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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1997)
14 T m a rch 2 1 . UM»7 T ju s t out local news m m m ~ mu m m cm ▼ by Inga Sorensen PLAYER REGISTRATIO N PA RTIES WLL B E HELD: OPEN DIVISIO N : HAMBURGER M A RTS 239 SW BROADWAY, 4:00PM SUN. M ARCH 23 WOMENS D IV IS ION:BREW S IS T E R S PUB 53 NW 1ST AVENUE 7:00PM SAT. M ARCH 22 SPRING TRAINING!! «m m tm FOR PLAYERS HOT YET AFFILIATED WITH TEAMS: SUN. APRIL 13 AND SUN. APRIL 20 AL8ERTA PARR, N EI9TH AND AINSWORTH, 1:00PM FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL: OPEN D IV ISIO N : ROY: (503) 246-7678 JIM : (503) 281-7637 WOMEN'S DIVISION: RIM: (360) 834-0629 TONI: ( 7 3 6 - 9 7 3 3 - doni m in e OUT!!! JOIN TODAY!! €o<M PROUDLY SPONSORED BY LIGHT ****** t’s not so much that the content of the According to White, the three young women— stories was so striking, but rather the raw who attend Lincoln, Grant and Catlin Gable honesty with which they were told. So says schools—“are out to varying degrees.” She says Lolenzo Poe, director of the Multnomah that each of the young men had at some point been County Department of Community and kicked out of unsupportive homes. Family Services. One youth offered his account of life on the He and a handful of sexual minority youth, streets, which included the need to occasionally concerned citizens, and other social service pro prostitute for survival. viders, came together in late February for what in “He talked about how incredible it was for him essence became an informal chat session at Met to be sitting in a room with 20 gay men and ropolitan Community Church in Northeast Port lesbians who were healthy and successful—like it land. was something he had never experienced before,” Participants plunked down on the couches and says White. “His story drove home the point of floor and shared their stories with Poe, whose why we were there.” department has sponsored similar community One of the lesbian youth, meanwhile, said she forums for other marginalized communities, but felt enormous support from the dyke community. no such sitdown with queer youth— until now, There was little talk of tight budgets and that is. funding issues facing government. Six sexual minority youth— three young "This was aimed at making levels of govern women and three young men—talked candidly ment aware of these young people,” says White. about their experiences as queer youth at school, “Our department serves children and families and on the streets, with family and community. that has got to include these young people and According to Poe, the gathering was a way to their families.” open up the lines of communication with queer Poe agrees, and maintains he wants to learn youth and learn how the county may play a role in more: “What is our role? How can we assist?” assisting these young people. He also says even though there is a push to “Nothing really surprised me in terms of the slash budgets due to the passage of Measure 47, a challenges they face,” he says. “However, I was cut-and-cap property tax limitation measure ap surprised by the level of pain and urgency I heard proved by voters last November, government in some of their stories.” He adds youth expressed a desire “for some common sense things” such as a place where they can come to gether to socialize. Chris White, an out les bian who handles contracts and evaluations for the county D epartm ent of Community and Family Services, helped orches trate the meeting along with co-worker Jo Storsberg. “We felt that queer youth issues were not getting heard all the way up through man agement. We wanted [Poe] to have a picture of these kids in his mind and our goal was to help paint that picture,” she says. White says the two-hour event was situated in a cozy setting— M CC’s family room. To keep the discus sion comfortable and flow ing, attendees were asked Citizens and social service providers met at Metropolitan Community to talk about why they were Church in Portland there rather than what they do for a living (or what should assess how it spends (and possibly redi their professional stake may be). rect) its existing dollars. Jim Clay, a staffer with the Multnomah County According to Storsberg, the county currently Commission on Children and Families, likened provides funding to support a case manager who the evening to a “roving conversation” that al specifically works with queer youth, as well as to lowed young people to speak freely about their various sexual minority youth groups and Out experiences. side In. “[MCC’s the] Reverend Roy Cole asked if the Others suggest that the adult gay and lesbian adults could step back and let the young people community take a more active role in reaching out take the floor and everyone took him up on that,” to queer youth and provide resources to meet their he says. needs. • According to Storsberg, a lesbian mother “This is in the truest sense a collaborative shared her concerns about the lack of safe social effort,” Poe says, adding that the next step may be options for her 14-year-old lesbian daughter. One to “go back to the group and identify people” who young man talked about his gay foster parents. want to further explore ways to improve the “It shouldn’t be so incredible that a [gay] opportunities for sexual minority youth. youth has gay foster parents. That’s the way it “Our job in part may be to facilitate that,” he should be,” Storsberg says. says. P H O TO B Y U N D A KLIEWER ASSOC I A TION! r Multnomah County sits down to chat about ways it can facilitate opportunities for sexual minority youth SOFTMU I PORTIAMO,OREGON 5SÌ How can we help?
