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B ustin ’ O ut
A burgeoning queer youth movement is underway-
and not just in Portland by Tim Joyce
mid towering oak trees and stately
historic buildings on the Linfield
College campus, there is tension.
“It’s intense. I’m a big target,”
says Ryan Fernandez, a sopho
more and former high school wrestler who
stands out at this McMinnville-based Baptist
college of 1,500 students. It’s not because he’s a
native Hawaiian— but because he’s openly gay.
“ I didn’t want my frat brothers to find out,”
he says. “1 didn’t want to lose their friendship.
But now 1 know who my friends are.”
Fernandez has been coming out slowly at
Linfield. He started with a gay support group
and grew into peer education.
Fernandez says he was always wary about his
Theta Chi brothers learning he was gay. But,
while he knew word was spreading about him,
he didn’t expect to find fraternity brothers
scrawling homophobic comments on his door.
“It seemed like a small incident, but 1 decid
ed I didn’t want to take this shit anymore,” he
says bluntly.
Fernandez’s story is one that, statistically
speaking, is repeated hundreds of times annual
ly nationwide. What makes such stories differ
ent these days, however, is that many students
are taking action against homophobia. More
than ever—and at younger ages—gays and les
bians are actively engaged in this effort.
Fernandez has a new Linfield student code of
conduct on his side. The rewrite includes gay
men and lesbians in the code’s nondiscrimina
tion clause, which puts the college at odds with
the official anti-gay stance of the Baptist
Church itself.
Still, Fernandez says that when he took his
complaint to administration officials, little hap
pened. “It was really frustrating," he says.
When Fernandez disaffiliated with his frater
nity, he told national Theta Chi officials the
reasons behind the move. The national organi
zation’s investigation could lead to the house’s
closure, and Fernandez fears a backlash against
gay people on campus.
“I think we take acts of aggression against
anyone very seriously,” says Dave Hansen, Lin-
field’s dean of students.
Hansen says he’s not allowed to talk about
any incidents at the college— or even confirm if
there have been any incidents. But some Lin
field students say Fernandez’s situation has
sparked two other anti-gay incidents that they
are now pressuring the administration to do
something about.
Students say one incident occurred at a pro
gressive fraternity where a groovy beat got same-
and opposite-sex couples dancing. Some say sev
eral Theta Chi brothers got upset and allegedly
threw things at a drag queen and verbally
maligned same-sex guests.
A few weeks later, a lesbian couple holding
hands near the Theta Chi fraternity claimed
members verbally accosted them.
Activists with Linfield’s campus queer group,
Fusion, say one student now faces academic dis
ciplinary charges— and could be suspended.
L
ike many rural comers of Oregon, agricul
ture and timber are the bread and butter for
most of the 77,000 people who live in Yamhill
County. The activism in McMinnville would be
more of a story if it were unique to this town.
But stories like these are popping up across Ore
gon— young gay men and lesbians taking over,
getting active— and getting results.
From tiny Coos Bay along the conservative
south coast, to the capital city of Salem, to the
Republican-dominated Portland suburbs— gay
and lesbian teen support and political groups are
forming in high schools and communities
around Oregon. Even the state’s largest gay civil
rights group is bending toward the untapped
political power of the queer youth movement.
“I didn’t plan on being that involved,” says
Zarah Walker, 18, a senior at Portland’s Madison
High School. She’s looking forward to more
than just graduation—she’s joining the board of
Basic Rights Oregon.
She and two other young people are to serve
on the BRO board that oversees the fight
against anti-gay campaigns in Oregon. In bring
ing young people to its board, BRO is expanding
From left: Nerissa Ediza, Zarah Walker and
Karyn Brownson
to include an important, and often overlooked,
constituency.
“It was a huge surprise to me to be asked to be
on the board,” says Walker. But this teen-age les
bian says the reason BRO is reaching out is clear:
“It’s the most horrible ballot measure ever."
