(une 18. 1999 • J u s t o n t
fTiTi^iTl news
%eattyCooi
PHOTOS BV TB*CIA
W eeding O ut HIV
Antiques &
Treasures
In Eugene, Radical Faerie and HIV-prevention worker
Trent Seager is planting seeds (or change
yanking out a dandelion root. “I visit
twice a year.... 1 miss the hickory and oak
forests. It was very nice growing up
[there]. It wasn’t very progressive though,
it was pretty stifling.”
He found a similar climate at Purdue
University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Seager says many on the 35,000-stu-
dent campus seemed too close-minded to
have a true dialogue about sexuality. He
was dissatisfied academically, as well, and
dropped out.
He eventually made his way to the
Pacific Northwest to attend school in
Bellingham, Wash.
Seager credits a group of lesbian
friends at Fairhaven College at Western
Washington University for coaxing him
out of the closet at 23.
overing directly overhead, the
And they challenged him to step into the
bright sun casts short shadows. shoes of others, and to challenge others to do it
Trent Seager is taking advantage too.
of the warm June day, yanking
“Gays and lesbians are very quick
weeds and spreading mulch in the to say they want to end homopho
garden behind his old Victorian bia,”
house
says in Seager. “But, I say we have
Eugene.
to look within first. We have to deal
“It’s about community, not condoms,” he with our own racism, sexism, clas-
says, his eyes still focused on the ground.
sism, ageism before we can expect
Seager knows community well. A 30-year-old other people to deal with their
man who heads up Eugene’s Gay Men’s Health homophobia.... You can’t get rid of a
Network, he lives in the Du’-Ma Community single oppression, you have to tear it
House with seven other roommates who cook, all down.”
clean, eat and garden together.
Seager—who embraces the word
“It’s all akxit being progressive,” he says queer for its inclusiveness— is also a
akuit the commune, “not just being queer.”
strong advocate for gay, bisexual and
Seager kneads his hands through the soil trans men in Native American,
around currant bushes. It’s much like his work for African American, Latino and rural
Lane County’s HIV Alliance, where he’s been communities. He says he’s even can
digging for a year at what he says are the roots of celed and postponed retreats when
HIV infection: a lack of community.
he thought there wasn’t enough
“You come out of the closet, but you don’t diversity in the group.
come out into anything,” he says. “You come out
“We know HIV infection affects
into a straight world. [There’sJ a longing to mostly the disenfranchised popula
belong—to find your family in a way that you tions. They abuse drugs, they’re peo
haven’t been given. Certainly Seattle, San Fran ple of color, they’re working class,
cisco—even Portland—are portrayed as being they’re rural men. So, what I really
that, but they’re not.... Men put themselves at address is holistic health.... We have
risk because of rejection within our community.” to make our lives worth living as
Seager adds: “Feeling they’re ugly or not good much as we make our emblems [of
enough—that’s more threatening than the [Ore gay pride] worth wearing,” he says.
Seager’s desk at the HIV Alliance
gon Citizens AllianceJ. I think [OCA chairman]
Lon M akin brings us together. I think it’s our is cluttered with messages and notes near his
own emphasis on looks, our issues with racism, computer. He spends roughly half his time here
organizing, planning and responding to e-mail.
classism, that rip us apart.”
His outreach territory is Lane County. The
Seager knows about being on the outside. A
bisexual, he grew up playing in the forests of east thousands of square miles contain an awkward
mix of urban and rural Oregon that stretches
ern Indiana.
“I was a little nature kiy,” he laughs while from the coast to the Cascades.
“We have a lot of Portland
groups that think they are
Oregon—and they seem to
think they speak for the
whole state. Everyone thinks
they’re dealing with rural
Oregon,” he says. “They
think they’re the progressive,
cutting-edge ones—and we’re
still just dealing with homo
phobia. The real front lines
are the rural counties."
If Portland is progressive,
then Seager’s approach is pio
neering as he strives to
expand the frontiers of HIV
prevention by bringing
events out of the Eugene
I
by Tim Joyce
metro area and into more rural comers of the
county.
The Gay Men’s Health Network is funded
through state and federal dollars, and Seager
credits Portland’s Cascade AIDS Project and the
Rural Organizing Project for many useful ideas.
Whether a retreat at the Oregon coast, a
facilitated discussion on dating, or even handing
out condoms at Eugene’s gay nude beach on
Glassbar Island, you won’t see Seager pushing
anyone into talking about safer sex.
He’s more likely to talk about his earth-based
spirituality and his involvement with the Radi
cal Faeries, or rehabilitating birds of prey and
hunting with them in his spare time.
“I rarely ever bring up safe sex. If I get queer
men together, sex is going to come up. I just
make sure the right information is out there,” he
says.
His office mate Heidi walks in and sits down
to call a Latino client.
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She holds the phone to her ear with her
shoulder. While it rings, she says, “Trent most
definitely walks his talk."
She pauses and speaks Spanish into the
phone, then hangs up.
“He helps me lixik at the bigger picture,” she
adds.
Seager says he’s grateful his Kisses allow him
to talk about the issues—like self-esteem and
community—that are at the root of the spread of
HIV.
“1 think the face of HIV is changing. If out
reach projects and organizations don’t change,
we’ll lose the trust of the community,” he says.
“I’m not an expert in this field. I count on the
community to tell me what they want.”
Whether weeding the garden or rooting out
the problems of the queer community, Seager
says he loves his job and being an activist.
“It’s one-on-one contact, that’s how we make
changes," he explains. “But we have to answer
the question—are we the rainkiw or aren’t we.7"
■ T im JOYCE is a television reporter in Eugene and
regular free'lance reporter for Just Out.
360-901-4944
503-240-8753, ext. 116
Houseken@aol.com
John L. Scott Real Estate Vancouver West
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