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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1997)
* . * ft * .-• ft . » ■* local news o if you look at the big ticket item— Oregon ENDA—this past legislative session appears to have been a bust. Right? Not so, according to politicos who say things could have been a lot worse. “Oregon DOM A didn’t make it, and for that we are really, really grateful,” says Barry Pack, execu tive director of Right to Pride, an Oregon gay, lesbian and bisexual rights organization that took the lead in promoting ENDA and stifling DOMA. As you well know by now, ENDA, a k a the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, sought to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, while DOMA, a k a the De fense of Marriage Act, aimed to bar equal mar riage rights for same-sex couples. ENDA cleared the House in April by a historic 40-20 vote, but was ultimately squashed by Sen ate leadership. DOMA, meanwhile, seemed to be on the fast track to passage when it flew through the Senate in May. Somewhat surprisingly, though, it stalled and died in the House—but not before giving Pack a few gray hairs. “It was real touch and go during those final hours. At the end of session, everyone is scram bling and you just don’t know who to trust. You don’t know who’s cutting what deals,” he says. “After our experience with ENDA, when Senate leadership kept shifting the rules on us, you get extremely leery.” According to Pack, conservative legislators were making last-minute noises about jump-start ing DOMA, which he says would have required 40 representatives of the 60-member House to vote affirmatively to suspend the rules to allow further movement on the bill. “What our supporters did was work to ensure those 40 votes weren’t there,” he says. peaking of ENDA, the bill’s chief sponsor, openly gay Rep. Chuck Carpenter, a Repub lican from the Portland area, says he’s ex tremely disappointed the bill flopped in the Senate. “It’s frustrating. I’m fed up with the Senate, not only because of ENDA but because of the transportation bill as well,” Carpenter told Just Out during Right to Pride’s annual summer Gar den Party. Traditionally held in a supporter’s private garden, the July 12 event had an artistic bent—it was situated in a semi-open air warehouse that played home to the Portland Institute for Contem porary Art’s “Garden Show,” an exhibit featuring more than 100 works of art sourced from gardens. A couple hundred folks turned out for the fund-raiser, including Rep. Jim Hill of Hillsboro, the GOP col league who banded with Carpenter to play some political hardball to move ENDA. The duo embarked upon some parliamentary maneuvering, which caught House leadership by S It's a wrap Another success is passage of HB2693. Eighmey says in the past, the state Office for Services to Children and Families insisted that adoptions by same-gender couples involving cross adoptions—each parent adopting the other parent’s child—require two pre-adoption and two post adoption home studies. Married couples who cross-adopt, however, only required one pre-adoption report, while a post-adoption report was optional. Thanks to HB2693, the policy applied to married couples now extends to same-gender and unmarried couples, as well. Another score: Senate Bill 1129, sponsored by Sen. Kate Brown (D-Portland), which creates a “youth suicide prevention coordinator” to coordi nate a statewide effort to reduce suicide among young people. Players look back at the ’97 legislative session from the calmer vantage point of the RTP Garden Party by Inga Sorensen ighmey, always a vibrant and outspoken character, is ending his House career with a bang, albeit not the most pleasant one. He, along with Reps. Margaret Carter (D- Portland), Ron Adams (R-West Linn) and House Speaker Lynn Lundquist (R-Powell Butte), are defendants in a $39 million lawsuit brought by Eugene resident Lawrence Carver. The legislators confronted Carver back in Apri 1 as he was hanging an African American state official in effigy as part of a protest at the Capitol. The effigy of Kay Toran, director of the state Office for Services to Children and Families, was viewed as racist by some, and prompted the law makers to tear it down. “What I saw was a noose around a black woman’sneck. Ittook me back to the 1950s, when images of black people hanging were not un usual,” says Eighmey, conceding he became in credibly indignant and animated as he practically climbed into Carver’s face. Carver, meanwhile, has said the action was not designed to be racist, but rather was a demon stration against child welfare officials whom he claims have taken his daughter from him. Eighmey, a lawyer, admits it’s uncomfortable being a named defendant in a lawsuit. "After the incident I questioned my motives. I questioned myself,” he says. He adds, “Strangers on the street, black and white, have come up to me to shake my hand and thank me for standing up to that, which feels good.” E Chuck Carpenter (left), George Eighmey and Jim Hill surprise and ultimately led to a successful floor vote on ENDA. “When RTP asked me early on whether I would support this, I said, yes, of course,” says Hill. “I did what I did because it was the right thing to do.” Hill and Carpenter, both moderates, will likely be targeted by conservative Republicans during the primary election. Indeed, as we reported a few months back, Oregon Republican Party leaders sent letters to Hill and Carpenter essentially say ing they’d better behave or consider switching party affiliations. “My mother told me to switch,” says Hill, a lifelong Republican who hails from parents who are also lifelong GOPers. (Hill’s mother is his legislative secretary. He says she didn’t like the way GOP leadership was acting and advised him to make the move.) ‘Trust me, I was close to doing it,” says Hill, adding that he intends to stick with his party—for now, at least. As for Carpenter, he says he’s going to take a little vacation to Scotland to relax and reinvigo rate before it’s time to begin the campaigning process all over again. ne familiar face you won’t see back in the House next session is openly gay Rep. George Eighmey (D-Portland). In light of term limits, Eighmey’s pondering some other options, most notably a run for a seat on the Multnomah County Commission. “It’s still early, but that’s what I’m looking at at this point,” Eighmey told us at the Garden Party. “I’m talking with people and getting feed back.” As for the 1997 legislative session, Eighmey says it’s important to acknowledge the victories, among them, passage of House Bill 3207, which he introduced. The measure, which has been signed into law, requires that a deceased’s wishes or pre-arrange ments as to the state of the body be fulfilled as long as it is legal (e.g., burial or cremation). Other bills that passed include House Bill 2779, which allows a designee to administer in jections. According to Eighmey, Oregon law had re quired that only a close relative could administer injections. H B2779, however, allows an individual todesignate who may give an injection, which will benefit same-gender couples among others. O A Q uick N ote : Former state Rep. Gail Shibley, who ran unsuccessfully for a Portland City Coun cil seat last election, was at the Garden Party looking tan and well-rested. When asked whether she is considering an other run for public office, Shibley said she is “exploring” possibilities, but remained extremely tight-lipped on what those possibilities might be. Celebrate your commitment ceremony in style. 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