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ight spills through the windows into
the front room. A comfortable couch
and a high-backed wing chair form a
cozy nook in one comer. Surrounded
by boxes and the smell of fresh paint,
tired from a day of moving the Lesbian Com
munity Project into its new home, Deke Law
talks about her first year in Portland.
“When 1 came here, it was hard. 1 left
friends, a lover of 17 years, and my community,”
she explains. “But 1 was really excited about the
opportunity to be paid full time to do communi
ty organizing, and by the response of the com
munity to rebuilding LCP, and by LCP’s work
with young people.”
As staff organizer, Law is the only paid staff
person. She works closely with the LCP’s board
of directors to coordinate the organization’s vol
unteers and activities.
“I love this work; I’m so passionate about it
and fed by it,” she says. “It really is 24 hours a
day, seven days a week for me. But 1 don’t feel
restricted by that. It’s actually liberating. I feel
lucky to get paid to do this.”
Law, 47, came to Portland from St. Louis
with many years of paid and unpaid activism to
her credit. She was staunchly against the Viet
nam War. Later she helped found feminist
women’s health centers and self-help clinics in
Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif., and went on
to train the founders of similar clinics in
Atlanta; Chico, Calif.; and Iowa City, Iowa.
She went on a speaking tour in Western
Europe at the invitation of women’s groups in
eight European communities. She also served on
the board of Blacks Assisting Blacks Against
AIDS in St. Louis and spent four years on the
national advisory board of Out Fund at Funding
Exchange.
aw originally came to the Pacific Northwest
to work on the final stages of the campaign
against Measure 9, an initiative that was on the
Oregon ballot in 1992 and sought in part to
legally deem homosexuality as “abnormal,
wrong, unnatural and perverse.”
During the campaign, Law met several peo
ple who would later help recruit her to apply for
LCP’s staff organizer position.
“One of the things that really attracted me to
LCP was the work being done by youth and
young people,” she says. “I arrived right after
LCP’s first camp, which is called the Camp For
merly Known as Lesbian (named by an avid
Prince fan). Really exciting work came out of
that camp, and it showed me how LCP is work
ing to involve young people.”
Law attended the second camp as a cook.
“It was great,” she says. “Again, the group
was 50 percent young women of color, and the
campers really worked hard on issues of race.
L
L aw and J ustice
Just Out talks with the Lesbian Community Project's
politically passionate staff organizer by Shona Dudley
They would carry their discussions over from the
workshops and still be wrestling with the issues
during time that was supposed to be just for fun.
“Also, five campers identified as transsexual,
so there was a lot of work around issues of gen
der identity,” she adds.
Law leans forward eagerly, all signs of fatigue
gone.
“I think that the camps are changing the
leadership of LCP, and who’s involved in LCP,
and who’s working for change in our communi
ty,” she says. “This year, LCP is moving into
thinking about our programming in an inter-
generational way— supporting and influencing
Deke Law
young lesbians, older lesbians, everyone in
between. Our work groups— the people who
come together to create programming— range in
age from 15 to 70. It’s incredible.”
LCP’s work groups are “basically focus groups
with an intent to act,” Law explains. “We’re
working to create a system where we have lots of
different perspectives coming together to create
programming that not only serves LCP mem
bers, but also creates closer ties to other com
munities.”
The work group system has produced collab
oration with Neighborhood Women on an anti
racism series and work with the Rural Organizing
Project to develop a progressive queer network.
Law readily acknowledges that not all of
LCP’s members are happy about the wider focus
of the rebuilt organization, as evidenced by spir
ited debate at the group’s last annual meeting,
when some members expressed grave concern
that the lesbian in Lesbian Community Project
was being shunted to the side.
“What was exciting to me, though, was that
people were so passionate.” she says. “People
were engaged, and as an organizer, I can work
with that.”
Law says that LCP is putting its energies in
three directions: internally, toward its members,
and toward the community.
“When 1 first started they’d just begun the
neighborhood dinners,” she says. “I attended all
of them. It was great to meet members and hear
what they wanted. One of the things was more
organizing. And there was
recognition that there
were many, many different
people involved in LCP in
many different ways. We
wanted to develop a mis
sion statement that reflect
ed a broad social justice
vision and also welcomed
all of our members.”
She adds: “You have to be
able to talk about your
desires and your sexuality.
LCP did a forum about sex
and democracy in Decem
ber; I’d love to do another
one. I feel very strongly
that sexual liberation is
very strongly linked to
social justice issues. One of
the ways that we’re robbed of spirit is that we’re
denied opportunities to express ourselves sexual
ly in ways that are positive, open and safe. That
loss of spirit is a vital issue— as vital, and con
nected to, other issues like economic justice and
racial justice that are more openly the focus of
social justice activists. Without spirit, we are dis
engaged."
Issues of sexuality and identity strike close to
home for Law.
“I identify as butch. I identify as queer, and I
identify as transgender. This language and these
words have helped me understand myself and
my world,” says Law, who hopes she is helping to
build an atmosphere at LCP where people can
recognize each other as individuals, not stereo
types.
“I live downtown," she adds. “I love being in
the middle of a vibrant city— there aren’t many
places where I could afford to live in the heart of
things on an activist’s salary.”
Still, she notes: “I miss home— but now I
have two homes. I’ve made some incredible
friends, who come from all over. I didn’t have to
give up everything; now I’m part of two very dif
ferent, large, vibrant communities. When I get
homesick, that just reminds me how lucky I am
to be a part of both.”
LCP’s N ew D igs
love the light, the openness, the big logo
in the windows,” noted Romaine Fredric-
ka, beaming as she surveyed the Lesbian
Community Project’s new home at 1001 E.
Burnside St. in Portland. “It’s like being in
the closet versus being out. This location
will raise the consciousness of the commu
nity and give access to people who other
wise wouldn’t know LCP exists.”
Everyone in the vicinity should know
that LCP exists now; by the time the May
15 open house began winding down in the
evening, the sidewalks surrounding the
space were covered with brightly colored
slogans and drawings. Young and old alike
had grabbed chalk and headed outside to
express themselves.
Inside, big sheets of paper invited guests
to write down their thoughts about sexual
orientation, gender identity and age. A col
lection of photos from old LCP newsletters
decorated one wall; board members and vol
unteers moved through the crowd answer
ing questions and listening to comments.
“Most people are really happy about the
new space,” said board member Kristin
Teigen. “I think it is going to facilitate a lot
of community involvement. It’s a welcoming
space— and it’s big enough for more than
one meeting to go on at the same time.”
Teigen added that the space LCP occu
pied when she first she became involved
was the basement of a board member’s
house. “It was much smaller, very damp, not
visible at all,” she said. “This is so much
nicer. I think that in addition to just having
a space, this location will provide what I
call a psychic home. It’s a safe place to
come to and be a part of a community."
The Lesbian Community Project is
located at 1001 E. Burnside St. in Portland.
For more information, call LCP at
(503) 233-3913.
I
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