Walker is referring to an Oregon Citizens
Alliance measure that seeks in part to prohibit
school district employees from talking about gay
issues with students. BRO folks call the initia
tive, aimed for the November 2000 ballot, a
"serious threat.”
“When I started at school, I’d have been
totally lost {coming outj without the help of my
teachers there,” explains Walker. “I can’t say
enough how much this measure needs to fail. If
it passed, we’d see the teen suicide rate going up.”
n all her stars and stripes, a lotus-sitting Won
der Woman greets visitors at the Queer
Youth Networks Internet site (www.queery-
outhnetwork.com).
Its a site with answers for questioning youth
and directions to helpful resources. The grass
roots group is a BRO spinoff with chapters
building in many comers of the state.
“The youth movement is growing like we’ve
never seen before,” says BRO’s Nerissa Ediza,
who is in her mid-20s.
I
Sitting in BRO’s cramped Southeast Port-
land headquarters, she explains her role in help
ing young activists help themselves.
“It’s hands-off. We’re talking about real moti
vated, talented young people," she says. “You
don’t see that with adult groups, you have to
keep bugging them to do things.”
Only months old, the Portland-based Queer
Youth Network has been busy. The group
recently staged a rally with 150-plus people in
Salem, and a Northwest regional social justice
foundation, A Territorial Resource, just gave the
group a delicious $5,000 stamp of approval.
“We want [this group] to have the same mis
sion as Basic Rights Oregon,” says Ediza. “We
just want to make sure youth has a voice.”
I
f the cluttered hallways are any indication,
nearly everyone in Andreau Blanchard’s
dorm at Salem ’s Willamette University is pack
ing for the school year’s close. But Blanchard,
who heads up the campus gay and lesbian group,
is already looking ahead.
“We have only about six out [queers] on
campus, and next year I think I’ll be the only
one,” he laughs. “I’ll certainly have my work cut
out.”
Blanchard says the lack of activism at
Willamette is the exception compared to what
he’s seeing statewide and through his involve
ment with Salem ’s Rainbow Youth support
group for gay and lesbian teens.
“It seems to me there’s a lot going on every
where,” he says. “There are a lot of people
involved now, and a lot more younger and
younger people. It amazes me.”
Simple observations prompt many folks to
conclude that gay and lesbian youth are coming
out sooner, but it’s a harder thing for people to
agree on why this appears to be the new reality.
“The O C A put us out there,” says Linfield
student Melodee Smith. “They really helped us
out whether they liked to or not.”
Today’s queer youth were bom more than a
decade after Stonewall, and were only in ele
mentary school when the political war raged in
Oregon over measures 9 and 13 in the early
1990s. Indeed, the O C A helped push the issue
onto television sets and into people’s living
rooms.
“[Gay rights] wasn’t talked about until the
political leaders started talking about it,” says
Blanchard. “It was kept quiet before, in the
closet so to speak."
Other gay and lesbian young people say
there are additional factors to which the
changes can be attributed.
“I think the media and the popular culture
has played a big role for the first time ever,
says Daniel Roth with Linfield’s Fusion group.
“You have Ellen , Will & Groce, Spin City-you
have movies like Object of My Affection and
Chasing Amy. It’s visibility. I don’t think we ve
seen anything like this on this scale in modern
American culture. They do have a positive
effect on young people in the closet.
Says Walker: "The ffrst issue of Just Out
picked up had Ellen on the cover. It shocke
me that she had the guts to do that, and it to
me that if someone famous could do this,
could too."
Blanchard, meanwhile, credits the surging
queer youth movement to resource availabi i
ty and mentoring.
,
"A t 21, 1 have a sense of paternity to the
young gay teen-agers out there," he says,
want to make sure they have it easier than
did. It’s great, they’re celebrating who t ey
are— it’s very different from what I svcnt
through. I’m kind of jealous to see people coni
ing out at 12. These (teens] are free to deve op
themselves around who they are and not w
straight society imposes. We’re making |St(
ry.”