march 17.2000 »
- SUBURBAN
Basic Rights Oregon field organizer Nerissa Ediza is among those creating an activists’ alliance
PHOTO BV
same-sex couples living in the same household
to mark the “unmarried partner” option when
asked to describe their relationships.
“All public policy flows from the U.S. cen
sus,” says NGLTFs Paula Ettelbrick. “If we are
not counted, we lose out on federal funding for
research, funding for community services, and
passage and implementation of laws that benefit
our community. We also sacrifice important
opportunities for more equitable political repre
sentation of our community.”
She adds: “While legislation in states like
Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts
has moved in our favor, we are seeing a definite
backlash to our efforts through passage of laws
blocking marriage and adoption in other states
like Utah, California and Arkansas. The census
count will allow us to break through the rhetoric
and show dispassionately that hundreds of thou
sands of same-sex couples already share commit
ted relationships and are raising children. These
families need the same resources and recogni
tion as any other family.”
But a March 7 article in the Los Angeles
Times highlights the ambivalence some gay peo
ple have about the lack of an explicit category
for them.
The piece quotes Martin McCombs, execu-
Basic Rights Oregon strives to build a network; U.S. census raises questions for queers
either by identifying 200 gay and pro-gay voters
or by recruiting 20 volunteers and two volunteer
leaders.
“We have an [Oregon Citizens Alliance] bal
lot measure to deal with right away,” notes BRO
field organizer Nerissa Ediza, who is heavily
involved in developing the Area Action Teams
network. “Having teams of people in local areas
will really help, because they know more about
the various pockets of support within their own
communities than we do here in Portland.”
And if, during the next legislative session, an
anti-gay-rights measure is floated, the teams can
mobilize constituents within their respective
districts to lobby lawmakers.
“There are endless opportunities to utilize
this framework,” Ediza says.
■ Potential participants in the ADVANCED LEADER
must call Basic Rights Oregon at
(503) 222-6151 prior to March 25 to schedule an
interview. Tuition is $100; a limited number o f slid
ing-scale schobrships are available based on need.
SHIP TRAINING
A re Y ou D own
for the C ount ?
ensus 2000 is upon us, and queers in the
Northwest and across the country are con
templating how to respond to the federal gov
ernment’s decennial survey, which includes
dozens of categories designed to gamer a
detailed picture of the country’s demographics.
T he census forms are being mailed to every
household in the United States in March and
April.
"Gay” is not among the categories a person
can check to describe him- or herself, though
there is a category for “unmarried partner,”
which includes unmarried same-sex or hetero
sexual couples— with or without children— who
live in the same household. To date, the Census
Bureau has not included a question about sexu
al orientation.
Earlier this month, the Institute for Gay and
Lesbian Strategic Studies and the Policy Insti
tute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
launched a national campaign encouraging
C
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P olitical P otpourri
f Basic Rights Oregon has its way, the state
will soon have a highly organized activist
network with goals and objectives and a
year-round presence.
BRO, Oregon’s largest lesbian and gay
political organization, has been in touch with
roughly 300 activists statewide to see whether
those folks are interested in participating in the
network, which will be composed of Area
Action Teams throughout Oregon.
The teams will fall under BR O ’s purview and
will be committed to lesbian and gay rights in
general. They will, however, set goals relevant
to their particular locales.
“This is about developing local leadership,”
explains Maura Roche, BRO ’s government rela
tions consultant. “There are a lot of activists
already out there, but we just want to try and
formalize this.”
O f the 300 activists being contacted, Roche
figures about 100 will undergo an interview
process with BRO to assess each person’s level of
interest. That group will be farther whittled
down to about 35 people who will be invited to
be part of one of the teams and undergo an
Advanced Leadership Training sponsored by
BRO in conjunction with the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Education Network and the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
The training is described as nonpartisan and
intensive, and highly participatory for queer
leaders and allies who wish to understand and
lead electoral campaigns. It is designed especial
ly for community leaders who are preparing to
take roles in ballot measure campaigns.
Participants will in part address how to
mobilize the sexual minorities community while
reaching out to the public at large, how to pro
mote partnerships in the fight against discrimi
nation, how make the best use of volunteers,
and how to win over undecided voters.
The training is slated for April 27 through
31— which conflicts with the Millennium
March, a national queer rights march on April
30 in Washington, D.C. Roche says the trainers,
whom she had hoped would be available earlier
in the month, were not free until those days.
Leadership trainees, meanwhile, will be
expected to put their training to use this year
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tive director of the Gay and Lesbian Communi
ty Center of Greater Long Beach, who said he
and others will protest the exclusion by creating
their own demographic category on the form,
writing in that they are gay. (Unsolicited
responses will be disregarded, the Times reports.)
Basic Rights Oregon’s Maura Roche tells Just
Out: “[BRO] hasn’t had a formal discussion
about this, but I know from a political stand
point it’s important to be counted, because cen
sus data is used for political redistricting.”
But clearly, frustration exists.
“We’re talking about the ultimate under
count. You are not even on the list,” lamented
former Portlander Gwenn Baldwin, now execu
tive director of the Los Angeles Gay &. Lesbian
Center.
Jennifer Pizer, managing attorney of the
Western regional office of Lambda Legal
Defense and Education Fund, a lesbian and gay
legal group, told the Times that winning passage
of anti-discrimination laws would be easier if
legislators knew how many gay and lesbian con
stituents they have.
But some expressed concern that many peo
ple wouldn’t mark a “gay” category anyway, for
fear of how that information might be used.
That could in turn prompt a huge undercount of
the gay and lesbian population, which could
provide opponents of gay rights with ammuni
tion of their own.
“We look forward to the 2010 census when
more discriminatory barriers will have fallen and
questions about sexual orientation can be asked
more directly and answered more honestly,” says
Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the
Human Rights Campaign.
But for now, says McCombs, “It’s frustrating
that people have an easier time grasping a sense
of minority based on race and ethnicity. It’s as if
they are saying there’s no purpose to knowing
how many gays and lesbians are out there.”
■ Are you peeved about the census’ Let Just Out
know in a letter to the editor. Send your opinion in
500 words or less to justout@justout.com or P.O.
Box 14400, Portland, OR 97293-0400; or submit
it online at www.justout .com . You can fax your let
ter to (503) 236-1257.
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