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'Octeto 15.1999
flMiUHWJSflnews
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L eaving LCP
The Lesbian Community Project's sometimes controversial
staff organizer is poised to leave by Inga Sorensen
( 503 ) 232-3600
Deke Law, LCP’s
soon-to-be-former
staff organizer
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elected, and revised bylaws were approved,
including one that granted males voting-mem
ber status.
A constituency of lesbians who founded and
supported the organization through its earlier
years felt pushed aside, disrespected and
silenced. Some have suggested the transition
was simply too abrupt.
Says Law: “Sometimes there is no change
without rupture.”
And, she notes, bisexual and trans women
have long been involved with LCP. The differ
ence now is that it’s acknowledged.
During Law’s tenure as staff organizer, LCP
has moved into a new home and, she says,
“become more public than it has been in a long
time.”
In LCP’s October newsletter, Law writes, in
part: "I am continually grateful for the opportu
nity to do work that I love on a full-time basis. 1
have gotten to do things that, as a working class
"I am continually grateful for the opportunity to do
work that I love on a full-time basis. I have gotten
to do things that, as a working class tomboy, in love
with women and girls, I never in my wildest dreams
thought I would get to do."
— Deke Law
/hUtunn Qames
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t comes down to something really good.
“Love,” says Deke Law, who for the past
year and a half has helped steer the Lesbian
Community Project into some new— and
sometimes humpy— terrain.
Now Law is heading to Hawaii, land of copi
ous sun and the place where her love, Daphne
Farrar, will immerse herself in graduate studies.
The two have been together five months,
and Law says it feels right.
“Pve never done this before,” she says, equat
ing this to “following an amazing woman some
where.”
She adds: “I’m very lucky.”
Law, 48, came to LCP from St. Louis with
plenty of organizing experience.
She helped found feminist women’s health
centers and self-help clinics in Los Angeles and
Oakland, Calif., participated in a speaking tour
in Western Europe at the invitation of women’s
groups there, and was on the board of Blacks
Assisting Blacks Against
AIDS in St. Louis.
Law initially came to
the Pacific Northwest to
work on the final stages of
the No on 9 campaign,
which was trying to beat
back an initiative that
sought to constitutionally
deem
homosexuality
“abnormal and perverse.”
She would return five years later to begin her
work with LCP, which at the time was just back
from the brink of demise (read: a large debt and
little community involvement).
Law listened to folks who shared their
thoughts about what a community organization
should be. W hat she heard was a yearning for
greater emphasis on organizing rather than, for
example, support groups.
And that organizing would delve into an
array of issues, including rethinking gender,
youth and ageism, and disabilities.
The shifts, however, weren’t always easy.
This month marks the one-year anniversary
of the groups fiery 12th annual membership
meeting. During that gathering, the mission
statement was broadened from promoting the
well-being of the “lesbian community” to
embrace “all members of the lesbian communi
ties— which includes those who identify as les
bian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer,
questioning or other.” New board members were
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tomboy, in love with women and girls, I never in
my wildest dreams thought I would get to do."
And now it’s on to life’s next adventure.
Law’s resignation is slated to take effect Oct.
29, though she says she is “committed to a
smooth transition” and may stay on longer if
necessary.
According to LCP’s acting board chair,
Catherine Sameh, the organization plans to pull
together a hiring committee, although little will
likely transpire before LCP’s Oct. 17 board
meeting.
Sameh and hoard member Sally C ohn also
say the board has yet to assess what qualities it’s
looking for in a new staff organizer.
“We’re a little behind," Sameh concedes.
As for the annual membership meeting,
Sameh says that appears to be on hold until the
position is filled.
■ For more information, call the LESBIAN
MUNITY P r o je c t s (503) 233-39/3.
COM