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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1999)
february 5. 1999 » j M t W *j2 Is a Por tl and,gay and lesbian community center a tar-fetched fantasy or a reality on the verge? by t H olly P ruett • photos by K.H. K imball he queer community in Oregon has vanquished Lon Mabon time and again, won the most sweeping gay and lesbian rights court decision in the country, and at one time boast ed a half-dozen openly queer state legislators. So why doesn’t our metropolitan area have what more than 100 other cities and towns across the nation now enjoy— a gay and les bian community center? Ron Rasmussen, a Vancouver, Wash.-based marketing consultant, has an unconventional answer. “Dare 1 say it?” G o ahead, Ron. “I think it’s SA D — Seasonal Affective Dis order. People just don’t have the energy to put into it.” Despite the percentage of time we spend mildewing inside a rain cloud, the idea of a gay and lesbian community center pops up as regu larly as mushrooms on a cow patty. In the wake of 1992’s N o on 9 campaign, a number of activists interested in organizing a center worked on the idea for months, deter mined to refocus the energy generated by the bitter political battle into a positive force to build the queer community. A few years later, three board members from Pride Northwest, the group that orchestrates the Portland pride parade, traveled to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center on a fact-finding mission, but they were unable to persuade the rest of the board to move the concept forward. Just recently, Portland Gay Men’s Chorus board members began singing this now-familiar tune. When they created their 10-year vision for the chorus at their latest planning retreat, a gay and lesbian community center was a part of it. In the wake o f 1992's No on 9 campaign, Chorus board member Joe Jefferson, a fund raising consultant with the Collins Group, has a number o f activists interested in organizing begun to talk with leaders of various sexual a center worked on the idea for months, minority organizations about exploring the need for a center. determined to refocus the energy generated “We see ourselves as just a convenor for the conversation that gets people together,” by the bitter political battle into a positive explains Jefferson. “The Portland Gay Men’s force to build the queer community. Chorus has no vested interest in the outcome." The outcome, based on Just Out’s conversa tions with many of these same community leaders, is far from certain. al skills of community members, as well as bet Steen and Vazquez visited Oregon last “When you talk about a queer community ter “connection and communication” fostered autumn as part of their ongoing work on behalf center, who is included?” This question, articu by the national network. of the National Association of Lesbian and lated by Cecil Prescod of Brother to Brother, is “The New York, Minneapolis and Los Gay Community Centers. at the top of a long list of issues raised around Angeles centers serve as models,” Vazquez says. The association formed in 1994 when rep town about ownership, leadership, funding and “People see what’s possible and then project resentatives from centers around the country control. their own communities into that.” convened in New York for the 25th anniver The answer, from the perspective of one The New York Lesbian and Gay Communi sary of the Stonewall rebellion. At the time, national community center advocate, is simple. ty Service Center is one of five centers whose there were 37 centers on the mailing list. “A community center is a place where any budgets exceed $1 million. (The other four are Today there are more than 100. one in the community can go and see them in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Vazquez attributes the “explosion of local selves reflected,” asserts Carmen Vazquez, Barbara, Calif.) communities creating their own centers" to director of public policy for the New York Les Founded in 1983 and located in a 150-year- several factors. First, the success of right-wing bian and Gay Community Services Center. old high school in Greenwich Village, the New attacks on the queer community throughout That means more than the pictures on the York facility hosts more than 300 community the 1990s created an urgent awareness that wall, according to the center’s public policy groups that, along with center services and pro “home is where it’s at,” as Vazquez frames the associate, Carlie Steen. “ If you want a commu grams, attract more than 5,000 visitors each increasing focus of the queer rights movement nity center that represents the whole commu week. Its monthly calendar of events is mailed on local organizing. nity, you need the whole community involved to 50,000 homes. At the same time, she notes the movement in organizing and running it,” says Steen, an Counseling and social services at the center is getting more sophisticated via the profession attorney. include the Gender Identity Project, substance abuse and bereavement services, youth enrich ment, and mediation. Its public policy depart ment coordinates an international queer rights program and a family project called Center Kids, along with a massive ongoing voter regis tration and mobilization campaign and statewide legislative advocacy. An array of tastes are satisfied with recre ational offerings and cultural programs ranging from bingo to a sexuality series, along with New York’s largest gay and lesbian lending library and the National Museum and Archive of Lesbian and Gay History. Perhaps the center’s most significant role, though, is in “allowing the community to orga nize itself,” as Vazquez puts it. The simple act of providing affordable and accessible meeting space has helped to midwife organizing efforts that swept the nation. A C T UP, Queer Nation, the Lesbian Avengers and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation were all bom at the center. It’s that organizing potential that some feel is the most compelling reason to consider a community center in Portland. The Lesbian Community Project’s Deke Law, a veteran of community organizing efforts around the country, says, “Housing and/or coordination of the activities of existing orga nizations is only one small piece of what a true community center can offer.” Law envisions a center as a force for build ing not just community, but the movement. “Providing an entry point for folks, a reclaiming of identity as life-saving, is vital to developing a community that has the strength and will to keep up the long fight for social change," says Law. “A community center can provide the kind of leadership development, cross-training and skill building that will sup port organizational development and create new energy for doing this work.” Can this be achieved just by moving exist ing organizations under one big roof? No, according to Vazquez, who believes “a unifying mission and a group of people to carry it out” is essential to a true community center. “Co-located organizations without a central mission are not a community center. They’re just a piece of real estate,” says Vazquez. Based on her work with centers ranging from Panhandle Gay and Lesbian Support Ser vices in Scottsbluff, Neb., to The Edge in Fre mont, Calif., Steen concludes: “All centers can work off the same model and play the same role in their community, regardless of their size. From that foundation, the focus of the cen ter varies from town to town. Some are the main sexual minority social service providers in their communities; others tip more toward pub lic policy or cultural programming. What about a city like Portland, where there is already a relatively developed network of services and groups serving the queer com munity? In that type of turf-oriented territory, Vazquez cautions, it is especially important that someone advocate for the community as a whole. Continued on Page 22
