Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1996)
just OB« ▼ octob«r 4, 1 9 M ▼ 13 A re we at the top of our market? local news Is now the time to sell? LCP team makes showing Six Lesbian Community Project members par ticipated as a team in the fifth annual Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Race for the Cure on Sept. 8. It marked the first time LCP sponsored a team in that event, which is designed to raise money for breast cancer research. Team members wore LCP logos in the 5 kilometer walk, and two members carried an LCP banner. LCP ’s Race fo r the Cure team “We [did] this to promote visibility inside and outside the community,” says team captain Betty Hale. “We want others to know that we are concerned and affected by breast cancer. And we want lesbians everywhere to know that breast cancer is an issue to be aware of.” In June, LCP co -sp o n so red M obile Mammography during Lesbian and Gay Pride week. Several of the lesbians participating in the mammography screening received free or low- cost mammograms from the Oregon chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. LCP plans to sponsor a team in next year’s Race for the Cure. New mentor program for queer youth Phoenix Rising and Westside Youth and Fam ily Services have combined efforts to launch a new mentorship program for sexual minority youth. The program, entitled Pride Mentorship and Youth Services Project, is designed to provide personal and social support to lesbian, gay, bi sexual, transgendered and questioning youth. It will be administered by Phoenix Rising. Project volunteers will be matched to youth after a mentorship coordinator assesses the skills and needs of the mentor and the young person. Mentorship protocols and strategies will meet the standards of Big Brother/Big Sister programs. During its initial year, the project plans to provide mentors to 15 youth. For information, call Phoenix Rising at 223-8299. Transsexual activists leaflet at Stonewall Seven transsexual activists recently distrib uted flyers accusing the Portland Police Bureau of homophobia and harassment. The flyers, which cited the bureau’s effort to close down The City Nightclub, the investigation of openly gay police commander Mike Garvey, and alleged mistreat ment of transsexuals, were handed to moviegoers leaving Cinema 21 ’s premiere showing of the film Stonewall on Sept. 13. “The film Stonewall depicts the queens’ revolt against police harassment which sparked the modem gay rights movement,” says Portland transsexual Rachel Koteles, explaining the rea soning for the leafleting. “Both Stonewall and our flyer are wake-up calls to Portland queers. Just because Portland cops aren’t rushing into gay bars to break heads doesn’t mean they aren’t assaulting our rights.” Demonstrators are demanding that a civilian review board investigate alleged police viola tions of the rights of sexual minorities. Call me for a consultation. 225 - 1115 Getting out the youth vote More than a dozen politically active groups are setting aside their respective agendas to work in coalition to get young people and college students to vote. The campaign, known as Future Vote ’96, includes rep resentatives from the Oregon Student Association, X-PAC, Campus Green Vote, Oregon Federation of College Repub licans, Oregon NARAL, OSPIRG and other organiza tions. Coalition members are launching a voter registration drive aimed at getting young people to the polls for the Nov. 5 general election. For more information, call Fu ture V o te’96 at 231-4181. Gay mayor tours niral Oregon Bill Crew s, the openly gay m ayor o f Melbourne. Iowa, is the featured speaker during an upcoming tour sponsored by Beyond the Closet, a rural-focused gay and lesbian organization based in Central Oregon. The tour, which runs Oct. 13-20, will stop in La Grande, Bend, Klamath Falls and Ashland. Crews will specifically discuss the issue of same-sex marriage. As board president of the Gay and Lesbian Resource Center in Des Moines, Crews played an active role in efforts this past spring to successfully prevent the Iowa Legisla ture from prohibiting gay and lesbian marriages in that state. Crews has been Melbourne’s mayor since 1984. In 1995 he was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote in his rural community of 735 resi dents. Melbourne sits about 40 miles northeast of Des Moines. Crews is very involved with the Methodist Church. He is also a member of the Justice Com mission of Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa. He and his partner, Steve Kehoe, have been together for more than 17 years. “Bill is from a small community, and he un derstands a rural community’s language and limi tations. I think that will help make him an appeal ing speaker for this tour,” says Beyond the Closet’s Bruce Amsbary, who met Crews a couple of years back at a Human Rights Campaign training in Washington, D.C. Amsbary says the tour—as well as Beyond the Closet—specifically reaches out to rural commu nities because “traditional approaches to political organizing” place resources and educational ef forts in areas with larger populations. “Rural communities continue to get over looked, which makes them more vulnerable to extreme movements. We hope to counter that through our tour and other activities,” he says. According to Amsbary, Beyond the Closet arranges for a speaker and then “empowers local groups to host them.” “We see these tours as a tool for rural lesbian, gay and transgendered groups to develop grass roots leadership and to develop and enhance rela tionships with local businesses, religious and political leadership,” he says. In 1995, Beyond the Closet brought reformed Aryan Nations leader Floyd Cochran to Oregon for a monthlong tour. The organization hopes to conduct two or three tours per year as an ongoing project. For more information about the Crews tour or Beyond the Closet, call (541) 317-8966. Compiled by Inga Sorensen T r in it y E p is c o p a l C athedral Presents V espers & H ealing S ervice w ith S pecial I ntentions for those w ith H IV /A ID S ... S pecial G uest HOMILIST: REVEREND ALTAGRACIA PEREZ, living ‘ZHJhere is God in a world with AIDS? 5 pm H ealing a n d V espers S ervice 6 pm R eception t o f o ll o w ... David Anderson B ’Zillion Dollar Club W inderm ere Croma ft Capias Realty Croup, Inc 225-1115 • VM 497-5211 2078 NW Everett St. ( h o r s - d ’o e u v r e s & b e v e r a g e s s e r v e d ) C O R N E R O F N W 1 9 T H AVENUE & EVERETT TvmgB&r'.