January 7.2000 * ¡maâ «Ml. 5
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munity and we bill it as, say, “a lesbian support
group,” do not be surprised if people whom some
of you don’t consider to be lesbians show up.
Lesbian dances, same issue. This is why we use
the words trans lesbian, nontrans lesbian, inclusive
etc. In my opinion and world, if someone lives
as a woman and has a woman for a primary part
ner, she is a lesbian. It’s when we get into defin
ing “who is a woman” that makes this whole sit
uation tricky.
1 don’t personally feel it’s my right to say who
is a woman and who is not, nor do 1 use the
above words in normal conversation, because I
don’t have a need to. People’s right to identify
however they want is at the core of this entire
issue.
While LCP is indeed inclusive, this mis
nomer that LCP is being overrun with men gets
used a lot by some who are not and have not
been involved with the organization for quite
some time. Frankly, I find this to be not only
inaccurate, but also inflammatory and it only
helps to keep the divisiveness alive.
Who we are right now is a small group of
board members and volunteers trying to serve a
membership of about 300 folks as well as others
in the community. Had there been a real effort
made in the past year or so to develop a volun
teer base and maintain those relationships, we
would be in a much better position to provide
services and outreach to the community.
We do a lot with the people who are
involved, but it’s not enough, and I’m painfully
aware of that every day that 1 don’t get to come
straight home from work to my girlfriend
because I’ve got one or more meetings to attend
that night.
I can identify about seven trans folk who are
involved in LCP in any way. Out of that num
ber, they are pretty equally divided between men
and women.
Perhaps three of them are members, one of
them is a board member, the others are folks
who always seem to show up to support LCP
when we are doing fund-raisers because they
care about the Portland community. There are a
few others out there who are not involved at all,
1 don’t really know how many, but 1 have met
some of them. They live in isolation imposed by
people who call them traitors or worse. They
have no support system or community and they
are afraid. The numbers really don’t matter.
What matters is that they need and deserve to
have a place to belong in the community and do
work that creates social-political change and
understanding. For some of them, there is no
“safe space.”
Regarding an apology, what 1 said was that I
was uncomfortable making a broad statement of
apology and felt it would be more constructive
to be specific. How much credence does an
apology have coming from someone regarding
events that happened before they came on the
scene? I did in fact say that 1 felt there was room
for apology on both sides. The more I talk to
people, the easier it is for me to narrow down
exactly whom the most apologies should come
from. Don’t hold your breath waiting for this
person to take responsibility for their actions.
Am I sorry for what has happened.7 More than
you’ll ever know.
It’s unfortunate that Women in the Woods
has become such a key element in all of this.
T.K. Mantese chose not to include the com
ments 1 made at the meeting that while LCP
cannot support W1TW because it is not inclu
sive, we recognize its importance to many peo
ple. I personally am not willing to go to war with
anyone over the issue, because I understand that
there are those who have a need for and have
fought for “safe space.” It’s not my place to
define for them what their safe space should be,
any more than it’s my place to determine who is
a woman, and who isn’t.
Corner o f Sandy Blvd. & NE 64th
3106 NE 64th
Portland, OR 97213
It saddens me to think that there are those in
the community who feel there is no point in
going forward with talking and listening to each
other because LCP doesn’t support a noninclu-
sive three-day event. I’m quite sure that we have
many more common concerns besides that. Les
bian health care for one, Lon Mabon for anoth
er.
To those of you who took the time after a
long day of work or political activism to join us
at that meeting, thank you, and I’m sorry that it
took so long for you to feel listened to.
A mazon K nightly
Lesbian Community Project board member
Portland
Let’s all make it happen,
not just a few
To the E ditor :
In a recent issue of Just Out, Inga Sorensen
wrote an excellent article about U.S. Sen. Gor
don Smith, an Oregon Republican, addressing
the Human Rights Campaign’s Portland Federal
Club luncheon [“Mr. Smith Comes Back from
Washington,” Dec. 3].
I was struck by a line in the piece describing
the participants in this event that included the
words “nearly all men.” Was this important, I
questioned myself, was Inga saying that this
event was unimportant to women? Or that
women chose not to attend ?
At first I perceived a connotation of suggest
ed sexism from this statement.
Would an event held by LCP have a descrip
tion of “mostly all women” attended, or PABA,
a very mixed business organization that recently
held a dinner, attended by “mostly men”?
I decided to call Inga Sorensen and Marty
Davis to ask about this issue, that this statement
of fact, as written, can be seen as a slam. Both
assured me that it was not. The question that
they are raising is where are the women in our
community? My question is where are both
women and men in our community?
These are very good questions. Certainly in
the past there has been dynamic leadership in
Oregon, both male and female. Where are they?
There certainly are many wonderful leaders of
both sexes in our community, but for the popu
lation and demographic base here, the percent
age of participation is minimal. Many vital orga
nizations limp along with few volunteers. Is
everyone else hunkered down at home? With so
many of our civil, spiritual and personal rights in
constant jeopardy, how can we justify leaving
leadership and action to a few, and hope for the
best?
Sen. Smith made the comment: “When
you’re a pioneer for any cause, you get arrows in
the back, but they usually don’t kill you.”
Essentially saying, if we expect progress we
need to participate and not live in fear.
As for the luncheon with Sen. Gordon
Smith, HRC’s Portland Federal Club is made up
of about 40 percent women, all of whom were
invited, several of whom RSVPed but regretful
ly could not make the event at the last minute.
HRC started 20 years ago, was dominantly
male-oriented, but in the past 10 years has made
dramatic demographic changes within its
national membership (currently 40 percent
women of a membership base of 300,000) and
staff structure (the staff is now predominately
female, with all but three of the leadership posi
tions belonging to women).
Together we work for our collective civil
rights. How can we continue to build this shared
activism in Oregon?
Come bask
in the elegance
o f romance
ltf4
My
A Place o f Romantic Invention
Human Rights Campaign Board of Governors
Portland
503-280 8080
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