, Lonsdale
or Bruggere would probably have the best chance
of beating the likely Republican nominee, Gor­
don Smith, in the general election in November.
All the candidates would be supporters of our
community—though Bruggere could do with some
major sensitivity training. Again, the lesbian and
gay community could not go terribly wrong with
any of these candidates.
But we want to do better than “not terribly
wrong.” We’re going to take a bold step and
endorse Anna Nevenich. The U.S. Senate needs
more women in its patriarchal chambers, and
Oregon will not have another chance at electing
one for some time. Often
political action committees,
media and political organi­
zations only focus their at­
tention on well-funded can­
didates. Most have ignored
Nevenich, who is as viable a
candidate as the others.
We’re glad we took the time
to look at Nevenich. We be­
lieve she most closely fits
the profile of representative
governm ent that the
founders of the United States
designed over two centuries
ago.
One of the things that
touched our hearts about
Nevenich is the fire of her
commitment to end social
injustice. During her years
as a nurse Nevenich has
worked with patients with HIV, and she vows to
be a vocal ally in the fight for increased funding to
fight HIV and AIDS.
Some will criticize this endorsement because
they view Nevenich as having no chance of win­
ning an election against Smith. If people looked
closer at Nevenich and her ideas, she would have
a chance. Let’s truly get big money out of elec­
toral government and send someone to Washing­
ton, D.C., who bucks the status quo. Elizabeth
Furse had no prior experience in elected office
when she ran for the U.S. House of Representa­
tives in 1993, and she has served Oregon well
since her election. We feel that Nevenich will be
an elected official in the same tradition and de­
serves the chance to prove it. Vote for Nevenich—
make a positive statement.
Teri Ventura contributed research and political
expertise to these endorsements.