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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1999)
23 Nationally-known lesbian activist and former Portlander Donna Red Wing (left) with gay friendly former Portland Police Chief Tom Potter (center) and longtime gay activist John Baker tion he said he soon surmised and then con firmed when he asked Ellis point-blank— “made it easier” to kill them. He also told a reporter he didn’t care for lesbians. “Bisexual women don’t bother me a bit,” he said during a jailhouse interview. “I couldn’t help but think that she’s [Ellis] 54 years old and had been dating a woman for 12 years; isn’t that sick? That’s someone’s grandma for God’s sake. Could you imagine my grandma a lesbian with another woman? I couldn’t believe that. It crossed my mind a couple of times—lesbo grandma, what a thing, huh?” Acremant was convicted of aggravated mur der and in 1998 was sentenced to death for the slayings. On a constructive note, a few months after the widely publicized killings, the Abdill-Ellis Lambda Community Center opened in nearby Ashland. An infusion of financial support from people throughout the world who had heard about the murders helped the center move beyond the conceptual stage. The gay and les bian community center is hailed as a tribute to the women. The court rejected OHSU’s argument that it made benefits available on equal terms to all married employees. “Accordingly, the benefits are not made available on equal terms,” said the judges. Behavioral HealthCare Inc., following a finan cial imbroglio that left Phoenix Rising on the verge of extinction. For years, the agency provided an assort ment of adult, youth and HIV counseling ser vices to queer folks, and launched the Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center, a Portland drop-in facility for queer kids. The agency was nearly sunk, however, by some unscrupulous goings-on. It has been alleged that a former employee embezzled funds and failed to pay the necessary bills and payroll taxes. The fiasco led to the resignation of an executive director and the president of the board of directors. » On Nov. 1, Phoenix Rising folded all of its therapy services into Network, saying it will focus solely on youth and senior services. ri his past summer, Right to Pride, formerly Right to Privacy, dissolved after a nearly 1. 20-year existence as Oregon’s most visi ble gay and lesbian political organization. Leaders of RTP and Basic Rights Oregon worked out a deal in which BRO agreed to retire RTP’s roughly $10,000 debt in return for RTP’s voter and fund- raising information, and garnered the rights to RTP’s two major fund- raising events. In June, RTP’s Paige Richardson told Just Out that changing political realities in Oregon precip itated the move. “In the early days, the work was pretty much in the Legislature,” she said, noting that such under The Tanner vs. OHSU plaintiffs meet the press the day the takings called for the historic ruling is unveiled expertise of RTP, which “They are made available on terms that, for gay specialized in candidate endorsements, fund and lesbian couples, are a legal impossibility” raising and lobbying. because same-sex couples are prohibited from The emphasis began to shift, however, marrying. ike Garvey, a Portland police cap when the OCA launched its anti-gay ballot tain, filed a federal civil rights law The ruling went further by prohibiting pri initiative campaigns, which needed to be coun vate employers from discrimi suit against city officials in 1998, nating on the basis of sexual alleging Mayor Vera orientation in hiring, firing, Katz and former Police promotions and pay. Chief Charles Moose Said Dave Fidanque, exec discriminated against utive director of the Ameri him due to his sexual can Civil Liberties Union of orientation. Oregon: “This decision com Garvey, who is gay, pletely changes the legal earlier came under fire landscape of employment law from superiors over in Oregon.... For the first allegations he had paid time, an appellate court has male prostitutes for said that discrimination based sex. In 1996, a grand Mike Garvey on sexual orientation is jury refused to indict unconstitutional.” Garvey, who was demoted from commander The court concluded that to captain. gays and lesbians are a dis The lawsuit in part maintains Moose held a tinct class and that it’s “discriminatory animus toward gay males." Right to Pride’s Paige Richardson (left) and Basic Rights Ore beyond dispute that they gon ’s Jean Harris announce big changes in the spring of 1999 “have been and continue to be the subject of adverse tered via a grass-roots effort—through groups social and political stereotyping and prejudice. n December 1998, the Oregon Court of like No on 9 and No on 13, which later Appeals issued a ruling in Tanner vs. Ore became Support Our Communities Political gon Health Sciences University stipulating Action Committee and, finally, Basic Rights that all state and local governments in Oregon Oregon, which now claims more than 80,000 must offer spousal benefits to the same-sex donors and volunteers. ome beloved community institutions domestic partners of their employees. In other words, BRO, unlike RTP, was in experienced notable changes during this The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit by three past year in particular. touch with thousands of people who could be lesbian employees of OHSU who claimed their This fall, Phoenix Rising Foundation, an mobilized. Eventually, BRO delved into candi domestic partners were entitled to benefits. independent nonprofit serving the queer com date endorsements and lobbying the Legisla The unanimous three-judge panel said denying munity for more than two decades, became a ture, and was poised to handle many facets of the benefits violated the equal protection pro subsidiary of a larger organization, Network the gay rights struggle, rather than just one. visions of the Oregon Constitution. ugene’s most popular nightspot, Club Arena, closed in August 1999. For two decades, the haunt—a k a Perry’s—has drawn queers and straights galore. With news of the closure, patrons lament: “What do we do nou’?” ascade AIDS Project’s HIV counseling and testing program was shuttered in June 1999 after five years in operation. According to Thomas Bruner, who became CAP’s executive director a year earlier, the pro gram was stopped for financial reasons. “It’s a new day at CAP,” he told Just Out. “The new day is here, and with it comes some new, hard, painful reali- >> ties. Until the pro gram’s demise, queer guys of all ages turned to CAP for HIV counseling and testing, saying it was a place they felt com Thomas Bruner fortable. They could talk openly about their sexual practices or clasp a boyfriend’s hand without encountering the shock and disdain of the surprised and judg mental. The program was fueled by volunteers— mostly gay and bi men—who were trained and certified to be counselors. In response to the closure, the Multnomah County Health Department and other public health entities reaffirmed their commitment to make their testing programs as comfortable as possible for gay and bi men. During the past year, CAP has seen a notable staff turnover and also released its first annual report in four years. C A claim of discrimination M Delicious decision I Of angst and evolution (or devolution) S n mid-October 1998, roughly 100 people attended the Portland-based Lesbian Com munity Project’s annual membership meet ing. Sparks flew and disagreements flared over the group’s purpose. The board revamped the mission statement, which previously said LCP was “committed to the individual and collective well-being of les bians,” to say instead that LCP is “dedicated to building a world in which all human beings experience full justice, equity, democracy and liberation in all spheres of life.” Unlike its predecessor, the new version says LCP operates “with an open and evolving defi nition of lesbian community, which includes those who identify as lesbian, bisexual, trans gender, transsexual, queer, questioning or other.” Male LCP members were also granted vot ing status. Some critics blasted the changes, arguing that an organization established by and for les bians was being diluted and undermined. I s s we head into the year 2000, searches remain underway for new directors of both Basic Rights Oregon and the Les bian Community Project. BRO’s former executive director, Jean Har ris, formally departed Dec. 1 to join her partner in California, while LCP’s Deke Law officially left at October’s end, scooting off with her partner to live in Hawaii. A
